Borne of a well-established partnership between the authors Colin Higgs and Bruce Vigar, this is an evocative and beautifully crafted piece of work that is sure to appeal to the Aviation fraternity as well as serving as a memorial to the veterans whose exploits characterise this most daring and iconic of raids. As we approach the 70th Anniversary of the 1943 Raid,, it seems fitting that we should have such an account to mark the occasion, consolidating the collective experiences of a selection of aircrew who contributed to the proceedings. The authors have set themselves the ambitious task of interviewing as wide a cross-section of veterans as they can, in order to fill out a book of representative recollections. Each chapter is dedicated to a separate veteran, woven together with the author's supplementary historical narrative, setting each account in context.
Complete with a selection of black and white photographs, set in plates, the finished work presents itself as a kind of scrapbook - voices, images, snippets of transcribed memoir whose cumulative effect is to create a real sense of the times as hand, with authentic commentary from those who engaged at the forefront of the action.