The Dam Busters

by Paul Brickhill, Mary Stopes-Roe (Introduction)

The true story of a specially selected Royal Air Force squadron details its epic feat of destroying two vital dams in Nazi Germany. (History).

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Military History, World War II, Aviation, Military Fiction

280 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

From Rosetta Books:

Though The Great Escape is a novel, its basic story is true, and the novel's author Paul Brickhill (1916-91) was a participant in it. Brickhill, an Australian, had flown missions against the Germans in Tunisia for the Royal Australian Air Force when he was shot down in 1943. Locked away and bored in Silesia in Luft Stalag III, he and his fellow prisoners concocted an escape plan -- a daring idea that would result in a mass escape from the Germans. Of the 76 officers who escaped, only three were successful; Hitler himself ordered the execution of 47 of the men who were recaptured. Still, the escape remains one of the great heroic stories of World War II.

A native of Melbourne, Brickhill had begun a career as a newspaper reporter at the Sydney Sun when war was declared in 1939. His instincts as a reporter stuck with him during his incarceration by the Germans, as he collected stories from his fellow prisoners that became the foundation for his later work. After the war, Brickhill sought to go back to newspapering, but quickly abandoned it to begin work on his first book, entitled Escape to Danger (1946), about his experiences in the POW camp. From this, he drew the story of The Great Escape, published four years later.

The following year, Brickhill published The Dam Busters, an acclaimed account of pinpoint bombing raids by the 617 Squadron, followed by an anthology of POW stories entitled Escape or Die (1952) and Reach for the Sky (1954) a biography of aviator Douglas Bader.

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gripping and beautifully written account of the bravery and (some might argue) insanity displayed by the 617 squadron of the RAF during WWII, when they bombed the three main dams in Germany with a special type of bomb. That bomb sunk and then skipped over water until it reached the dam, then sunk again and created a massive crater in the structure, letting the force of the water do the rest - but that meant that pilots had to fly extremely low and in full view of enemy guns. The book also follows the story of the bomb's creator, Wallis, who is also responsible for the earthquake bomb. Going on to hail the squadron's success in bombing the Tirpitz off the coast of Norway and the V1 and V2 bunkers in France, it paints a detailed picture of the lives of these young men (20-25, some younger than that), and it reads like a thriller. Compared to other books about operations in WWII, this was published in 1969, so the pilots get a chance to say exactly what happened during their years at war. Filled with technical details, it might at times seem a bit heavy going, but the blend between science and action is useful, in my opinion. Would totally recommend it to any history nerd.

[Fern · Rating 5 out of 5]

eccentric british egghead as hero, stiff upper lipped British resolve and sheer bullheaded British doggedness. what's not to love in this true story?

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just Heard the fantastic Dam Buster march on Classic Fm and was reminded of this novel I read ages ago in danish.

As I recall it a captivating story of an inventor struggling to get acknowledgement for his idea and some very brave and/or crazy pilots.

From a time where the lines between good and evil was far clearer than today.

[Jeff Greason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strangely, while I've read Brickhill's "The Great Escape" (in which he was a participant and eyewitness) with pleasure, and seen the movie "The Dam Busters" more times than I can count, I'd never gone back to the source material and read the book; now I can report that it was a pleasure. To my surprise, the "Dam Busters" raid itself and the great engineering story of Barnes Wallis takes up only a fraction of the book -- most of which is the development of high precision bombing techniques, which I had had no idea was part of 617 Squadron's legacy.

Barnes Wallis is an inspiring figure to any engineer, but the relentless way that obstacles are overcome, so that smaller and smaller raids can tackle more and more difficult targets, is what really drew me in to his story. I think Brickhill's preface summarizes it well. "This is a story of quality as against quantity, demonstrating the exceptional skills and ingenuity can give one man or one unit the effectiveness of ten"

[Tim Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

One idyllic summer in the mid 70's when I was about 14 or 15 I read this book six times in a row. It was possibly the first book I'd read twice and definitely the first book I'd read at least twice in a row. You can say it had made a big impression on me.

Fast forward forty plus years and the effect is still the same. Written by Paul Brickhill, a WWII fighter pilot shot down and held in a POW camp, just 6 years after the war ended and only 8 years after the raid on the dams which give the book and the bomber squadron in the book their name. It has an authenticity which books written later simply do not manage to achieve.

So what do you get? You get a squadron formed to undertake the most daring bomber raid of the war that goes on to be the the go-to squadron whenever pin-point accuracy against impossible odds is required. A madcap scientist who develops the craziest and most effective bombs of the war. You get bomber crews the same age or younger than my own children are now, who treat death as an occupational hazard, who show almost suicidal bravery raid after raid after raid. Bomber crews had a 45% chance of death.

You also get crews who fly a 20,000 kg plane 20m above the water, at night, with the lights on, in a straight line, against solid concrete dams, covered with anti-aircraft guns, and achieve what they came to do. You also get a bomb that bounces.

You really, seriously couldn't make this up.

You also get a sense of awe and gratefulness of the sacrifices made and wonder just how they did it all.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not usually one for non-fiction historical texts, most are written by accountants who are more interested in lists and stats rather than the stories of the people who were there. Of course historical documents and registers are often the only evidence historians have to extrapolate from so the job of telling the story of a real person who didn't survive becomes ever more difficult the further we are from the event. What makes Brickhill's effort so good is that he got to talk to and interviewed many of the main players involved with 617 squadron and with these sources he has done a fantastic job.

The story of 617 squadron doesn't need hyperbole or superlatives and thankfully Brickhill's narrative is restrained and respectful. He is respectful of not only the nominal 'heroes' but also the victims of their heroic acts. What can be left in no doubt though is the men who stepped into those planes faced ridiculous odds of survival and to be brave in such a way is something I cannot relate to or even imagine from the comfort of 70 years and the general peace that has existed in Western Europe for the majority of my life.

Within the narrative Brickhill introduces a list of extraordinary characters and details their objectives, obstacles, successes and failures with clarity and lack of misty-eyed nostalgia that is refreshing. The most heart-breaking aspect is that many of these colourful individuals disappear without bombast or even confirmation, reflecting the way the squadron approached the perils of their job and the relationships they made that could only ever be considered temporary. A bittersweet but worthwhile read.

[Shirley Revill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant account of the Dam Busters 617 Squadron. Highly recommended.

[Megargee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1951 and revised and updated in 1969, Dam Busters tells the story of weapons scientist Sir Barnes Wallis and the RAF 617 Squadron who delivered the specialized ordnance he designed to take out key German dams destroying their electric generators and flooding the areas down stream at great risk and at the cost of many casualties. Subsequent feats included raids on heavily defended Nazi U-Boat pens, V-1 and V-2 secret flying bomb bases, the destruction of key bridges and aqueducts and sinking the German battleship Tirpitz.
Apparently much of this book, including extensive (imagined?) dialog is based on diaries and author interviews, but there are no source notes or bibliography. The book would have greatly benefited from maps of the overall target areas, diagrams of the specialized "bouncing bomb" apparatus, and photos of the various aircraft and the key personnel involved. Fortunately for the interested reader some of the latter material can be retrieved from the Internet.

[James Tidd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant book. Brickhill gives an account of Barnes Wallis, a kind gentle person and his sheer stubbornness in never wanting to give up in his achievements to succeed, which of course led to the bouncing bomb, the talking boy and the grandslam bombs which ultimately led to the formation of probably the most famous squadron in the RAF, if not the world; 617. Led at first by Guy Gibson who would later be awarded a Victoria Cross for his role in leading the raid which gave 617 squadron its eventual name; the Dambuster squadron. The book goes on to explain the Dambuster raid of May 1943 in accurate detail, and continues with their later raids on for example the U boat pens at Brest, various viaducts and the V3 gun sites in the Pas de Calais. It finishes up with only a minute bit on Guy Gibson, which disappointed me, and the various other people who were involved in 617 squadron until the end of the second world war. A book I would recommend reading.

[Mark Katerberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating history of the 617 Squadron. Filled with British slang and written very much by the people who executed the war, it is a wonderful time capsule.

TW: intense racial slurs and casual misogyny.

[Jeff Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Factual piece detailing the feats of squadron 617 during WW II.

[Kate Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read as a child in the 60s, one of several such books owned by my parents who lived through the war.
Very interesting to read again now the war seems so much more distant. Wonderfully conveys the spirit of the time.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to classic war stories it's hard to beat the narrative of the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron in World War Two. Renowned for their near-suicidal mission to attack the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany's Ruhr Valley, using the 'wonder weapon' of Barnes Wallis's so-called bouncing bomb, in a night attack on May 16th/17th 1943, the squadron was seen as an elite unit that could carry out not just this incredible sortie but many more afterwards. From destroying key tunnels and viaducts that were part of the Nazi war effort to sinking the Tirpitz, 617 Squadron was the unit. Yet whilst their story was known during the war, it took Paul Brickhill's post-war book to help confirm the Dam Busters into the wider cultural and historical importance, making them truly great men from what the Americans would call "the greatest generation".

So how did Brickhill accomplish what he did in 'The Dam Busters'? How is it that his narrative of a Bomber Command squadron achieved what it did for the men of 617 Squadron and in turn become an iconic book about World War Two. At heart it's all down to the men whose stories Brickhill tells. Whether its those fliers who launched themselves against the dams, the likes of Guy Gibson, Mickey Martin, Dave Shannon, Les Knight, or those that came after like Cochrane, Tait, Iveson, Wilshire, Brickhill gives the reader just the right type of insight into the characters of his narrative. These are 'real men', both in the heroic or masculine sense of the phrase, as well as very human and (without it being explicitly said) fragile. Admittedly Brickhill's prose veers time and time again into a more heroic style when discussing the actions of the aircrew who flew in 617 Squadron, but in these post-modern times it is easy to forget that those men were indeed heroes. They may have been fighting part of a wider campaign that has more complex moral considerations (more on that later) and they were instrumental in the deaths of civilians as well as Nazi service personnel. Yet, as seen in Brickhill's text, the aviators who attacked the dams, who targeted the Dortmund Canal and the Tirpitz etc were doing their best to help defeat an evil regime that needed beating.

Brickhill's prose style is very much in the traditions of the 'best of British, stiff upper lip' way of talking or writing about war and whilst it might not appeal to more modern readers, nor be utterly objective as a means of establishing a truthful history of the events and people it describes, it's still damn enjoyable reading. 'The Dam Busters' is of its time and it replicates the more binary approach to war and other complex issues that were culturally acceptable before Vietnam etc. Brickhill was a serviceman and he understood war through his own experiences and what he had been taught, however it is somewhat alien to more contemporary readers. If one is looking for a more objective, more historically accurate study of 617 Squadron and its wartime activities then perhaps one should look to other more recent writers. I've already reviewed James Holland's work on the Dam Buster raid (here) and that is a better analysis of the history of Operation Chastise. However, Holland lacks two literary achievements that Brickhill displays in 'The Dam Busters'. These are Brickhill was the first writer to really put the 617 Squadron story into a book and secondly he has written a commemoration of the war effort against the Nazis by Britain and the Commonwealth, not necessarily a pure historical text.

There is another strand to Brickhill's narrative that must be spoken of, and that is his celebration of the work and life of Sir Barnes Wallis. Yes, 617 Squadron and its men are essential to 'The Dam Busters' but it is Wallis who is perhaps the key protagonist of Brickhill's story. Again he reflects the values and constructs of the time in which this book was written; scientists and engineers were looked upon as the men (almost always, for this is a very male-centric era) who were leading people into a new and brighter future. The war had been won by men like Wallis and Brickhill was keen to see that Wallis's achievements were recognised. It also dovetails nicely into the trope of the brilliant individual fighting against and then winning over an entire bureaucracy. Through teh figure of Barnes Wallis Brickhill gives the reader the intellectual individual hero to complement the warrior heroes who worked in teams to destroy the Third Reich.

One of the most pleasing aspects of 'The Dam Busters' is that Brickhill doesn't purely focus on the dam raid nor on the pilots and air crew that flew on that amazing mission. He also makes some effort to document the experiences of the ground crew, the so-called 'erks' who were responsible for maintaining the aircraft and keeping the logistical support for 617 Squadron's operations. That Brickhill tries to document the other raids carried out after the sorties of Operation Chastise is valuable for anyone who wants to understand the broader campaign flown by the squadron, and by association other elements of Bomber Command and its commanding officers. Whilst not comprehensive, and again limited by the methodology of Brickhill's historiography, it is important to understand that the Dam Busters were more than just that one precision raid and the carriers of a most inventive weapon.

Finally, the morality of 'The Dam Busters' and by association the overall bombing campaign flown against the Third Reich deserves some mention. Frankly Brickhill's position is unapologetic and it deserves to be taken as both truthful and appropriate. Obviously the bombing raids carried out by 617 Squadron led to civilian deaths, including those who were not German. That they flew precision missions and attempted to minimise civilian deaths is also true. The problem anyone has who was not in the position of those like Brickhill, like Wallis, like Gibson and all the others who fought in Bomber Command is that they cannot understand the evil existential challenge posed by the Nazi regime. War is never black and white nor is it free of moral challenges, and at the end of the day the Dam Busters and those that supported them often did their best in the worst of all situations.

As to the value of Operation Chastise, or the other raids carried out by 617 Squadron, Brickhill makes no outlandish claims. In retrospect the efforts made in more recent years to downplay the achievements of the dams raid or those that followed do not understand that in a total war such as that fought in Europe during WW2 all areas of combat and industrial effort must be considered as vital. That the Dam Busters and other Bomber Command squadrons brought the war to Germany whilst making a significant impact on the overall capability of the Third Reich to fight deserves a more accurate recognition.

Finally, I have no qualms in recommending 'The Dam Busters' because it still resonates as a story about brave men fighting evil, an evil that needed defeating. For all the flaws of the text and the lack of objectivity as a historical study 'The Dam Busters' is just a bloody good read. It's been on my radar for many a decade and I'm glad to have read it again.

[Mark Adkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dam Busters by Paul Brickhill is not just the story of Operation Chastise (the mission to blow up German dams along the Ruhr) it is also the story of Royal Air Force Squadron 617. Now 617 Squadron was formed specifically for Operation Chastise and it was the most famous mission, so it understandable that it focuses a lot on that operation.

Much like Paul Brickhill's other novel "The Great Escape" this book is an exciting read, it is no wonder that they were both made into movies. The book follows the efforts of Barnes Wallis's efforts to design the bouncing bomb, the training and execution of the mission where they (spoiler) blew up 2 of the 3 dams (/spoiler) and then cover the squadrons missions for the remainder of the war. For people that know only about the blowing of the dams the second half of the book is real interesting as that is what happened subsequently after their famous mission.

As I said earlier this is an exciting read and does not get bogged down in technical aspects or minute historical details. In fact that is one of my only complaints about the book, so to the fact that it was published in 1951 a lot of the information on the "bouncing bombs" and Operation Chastise was still classified, so the author could not go into a lot of details and some details might be wrong in order to preserve the secrecy.

However even with that shortcoming I still enjoyed the book and would recommend the book to anyone interest in WWII or aviation history.

One final point as it is comes up a lot. Yes the Squadron's dog was called what is now considered an offensive term, please don't let this deter you from enjoying this book. Remember that the Commander lived in a different time and you can't always apply modern values on historical events.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dam Busters relates the story of Squadron 617, an elite bombing sqaudron, in the Royal Air Force during WWII. While I have nothing but minor interest and curiosity in the subject matter, this book came highly recommended by a friend.

I was mesmorized and had a difficult time putting the book down. Paul Brickhill does a fantastic job writing history that is engaging. He includes a great balance of the feats of the group and their personal experiences and personalities that kept a typically-fiction-reader like me interested.

I definitely plan on reading more of Brickhill in the future, regardless of the subject matter.

[Laura (itslauracrow) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought, going into this book, that I might struggle with the technical aspects and find it a little hard-going as I'm generally not a reader of non-fiction. However, Paul Brickhill writes in such a way that the story flows easily and each 'character' (though of course they were all real people) comes to life and you soon find that you have your favourites that you're particularly rooting for. It perfectly sums up the British WWII spirit - the keep calm and carry on mentality - and highlights the extraordinary bravery of the RAF and Bomber Command. I definitely plan on reading The Great Escape in the future.

[Mike Sakas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half, the story of the original mission, it's conception and execution, is definitely worth the read. The further exploits of the pilots after their harrowing mission seems to lack a little of the excitement Mr. Brickhill exhibited for primary conflict. Still, VERY MUCH worth the read. It's amazing what those young men did!

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Brickhill delivers another great book. I knew the "Great Escape" was an amazing film after the book, but I'd never seen this film. "Dam Busters" is amazing, a wonderful story, in-fact BETTER than the "Great Escape" Will be searching it out on film now, will be reading again. Gripping, in-flight and chilling. Wonderfully written

[Joaquin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! The first chapters up to the dam raids are outstanding, the rest of them maybe a bit less exciting, with less suspense, but also extremely interesting as they show that Squadron 617 was not only about the dam raids but a lot of other high precision bombing attacks during the war, using new bombs and different tactics. I really enjoyed the book.

[David Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite simply one of the most astonishing times in our recent history; one of the greatest inventors (Barnes Wallis), some of the bravest men (Bomber Command). Read this book and learn about duty and sacrifice and feel suitably humbled.

[Scott Thoms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genius is rarely recognized in its own time and very nearly wasn't in the case of the dam busting bomb. Brickhill does a great job of illustrating the genius of the device, the work that was involved in perfecting it and the bravery of its champions and those who deployed it.

[Lili · Rating 4 out of 5]

True story of the men who flew on missions during WW11 to blow up strategic places, bridges, dams etc. This recounts the invention and the utilisation of the bomb invented by Barnes Wallis and the brave men of Bomber Command who flew in the most daring raid to blow up the Ruhr Dam.

[Mairead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I started this not expecting to find myself completely immersed in the story. I got a little lost in some of the science of it but the overall story of real bravery is breath taking and completely engaging. A single sitting book, now I must watch the film.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative account of the history of the Dam Buster Squadron. The Dam attack was impressive but the pin-point attacks on the U-Boat pens and V-3 super-gun installation are just as good but at what appalling cost. How did they keep going as one after another their mates got the chop?

[Edmund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another classic of WWII

[bluetyson]

isbn,original

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly entertaining account of the technical innovations that helped win the second world war.

[Timothy Gretler · Rating 5 out of 5]

617 Squadron...heroes all! "Bomb gone"

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

To handicapt Nazi industrial production and slow the development of Germany's secret weapons, the British Bomber Command launched an attack on a German dam. This dramatic raid is told here.

[Audrey Vanstrien · Rating 4 out of 5]

An inventor, a squadron of serious dedicated flyers and teams of others that brings an important historic moment into the war efforts