Макс Хейстингс – Chastise: The Dambusters Story 1943 (страница 1)
William Collins
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London SE1 9GF
This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2019
Copyright © Max Hastings 2019
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover photograph © IWM
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Source ISBN: 9780008280529
Ebook Edition © September 2019 ISBN: 9780008280543
Version: 2019-08-01
In memory of the aircrew who achieved the almost impossible on the night of 16/17 May 1943; and of the men, women and children on both sides who perished
Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 RAF Ranks and Army Equivalents
9 Abbreviations Used in the Text
10 Introduction
11 Prologue
12 1 Grand Strategy, Great Dams 1 THE BIG PICTURE 2 HARRIS 3 THE ‘PANACEA MERCHANTS’
13 2 The Boffin and His Bombs 1 WALLIS 2 GESTATION 3 FIRST BOUNCES
14 3 Command and Controversy 1 TARGETS 2 GIBSON 3 ‘A DISASTER OF THE FIRST MAGNITUDE’
15 4 Men and Machines 1 FLIERS 2 FLYING
16 5 The Brink of Battle 1 SIXTY FEET 2 ‘NO NEWS THAT WOULD INTEREST YOU FROM HERE’
17 6 Chastise 1 TAKE-OFF 2 GETTING THERE
18 7 At the Dams 1 THE MÖHNE AND THE SORPE 2 THE EDER AND AFTER
19
8 The
20 9 Heroes 1 GARNERING THE LAURELS 2 SQUANDERING THE SACRIFICE
21 10 Landings 1 ‘GOODNIGHT, EVERYONE’ 2 RECONCILIATIONS
22 Appendix I: 617 Squadron’s Crews Who Flew on the Night of 16/17 May 1943
23 Appendix II: Landmark Dates in the Evolution of Chastise
24 Appendix III: A Chronology of Operation Chastise 16/17 May 1943
25 Picture Section
26 Acknowledgements
27 Notes and References
28 Bibliography
29 Index
30
31
LandmarksCoverFrontmatterStart of ContentBackmatter
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The Möhne, the Eder and the Sorpe.
Barnes and Molly Wallis in 1925. (Estate of Mary Stopes-Roe)
The Wallis home in Effingham, Surrey. (Cambridge University Library/MS Vickers)
Wallis in his study with an assistant. (Cambridge University Library/MS Vickers)
1940 cartoon showing the Wallis-designed Wellington bomber.
The scaled-down model of the Möhne at Nant-y-Gro in Powys, eight minutes after a test explosion in 1942. (The National Archives/AVIA 10/369)
Recording apparatus attached to scale-model dam at Watford. (The National Archives/DSIR 27/43)
Test explosion at Nant-y-Gro. (The National Archives/AVIA 10/369)
Cherwell, Portal, Pound and Churchill watching a display of anti-aircraft gunnery, June 1941. (Imperial War Museum/H 10306)
Air Vice Marshal the Hon. R.A. Cochrane. (Imperial War Museum/CH 14564); Sir Charles Craven. (Cambridge University Library/MS Vickers); Sir Norman Bottomley. (National Portrait Gallery, London/Howard Coster); Arthur Collins; Air Marshal Sir John Linnell. (Imperial War Museum/CM 5259); Gp. Capt. F. W. Winterbotham. (Barry James Gilmore/Fairfax Media/Getty Images)
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris. (Imperial War Museum/CH 13020)