Australia's Dambusters

Australia's Dambusters

Author: Colin Burgess

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-07-07

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1760859249

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A truly comprehensive account of 617 Squadron, RAF, ​who carried out one of the most dangerous and audacious aerial bombing raids of World War II. It was the evening of 16 May 1943. Nineteen modified Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron RAF, under the command of youthful Wing Commander Guy Gibson, roared into the night sky from their Lincolnshire base. They were on a top-secret Bomber Command mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, now regarded as one of the most dangerous and audacious bombing raids of World War II – an attack on the formidable, well-defended dams of Germany’s Ruhr Valley. Slung beneath the belly of each aircraft was one of the war’s greatest secrets – a bouncing bomb. Against the odds, and flying straight and level into the teeth of terrifying enemy fire, they succeeded in breaching the two principal dams. Many of the 133 airmen involved that fateful night hailed from Australia, and several would be counted among the 56 who would not return to base next morning. The Dams Raid led to the men of this gallant company – often referred to as a suicide squadron – taking on even more hazardous operations in the final two years of the war. Under valorous leadership, and now armed with massive Tallboy and Grand Slam ‘earthquake’ bombs, they obliterated vital Nazi installations, destroying such defiant targets as the heavily defended Kembs Barrage and the German battleship Tirpitz, often at a terrible cost in lives. First published in 2003, this deeply researched, revised and updated edition of Australia’s Dambusters offers a truly comprehensive account of the most famous bombing raid of the war through the words and stories of the courageous Australian airmen and others who flew on this and later perilous missions, remembered and forever immortalised as the Dambusters.


Book Synopsis Australia's Dambusters by : Colin Burgess

Download or read book Australia's Dambusters written by Colin Burgess and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-07-07 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A truly comprehensive account of 617 Squadron, RAF, ​who carried out one of the most dangerous and audacious aerial bombing raids of World War II. It was the evening of 16 May 1943. Nineteen modified Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron RAF, under the command of youthful Wing Commander Guy Gibson, roared into the night sky from their Lincolnshire base. They were on a top-secret Bomber Command mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, now regarded as one of the most dangerous and audacious bombing raids of World War II – an attack on the formidable, well-defended dams of Germany’s Ruhr Valley. Slung beneath the belly of each aircraft was one of the war’s greatest secrets – a bouncing bomb. Against the odds, and flying straight and level into the teeth of terrifying enemy fire, they succeeded in breaching the two principal dams. Many of the 133 airmen involved that fateful night hailed from Australia, and several would be counted among the 56 who would not return to base next morning. The Dams Raid led to the men of this gallant company – often referred to as a suicide squadron – taking on even more hazardous operations in the final two years of the war. Under valorous leadership, and now armed with massive Tallboy and Grand Slam ‘earthquake’ bombs, they obliterated vital Nazi installations, destroying such defiant targets as the heavily defended Kembs Barrage and the German battleship Tirpitz, often at a terrible cost in lives. First published in 2003, this deeply researched, revised and updated edition of Australia’s Dambusters offers a truly comprehensive account of the most famous bombing raid of the war through the words and stories of the courageous Australian airmen and others who flew on this and later perilous missions, remembered and forever immortalised as the Dambusters.


The Complete Dambusters

The Complete Dambusters

Author: Charles Foster

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2018-05-08

Total Pages: 511

ISBN-13: 0750988487

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On 16 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster aircraft from the RAF's 617 Squadron set off to attack the great dams in the industrial heart of Germany. Flying at a height of 60ft, they dropped a series of bombs which bounced across the water and destroyed two of their targets, thereby creating a legend. The one-off operation combined an audacious method of attack, technically brilliant flying and visually spectacular results. But while the story of Operation Chastise is well known, most of the 133 'Dambusters' who took part in the Dams Raid have until now been just names on a list. They came from all parts of the UK and the Commonwealth and beyond, and each of them was someone's son or brother, someone's husband or father. This is the first book to present their individual stories and celebrate their skill, heroism and, for many, sacrifice.


Book Synopsis The Complete Dambusters by : Charles Foster

Download or read book The Complete Dambusters written by Charles Foster and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 16 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster aircraft from the RAF's 617 Squadron set off to attack the great dams in the industrial heart of Germany. Flying at a height of 60ft, they dropped a series of bombs which bounced across the water and destroyed two of their targets, thereby creating a legend. The one-off operation combined an audacious method of attack, technically brilliant flying and visually spectacular results. But while the story of Operation Chastise is well known, most of the 133 'Dambusters' who took part in the Dams Raid have until now been just names on a list. They came from all parts of the UK and the Commonwealth and beyond, and each of them was someone's son or brother, someone's husband or father. This is the first book to present their individual stories and celebrate their skill, heroism and, for many, sacrifice.


No 617 ‘Dambuster’ Sqn

No 617 ‘Dambuster’ Sqn

Author: Alex Bateman

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-11-20

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1849081050

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Most famous for the dambusting raid in the darkest days of the Second World War, the No 617 Sqn were a vastly experienced crew. It was the first, and only, squadron to use certain equipment and weapons in combat. This study covers the history of the No 617 Squadron. It explains the men, aircraft, weapons and operations of this squadron.


Book Synopsis No 617 ‘Dambuster’ Sqn by : Alex Bateman

Download or read book No 617 ‘Dambuster’ Sqn written by Alex Bateman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most famous for the dambusting raid in the darkest days of the Second World War, the No 617 Sqn were a vastly experienced crew. It was the first, and only, squadron to use certain equipment and weapons in combat. This study covers the history of the No 617 Squadron. It explains the men, aircraft, weapons and operations of this squadron.


Dambusters

Dambusters

Author: Max Arthur

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2009-05-27

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0753517876

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On the night of 16-17 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron headed for Germany. Their mission, for which they had been trained under a cloak of absolute secrecy, was to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley and in doing so cripple the Nazi industrial war effort. It was to become one of the most famous raids of WW2. For the first time, acclaimed oral historian Max Arthur has gathered together the voices of the 'Dambusters', including Guy Gibson, commander of the mission and Barnes Wallis, who developed the iconic Bouncing Bomb. These voices tell of the hard training and sheer bravery that went into this legendary mission. We also hear from the German civilians who suffered the attack, who speak of the devastation that was wrought in their lives. This was a raid like no other, and in this extraordinary collection Max Arthur has created an enduring record of a unique event in British military history.


Book Synopsis Dambusters by : Max Arthur

Download or read book Dambusters written by Max Arthur and published by Random House. This book was released on 2009-05-27 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the night of 16-17 May 1943, nineteen Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron headed for Germany. Their mission, for which they had been trained under a cloak of absolute secrecy, was to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley and in doing so cripple the Nazi industrial war effort. It was to become one of the most famous raids of WW2. For the first time, acclaimed oral historian Max Arthur has gathered together the voices of the 'Dambusters', including Guy Gibson, commander of the mission and Barnes Wallis, who developed the iconic Bouncing Bomb. These voices tell of the hard training and sheer bravery that went into this legendary mission. We also hear from the German civilians who suffered the attack, who speak of the devastation that was wrought in their lives. This was a raid like no other, and in this extraordinary collection Max Arthur has created an enduring record of a unique event in British military history.


Australia's Dambusters

Australia's Dambusters

Author: Colin Burgess

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780987238733

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Book Synopsis Australia's Dambusters by : Colin Burgess

Download or read book Australia's Dambusters written by Colin Burgess and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Australia's Greatest Escapes

Australia's Greatest Escapes

Author: Colin Burgess

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-07-22

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1760854301

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Australia's greatest escape stories from two world wars Australia’s Greatest Escapes is a collection of stories about the most hazardous aspect of the prisoner of war experience – escape. Here is all the adventure, suspense and courage of ordinary Australians who defied their captors; men who tunnelled to freedom, crawled through stinking drains, or clawed a passage beneath barbed wire in a desperate attempt to flee captivity. They were willing to risk the odds and even death in the loneliest war of all – the fight to be free. Each possessed in spades the noble qualities of boldness, resourcefulness, cunning, determination and mateship we have come to admire about our Australian service men and women under adversity. Featuring stories of Australian POWs from all theatres of war, including one who fled a German work camp during World War I, another involved in a mass tunnel escape from a notorious Italian camp, and an airman who brazenly attempted to steal a German fighter and fly it back to England. We also re-live the tragic saga of the Sandakan death marches in which six Australian escapers became the only survivors from 2000 POWs, and follow the perilous journeys to freedom undertaken by Australian infantrymen following the appalling massacre of their fellow soldiers on the Japanese-held island of Ambon.


Book Synopsis Australia's Greatest Escapes by : Colin Burgess

Download or read book Australia's Greatest Escapes written by Colin Burgess and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-07-22 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Australia's greatest escape stories from two world wars Australia’s Greatest Escapes is a collection of stories about the most hazardous aspect of the prisoner of war experience – escape. Here is all the adventure, suspense and courage of ordinary Australians who defied their captors; men who tunnelled to freedom, crawled through stinking drains, or clawed a passage beneath barbed wire in a desperate attempt to flee captivity. They were willing to risk the odds and even death in the loneliest war of all – the fight to be free. Each possessed in spades the noble qualities of boldness, resourcefulness, cunning, determination and mateship we have come to admire about our Australian service men and women under adversity. Featuring stories of Australian POWs from all theatres of war, including one who fled a German work camp during World War I, another involved in a mass tunnel escape from a notorious Italian camp, and an airman who brazenly attempted to steal a German fighter and fly it back to England. We also re-live the tragic saga of the Sandakan death marches in which six Australian escapers became the only survivors from 2000 POWs, and follow the perilous journeys to freedom undertaken by Australian infantrymen following the appalling massacre of their fellow soldiers on the Japanese-held island of Ambon.


Famous Past Lives

Famous Past Lives

Author: Steve Burgess

Publisher: John Hunt Publishing

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 187

ISBN-13: 1846944945

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Steve Burgess is one of the UK's leading Hypnotherapists who has completed many thousands of past life regressions. This intriguing book is the story of some of his clients who in regression sessions appear to have been very famous historical characters in their previous lives. These famous past lives include Queen Elizabeth I, her elder sister Queen Mary, one of Jack the Ripper's prostitute victims, Titus Oates from the Scott of the Antartic Expedition and William Shakespeare. Whilst in trance, Steve's clients give fascinating accounts of their past life alter egos, often experiencing things known only to historians. As they re-live their famous past lives they even provide unknown information, which gives us a fuller insight into the lives of the famous characters, including Elizabeth's passionate affair with Robert Dudley and the fate of their love child, and Shakespeare's travels abroad. This book may be the book that proves the reality of reincarnation, and will be of interest to both sceptics and spiritually minded people.


Book Synopsis Famous Past Lives by : Steve Burgess

Download or read book Famous Past Lives written by Steve Burgess and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steve Burgess is one of the UK's leading Hypnotherapists who has completed many thousands of past life regressions. This intriguing book is the story of some of his clients who in regression sessions appear to have been very famous historical characters in their previous lives. These famous past lives include Queen Elizabeth I, her elder sister Queen Mary, one of Jack the Ripper's prostitute victims, Titus Oates from the Scott of the Antartic Expedition and William Shakespeare. Whilst in trance, Steve's clients give fascinating accounts of their past life alter egos, often experiencing things known only to historians. As they re-live their famous past lives they even provide unknown information, which gives us a fuller insight into the lives of the famous characters, including Elizabeth's passionate affair with Robert Dudley and the fate of their love child, and Shakespeare's travels abroad. This book may be the book that proves the reality of reincarnation, and will be of interest to both sceptics and spiritually minded people.


Chastise

Chastise

Author: Max Hastings

Publisher: Collins

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780008280529

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A masterly history of the Dambusters raid from bestselling and critically acclaimed Max Hastings. Operation Chastise, the overnight destruction of the Möhne and Eder dams in north-west Germany by the RAF's 617 Squadron, was an epic that has passed into Britain's national legend. Max Hastings grew up embracing the story, the classic 1955 movie and the memory of Guy Gibson, the 24-year-old wing-commander who won the VC leading the raid. In the 21st Century, however, Hastings urges that we should review the Dambusters in much more complex shades. The aircrew's heroism was wholly authentic, as was the brilliance of Barnes Wallis, who invented the 'bouncing bombs'. But commanders who promised their young fliers that success could shorten the war fantasised wildly. What Germans call the Möhnekatastrophe imposed on the Nazi war machine temporary disruption, rather than a crippling blow. Hastings vividly describes the evolution of Wallis' bomb, and of the squadron which broke the dams at the cost of devastating losses. But he also portrays in harrowing detail those swept away by the torrents. Some 1,400 civilians perished in the biblical floods that swept through the Möhne valley, more than half of them Russian and Polish women, slave labourers under Hitler. Ironically, Air Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris gained much of the credit, though he opposed Chastise as a distraction from his city-burning blitz. He also made what the author describes as the operation's biggest mistake - the failure to launch a conventional attack on the Nazis' huge post-raid repair operation, which could have transformed the impact of the dam breaches upon Ruhr industry. Chastise offers a fascinating retake on legend by a master of the art. Hastings sets the dams raid in the big picture of the bomber offensive and of the Second World War, with moving portraits of the young airmen, so many of whom died; of Barnes Wallis; the monstrous Harris; the tragic Guy Gibson, together with superb narrative of the action of one of the most extraordinary episodes in British history.


Book Synopsis Chastise by : Max Hastings

Download or read book Chastise written by Max Hastings and published by Collins. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A masterly history of the Dambusters raid from bestselling and critically acclaimed Max Hastings. Operation Chastise, the overnight destruction of the Möhne and Eder dams in north-west Germany by the RAF's 617 Squadron, was an epic that has passed into Britain's national legend. Max Hastings grew up embracing the story, the classic 1955 movie and the memory of Guy Gibson, the 24-year-old wing-commander who won the VC leading the raid. In the 21st Century, however, Hastings urges that we should review the Dambusters in much more complex shades. The aircrew's heroism was wholly authentic, as was the brilliance of Barnes Wallis, who invented the 'bouncing bombs'. But commanders who promised their young fliers that success could shorten the war fantasised wildly. What Germans call the Möhnekatastrophe imposed on the Nazi war machine temporary disruption, rather than a crippling blow. Hastings vividly describes the evolution of Wallis' bomb, and of the squadron which broke the dams at the cost of devastating losses. But he also portrays in harrowing detail those swept away by the torrents. Some 1,400 civilians perished in the biblical floods that swept through the Möhne valley, more than half of them Russian and Polish women, slave labourers under Hitler. Ironically, Air Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris gained much of the credit, though he opposed Chastise as a distraction from his city-burning blitz. He also made what the author describes as the operation's biggest mistake - the failure to launch a conventional attack on the Nazis' huge post-raid repair operation, which could have transformed the impact of the dam breaches upon Ruhr industry. Chastise offers a fascinating retake on legend by a master of the art. Hastings sets the dams raid in the big picture of the bomber offensive and of the Second World War, with moving portraits of the young airmen, so many of whom died; of Barnes Wallis; the monstrous Harris; the tragic Guy Gibson, together with superb narrative of the action of one of the most extraordinary episodes in British history.


Dambuster

Dambuster

Author: Susan Ottaway

Publisher: Pen & Sword

Published: 2007-09

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9781844156054

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Born in India 1918 and brought up in England, Guy Gibson joined the RAF in November 1936. Thereafter his career can be seen as a battle between his uncertain temperament and less than ideal private life, and his undoubted skills as an airman and as a leader of men. This is his story.


Book Synopsis Dambuster by : Susan Ottaway

Download or read book Dambuster written by Susan Ottaway and published by Pen & Sword. This book was released on 2007-09 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born in India 1918 and brought up in England, Guy Gibson joined the RAF in November 1936. Thereafter his career can be seen as a battle between his uncertain temperament and less than ideal private life, and his undoubted skills as an airman and as a leader of men. This is his story.


The Diggers of Colditz

The Diggers of Colditz

Author: Jack Champ

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2019-06-17

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1760852155

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Colditz Castle was Nazi Germany’s infamous ‘escape-proof’ wartime prison, where hundreds of the most determined and resourceful Allied prisoners were sent. Despite having more guards than inmates, Australian Lieutenant Jack Champ and other prisoners tirelessly carried out their campaign to escape from the massive floodlit stronghold, by any means necessary. In this riveting account – by turns humorous, heartfelt and tragic – historian Colin Burgess and Lieutenant Jack Champ, from the point of view of the prisoners themselves, tell the story of the twenty Australians who made this castle their ‘home’, and the plans they made that were so crazy that some even achieved the seemingly impossible – escape! ‘A stirring testimony of mateship . . . We are often on tenterhooks, always impressed by their determination, industry and courage’ Australian Book Review


Book Synopsis The Diggers of Colditz by : Jack Champ

Download or read book The Diggers of Colditz written by Jack Champ and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-06-17 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colditz Castle was Nazi Germany’s infamous ‘escape-proof’ wartime prison, where hundreds of the most determined and resourceful Allied prisoners were sent. Despite having more guards than inmates, Australian Lieutenant Jack Champ and other prisoners tirelessly carried out their campaign to escape from the massive floodlit stronghold, by any means necessary. In this riveting account – by turns humorous, heartfelt and tragic – historian Colin Burgess and Lieutenant Jack Champ, from the point of view of the prisoners themselves, tell the story of the twenty Australians who made this castle their ‘home’, and the plans they made that were so crazy that some even achieved the seemingly impossible – escape! ‘A stirring testimony of mateship . . . We are often on tenterhooks, always impressed by their determination, industry and courage’ Australian Book Review