The British WW2 films of the 50s tried to stick pretty close to history. or at least what was thought of at the time as history. "The Dam Busters," which everybody saw, stuck to the "RAF Official Version." The big difference was - as revealed by Sir Max Hastings (my favorite historian) in "Operation Chastise" - that Guy Gibson, the guy w…
The British WW2 films of the 50s tried to stick pretty close to history. or at least what was thought of at the time as history. "The Dam Busters," which everybody saw, stuck to the "RAF Official Version." The big difference was - as revealed by Sir Max Hastings (my favorite historian) in "Operation Chastise" - that Guy Gibson, the guy who led the mission, was in reality the polar opposite of Richard Todd. He was - as one of the surviving pilots said of him in "Secrets of the Dead" - "a bloody little English schoolboy," and that is not a compliment. Since learning that, I was always interested in how a guy like that got the "legends" who volunteered for it, none of whom would have been faulted if they had passed on it, to sign up with him since he was well-known as the personal little shitter he was. "Operation Chastise" is excellent because Sir Max had the opportunity 50 years ago to interview all the principals of the Dams Raid, all of whom (save for Gibson and Hopgood) were still alive, including Barnes Wallis. He also goes the extra mile and tells what happened in the German towns and villages downstream of the dam after it was broken.
The British WW2 films of the 50s tried to stick pretty close to history. or at least what was thought of at the time as history. "The Dam Busters," which everybody saw, stuck to the "RAF Official Version." The big difference was - as revealed by Sir Max Hastings (my favorite historian) in "Operation Chastise" - that Guy Gibson, the guy who led the mission, was in reality the polar opposite of Richard Todd. He was - as one of the surviving pilots said of him in "Secrets of the Dead" - "a bloody little English schoolboy," and that is not a compliment. Since learning that, I was always interested in how a guy like that got the "legends" who volunteered for it, none of whom would have been faulted if they had passed on it, to sign up with him since he was well-known as the personal little shitter he was. "Operation Chastise" is excellent because Sir Max had the opportunity 50 years ago to interview all the principals of the Dams Raid, all of whom (save for Gibson and Hopgood) were still alive, including Barnes Wallis. He also goes the extra mile and tells what happened in the German towns and villages downstream of the dam after it was broken.