Sunday, June 14, 2020

Book review - "Operation Chastise: the Dambusters Raid 1943" by Max Hastings (2020)

A comprehensive look at the dam busters raid by one of the best war historians around. Lots of detail- less of those terrific anecdotes though that Hasstings is so good at.

He praises the heroism but down plays the importance of the raid - it was important but not that crucial and was not followed up the way it should have been, because Bomber Harris was a bit of a dill (must bomb cities! must bomb cities!)

I like how he paid tribute to unsuccessful pilots who perished and/or just failed - he points out correctly they were just as brave as Gibson.

It's got to be said though this felt like a less strong book from Hastings - familiar territory, stuff that we'd heard before. I enjoyed it but it wasn't as good as his others.

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