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Operation Jericho book cover
Operation Jericho
Freeing the French Resistance From Gestapo Jail, Amiens 1944
2022
First Published
3.92
Average Rating
80
Number of Pages

Part of Series

This is the story of Operation Jericho, the spectacular prison break staged by an elite group of British, Australian and New Zealand bomber pilots, who flew a daring low-level mission to blow holes in the walls of Amiens jail and free French Resistance prisoners under the sentence of death during World War II. With D-Day looming, early 1944 was a time of massive intelligence activity across northern France, and many résistants were being captured and imprisoned by the Germans. Among the jails full of French agents was Amiens, where hundreds awaited likely execution for their activities. To repay their debt of honour, MI6 requested an air raid with a seemingly impossible to simultaneously blow holes in the prison walls, free as many men and women as possible while minimizing casualties, and kill German guards in their quarters. The crews would have to fly their bomb-run at an altitude of just 20ft. Despite the huge difficulties, the RAF decided that the low-level specialists of No. 140 Wing had a chance of success. With the aid of first-hand accounts, explanatory 3D diagrams and dramatic original artwork, the eminent historian Robert Lyman explains how one of the most difficult and spectacular air raids of World War II was pulled off, and debunks some of the myths over why the raid was ordered in the first place.

Avg Rating
3.92
Number of Ratings
12
5 STARS
42%
4 STARS
25%
3 STARS
25%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
8%
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Author

Robert Lyman
Robert Lyman
Author · 15 books

By birth a New Zealander, I was educated in Australia and at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. After a 20-year career in the British Army I turned my hand to writing, my PhD being published in 2004 as 'Slim, Master of War, a military biography of arguably Britain's greatest field commander of WW2. I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. I am a trustee of the Kohima Educational Trust, which seeks to provide educational opportunities for young learners in Nagaland.

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