Vast portions of this book deal with the history of the British and German radars, and the countermeasures of each to the other sides radars. This is all very interesting, as there are not too many books out there dealing with that subject. Only the last couple of chapters actually deal with the raid on Bruneval and the German radar station there. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book as a primer on the radar war and the raid on the Bruneval. ( )

Mondjuk Sztálingrádhoz vagy Normandiához képest piszlicsáré egy ügynek tűnik ez: pár angol kommandós megbugázza egy német radar alkatrészeit valamikor ’42 februárjában. Millar azonban remek szerző, aki nagy erővel képes érzékeltetni, mennyire sarkalatos pontja volt a világháborúnak a németek és britek közti tudományos verseny a lokátoros bemérés területén*. Izgalmas, Spielberg-filmbe illő arcképet rajzol a főbb szereplőkről, és érzékletesen vázolja a szabad diskurzusra épülő, nyitott tudományos légkört, amiben az angolszász fejlesztők kreativitása érvényesülni tudott. Másrészről pedig nem fél beszélni a szövetségesek pitiáner hibáiról, a RAF és az Admiralitás (légierő és tengerészet) dedós rivalizálásáról, és a bürokrácia nyavalyás kekeckedéséről sem. Legnagyobb erénye kétségkívül az, hogy eredményesen ötvözi a magas szintű tudományos szakirodalmat a kémregények sodró lendületével – mikor már belefáradunk a hullámhosszok és megaherzek záporozásába, mindig jön egy párhuzamos fejezet, ami a kommandósok és hírszerzők ügyes-bajos dolgaival traktál minket, felüdülés gyanánt. (Másnak meg talán ez a fárasztó, meglehet.) Érdekes, helyenként kifejezetten élvezetes munka, az angolszász történelmi munkák közül az egyik első fecske Magyarországon.

* Persze testvérek között is vagy ezerszázötven sarkalatos pont volt, ami eldöntötte a világháború végkimenetelét, de Millarnak kétségkivül joga van egyre fókuszálni közülük. ( )

The actual raid on the German Radar installation in France at Bruneval is only a small amount of the book. More words have been used to explain the interesting advancements in radio and radar of the time. The actions of not only the British and Germans but also the French have been included. This secret story is one that isn't often heard about. I found it so interesting that I suspect I will be tracking down copies of a couple of books listed in the bibliography. ( )

A well written survey of the radar war in general and the raid to examine the German unit at Bruneval in particular. It felt like about a 50-50 split between the 2 foci of the book. More in depth treatments have been written since, but not so as to obsolete this good book. ( )

The Bruneval Raid subtitled “The first account of a dramatic World War II raid to steal a secret German radar station in occupied France” is a concise combined history of the radar war, the evolution of photoreconnaissance, and, how the needs of the former and the discoveries of the latter led to a commando raid on an isolated section of the occupied French coast.

The sections of the book concerning radar open with an introduction to the prewar English efforts towards developing radar. It sketches German developments and describes the English reaction to the discovery that the Germans too had radar. The principle players in English wartime advances in radar technology (Tizard, Watson-Watt, R.V. Jones) and their accomplishments are introduced and described. There is a brief recounting of Knickebein, the British successes with respect to defeating it (bending the beams), the development and deployment of more advanced German technology and the realization on the part of the British in 1942 that the Germans had a new, detected but not physically observed, ultra-short wavelength radar that was a threat to their bombers.

The photoreconnaissance sections describe the efforts of Sidney Cotton and his almost single handed efforts with respect to improving and refining every major aspect of photoreconnaissance – cameras, film, aircraft, flight tactics, and photo interpretation. The reader is introduced to the vagaries of aerial photoreconnaissance, the methods of flying (dicing), and men such as Tony Hill who flew the planes, took the pictures, and brought them back to England.

Having provided the reader with brief histories of the two areas of technology the book describes how British attention was first focused on Bruneval when airborne radar sensors identified it as a source of the new German radar transmissions and how Tony Hill flew the successful recon missions which brought back pictures of the new radar. Chapters 19 and 20 provide a description of the raid and Chapters 21 and 22 describe what happened in England and Germany in its aftermath.

A great deal has been written about the radar war and aerial reconnaissance in the years since this book was first published in 1975. Many of the principle players in both venues have either written their own accounts (e.g. The Wizard War – Jones) or have been the subject of biographies. There have also been books written about the two technical issues (e.g. Spies in the Sky – Dowling, Instruments of Darkness-Price). In spite of the passage of time The Bruneval Raid still reads well and could almost be viewed as a well written “Cliff Notes” summary of all of the other books about these technologies during the early part of World War II. If you are looking for a concise history of the radar wars of World War II and the wartime developments in photoreconnaissance I think you will find this book to your liking. ( )