Operation Biting

Buch

Hastings, Max

  • Titel: Operation Biting : The 1942 Parachute Assault to Capture Hitler's Radar / Max Hastings
  • Person(en): Hastings, Max [Verfasser*in]
  • Organisation(en): HarperCollins Publishers [Verlag]
  • Ausgabe: 1st edition, Trade Paperback
  • Sprache: Englisch
  • Originalsprache: Englisch
  • Umfang: 362 Seiten : Illustrationen ; 24 cm
  • Erschienen: London : William Collins, 2024
  • ISBN/Preis: 978-0-00-864217-4 Broschur : EUR 22.00
  • Schlagwörter: Großbritannien / Army ; Zweiter Weltkrieg ; Kommandounternehmen ; Radar
  • Signatur: LERNEN und ARBEITEN > Geografie und Geschichte
  • Dgq 0 HAST•/21 Englisch Dgq 0

Inhalt: Operation Biting was one of the most thrilling British commando raids of World War II, and probably the most successful. In February 1942 RAF intelligence was baffled by a newly-identified radar network on the coast of Nazi-occupied Europe, codenamed Würzburg. The brilliant scientist Dr RV Jones proposed an assault to capture key components. The nearest accessible enemy set stood upon a steep cliff at Bruneval in Normandy. Winston Churchill enthused, as did Lord Louis Mountbatten, chief of Combined Operations. A company of the newly-formed Airborne Forces was committed to the operation, which took place on the night of 27/28 February. Amid heavy snow 120 men landed, some of whom were misdropped almost two miles from their objective. They nonetheless launched the assault, dismantled the German radar, and after three nail-biting hours in France and a fierce battle with Wehrmacht defenders, escaped in the nick of time by landing-craft across stormy seas to Portsmouth. Max Hastings recounts this cliffhanging tale in a wealth of previously unchronicled detail. He portrays its remarkable personalities: the 'boffin' RV Jones; the peacock Mountbatten; the troubled husband of Daphne Du Maurier, Gen. 'Boy' Browning, who commanded the Airborne Division; 'Colonel Remy', the French secret agent whose men reconnoitered Bruneval at mortal risk; Major John Frost, who led the paras into action; Charlie Cox, the little RAF technician who stripped the Würzburg and became an unexpected hero; Wing-Commander Charles Pickard, a legendary bomber pilot who led the drop squadron. Seldom have so many fascinating personalities been brought together to fulfil a mission that became a front-page triumph in a season of British defeats. Recounted in Hastings' familiar best-selling blend of top-down and bottom-up action detail, Operation Biting tells a story that has become almost forgotten yet deserves to rank among the epic tales of courage and daring that took place in the greatest conflict in history.