Enemy coast ahead

by Guy Gibson

Book, 1955

Status

Available

Call number

940.54

Genres

Publication

London Pan Books 1955 xiv,286pp 18cm pbk

Description

First published in 1944, Enemy Coast Ahead quickly became regarded as the classic Bomber Command book, following Gibson's RAF career from flying the Hampden and Manchester at the beginning of World War II to the triumphant return home of the Lancasters from the famous 1943 Dambuster raid, which Gibson led and for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Enemy Coast Ahead is also the inside story of life in Bomber Command throughout the first five years of World War II, culminating in intense drama as the RAF planned, practiced, and strove towards breaching the dams on that famous night in May 1943.

User reviews

LibraryThing member john257hopper

This is the memoir of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who led the Dambusters raid in May 1943, written in 1944, but published only after the war ended. It covers the period from the eve of war as he is peacefully relaxing on a beach in late August 1939 and contemplating the likelihood of war breaking

out, up to the Dambusters raid itself on the 16/17 May 1943, though the events of that raid, which is likely to be the main reason why most readers pick up this book, occupy only a small proportion of the narrative. Prior to this, I must admit it does sometimes get a little repetitive with numerous accounts of other raids over occupied Europe and a fair amount of technical detail, though this is understandable, given the rapid development of aeronautic and ballistic technology at this time. Probably one of the greatest features of the narrative is its complete lack of any hindsight on the events of the war. Gibson and his comrades were living through, and very often dying in, the events as they happened - some 40% (53/133) of all the airmen who were on the Dambuster raid perished during it, and many more died during subsequent military actions, with Gibson himself killed in a bombing raid in September 1944 over Holland, his plane crashing into the side of a hill in slightly mysterious circumstances. They worked in what to us is a bizarre environment, facing, at very young ages, often in their early 20s, death every time they flew into the air, with a mixture of bravery, fear, recklessness and fatalism. Some of Gibson's comments about the deaths of others may strike many modern readers as trivial, even callous, but they were fighting in an existential struggle for the survival of any kind of freedom in a world threatened by the Nazi machine, without the luxury of knowing as we do how the titanic struggle would finally be resolved.

This edition has copious notes, often correcting errors made by Gibson, who was largely writing from his own memory, or providing further background on other airmen; and many photographs.

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