CHURCHILL'S SHADOW RAIDERS

The award-winning historian and war reporter tells the story of a fateful night, February 27th 1942, a thrillingly tense account of Churchill's raiders in their finest hour and one of the most daring raids of World War Two, and the top-secret weapon that changed the course of history. It examines the race to develop radar, the invisible secret weapon. In the winter of 1941 as Britain faced defeat on all fronts, an RAF reconnaissance pilot photographed an alien-looking object on the French coast near Le Havre. The mysterious device, a 'Wurzburg Dish' appeared to be a new form of radar technology - ultra-compact, highly precise, and pointed directly across the English Channel. Britain's experts found it hard to believe the Germans had mastered such groundbreaking technology, but one young technician thought it not only possible, but he convinced Winston Churchill that the dish posed a unique and deadly threat to the Allied forces that required desperate measures and drastic action. So was launched Operation Biting, an extraordinary 'snatch-and-grab' raid on Germany's secret radar instillation. It offered Churchill's elite airborne force the Special Air Service a rare opportunity to redeem themselves after a previous failed mission, and to shift the tides of war forever. Led by the legendary Major John Frost, these brave paratroopers would risk all in a daring airborne assault, with only a small stretch of beach menaced by enemy guns as their exit point. With the help of a volunteer radar technician who knew how to dismantle the dish, as well as the courageous men and women of the French Resistance, they succeeded against all odds with their act of brazen robbery. Some would die, others would be captured - all fought with resolute bravery. Three maps, 36 archive photos including cartoons.