Pen and Sword

Dambusters The Forging of a Legend 617 Squadron in World War II

by  Chris Ward

Reviewed By  Pablo Bauleo, IPMS# 46363

MSRP: $49.99 ISBN: 978-1-848840-02-7 Distributed by Casemate Publishing: : www.casematepublishing.com The attack on the Ruhr dams was the opening act of 617 Squadron during World War Two. The other operations undertaken by 617 Squadron have been, somewhat, eclipsed by attack on the dams. This book corrects that, by covering the whole operative history of 617 Sqn, from the Dams, to the special operation on support D-Day (when they dropped chaff to fake an invasion fleet in the German radars around the Calais area), the attacks on the Tirpitz, and more. The book has a great balance between historical research and easiness for reading. It covers with impressive details the operations, without being a dry enumeration of the mission debriefing reports. Another good point of this book is that the authors interviewed witness (when possible) as to get 'first hand' versions of the events depicted in the book. They also went the extra mile, doing research on "both sides of the hill", reporting events from the Allied and Axis point of view, with very good detail of the follow-up German investigation after the sinking of the Tirpitz. Highly recommended for aviation history aficionados. I would like to thank Casemate Publishing for the review sample.