Dambusters

Dambusters Story: A Battle Against Time will document historian Dan Snow as he relives the countdown to Operation Chastise, one of the most daring bombing raids in history. The attacks employed 133 airmen whose mission it was to deal a hammer blow to the Nazi war effort.

On June 6, 1944, British, American and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy as part of largest amphibious assault in military history: D-Day. Lesser known is the role played by the elite squadron of British bombers known as the Dambusters, whose elaborate diversion convinced German high command that the assault was happening somewhere else. Relive the legacy of this legendary bomber outfit, thanks to recently declassified material, rare and restored footage, as well as modern-day interviews with the surviving members.

A brand new history of the Dambusters raid from best-selling and critically acclaimed military historian, Max Hastings. Operation Chastise, the destruction of the Mohne and Eder dams in north-west Germany by the RAF's 617 Squadron on the night of 16/17 May 1943, 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 led the raid. In the 21st Century, however, he urges that we should see the dambusters in much more complex shades.

The story of 617 Squadron RAF, which carried out one of the most dangerous and audacious aerial bombing raids of World War II It was the evening of 16 M ay 1943

In May 1943, a specially established RAF squadron made its permanent imprint on military aviation history by flying a high-risk, low-level, nighttime attack against German hydro-electric dams vital to the Nazi armaments industry in the Ruhr Valley. A comparatively tiny part of Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris' four-month-long "Battle of the Ruhr," this one raid had an impact totally out of proportion to the small number of aircraft involved. It highlights the synergy of science and technology, weapons development and production, mission planning and practice, and the unflinching courage in the execution of a highly dangerous bombing raid. Furthermore, it established a legend that still resonates today.