THE BRUNEVAL RAID: Flashpoint of the Radar War

by George Millar ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 9, 1975

While not as exciting as James Leasor's Green Beach (see above -- also about a British raid on the French coast to capture secret German radar equipment), The Bruneval Raid is broader on the scientific side and has some amusing stiff-upper-lip humor thrown in. Millar has researched the history of British and German radar. Since both nations discovered it independently, neither could determine how advanced the other was. Each had developed ways of jamming the other's radar but were reluctant to reveal these simple methods (such as dropping thousands of pieces of tinfoil during a raid -- the aluminum looked like numberless planes on the radarscreen) and thus teach the enemy how to jam effectively. England was ringed with radar defenses almost from the start of WW II, but the Germans found a precision bombing technique by triangulating their beams which made it necessary for the English to capture a unit intact. A night sortie by a parachute squadron was carried out sucessfully, with the raiders returning by ship. The adventurous operation makes a brief but lively climax to the book's main subject, research development -- which has a different fascination from battle. Green Beach is the better read.

Pub Date: May 9, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION