Goodreads Reviews: Churchill's Shadow Raiders

Churchill's Shadow Raiders: The Race to Develop Radar, World War II's Invisible Secret Weapon by Damien Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

England takes great pride in its many accomplishments in history. They believed themselves to be the inventors of Radio Detecting and Ranging or radar, however WWII would change all of those assumptions. As Germany was raining heavy fire down on England, it became apparent that the Germans were clearly in possession of their own radar technology. And not only in possession, but also advanced radar that far surpassed what England had created.

As Churchill becomes more and more aware of this fact (even amid the naysayers of his cabinet), he believes that England must strike back if they are ever going to turn the tide of the war. After the Battle of Dunkirk, Churchill asks for volunteers into the Special Services. These men would eventually form the Special Air Service, a highly trained airborne infantry. Their primary focus was to land in enemy territory and stop them from engaging any farther.

The Special Air Services had a shaky start, with the supposed failure of Operation Colossus, but was actually a remarkable success. And then finally the real baptism by fire, Operation Biting. The full blown raid into France where Hitler was housing the advanced radar system. Instead of destroying it, though, England wants to retrieve it and bring it back to help better their own technology.

The Special Air Services, Op Biting, charging into unknown territory to steal something that may not even exist was a gamble, but it ended being a fortunate one. The British Airborne proved to be necessary to the Battle of Britain, and became the model for America's own airborne infantry.

There's a story about me coming across this book. Last year, I completely immersed myself into the study of WWII after reading Band of Brothers and then watching the mini-series. The series was so excellent that it left me wondering about the real men and their lives. So for the rest of the year, I read as many books as I could find about the men of Easy Company and reviewing them on both Goodreads and my personal website.

So now, we get to early January of this year and I get this e-mail:

Hi, Ivy,

I found your blogpost on the Band of Brothers books and series, and wanted to e-mail you to see if you might be interested in another WWII nonfiction book:

CHURCHILL’S SHADOW RAIDERS: The Race to Develop Radar, WWII’s Invisible Secret Weapon (Kensington Books; May 2020). This is the true story of a daring parachute-and-sea raid – executed shortly after Dunkirk - to capture the Germans’ advanced Wurzburg radar, using what Churchill called “ungentlemanly warfare”. The Shadow Raiders undertook the first operation to seize the German radar in Operation Biting – the Allies’ first successful airborne raid, claiming a top-secret weapon that changed the course of history.

Award-winning British author and war correspondent Damien Lewis used salvaged British War archival material to create the thrilling narrative. Lewis has spent over two decades reporting from war, disaster, and conflict zones around the world, winning numerous awards. He has written more than a dozen books about WWII, including The Ministry for Ungentlemanly Warfare, The Dog Who Could Fly, SAS Ghost Patrol, and The Nazi Hunters. His work has been published in over forty languages, and many of his books have been made, or are being developed as feature films, TV series, or as plays for the stage.

More about the book and a link to a digital copy is below my signature. (If you’re not sure, you can listen to Damien talk about the book here: Episode 287-Damien Lewis Interview: Churchill’s Shadow Raiders | The History of WWII Podcast - by Ray Harris Jr (worldwariipodcast.net)

Thanks! – Best, Ann

Ann Pryor
Senior Communications Manager
Kensington Publishing Corp.

So, needless to say, I was absolutely surprised that a publisher had been on my site and read my reviews! And of course, I was genuinely very interested in the book as well. I finally managed to purchase the book, not knowing what to expect as this was from England's POV, but I was certainly not disappointed either.

There were a lot of people in this story and it was hard to keep up with everyone, but they were so wonderful to read about as well. The Special Air Services wasn't just soldiers. It was made up of scientists, mechanics and codebreakers; all of them with gifts and talents that were employed for the war effort. The French Resistance plays a vital role in this story. One of my favorite chapters was about the French Resistance leader, Gilbert Renault and the great sacrifices he and his people made.

Of course, not being a scientific person, I had a hard time understanding the science behind radar and was lost on more than one occasion. However, the people and the places more than made up for my momentary confusion. There is one excerpt from the book that so overwhelmed me, that for a moment I wondered if I was reading about a battle from WWII or from a thousand years ago:

All of a sudden, a new sound reverberated across the headland. Incredibly stirring to Cox and his sappers, it must have struck the fear of God into the enemy. A crescendo of bloodcurdling yells rose above the battle noise: 'Caber Feigh! Caber Feigh! Caber Feigh' - Gaelic for 'The Antlers of the Deer.' Since the immemorial this had been the battle cry of the Seaforth Highlanders, whose distinctive cap badge displays a highland stag. Charteris and his men were making for the valley of death, leading a wild charge.