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Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by
617 Squadron
Number 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron, originally based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and currently based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. It is commonly known as "''The Dambusters''", for its actions during Operation Chastis ...
RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "
bouncing bomb
A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-deter ...
s" developed by
Barnes Wallis. The
Möhne
The Möhne () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Ruhr. The Möhne passes the towns of Brilon, Rüthen and Warstein. There is a large artificial lake near the mouth of the river, the Möhne Reservoir, us ...
and
Edersee
The Edersee, also known as the Ederstausee, is an reservoir in Waldeck-Frankenberg, Hesse, Germany with of storage space. It has the 2nd largest area (behind the Forggensee), and the 3rd largest volume (behind the Bleilochstausee and Rurstause ...
dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the
Ruhr valley and of villages in the
Eder valley; the
Sorpe Dam
The Sorpe Dam (german: Sorpetalsperre) is a dam on the Sorpe river, near the small town of Sundern in the district of Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Together with the Biggesee, the Möhne Reservoir, and the Verse reservoir, ...
sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians – about 600 Germans and 1,000 forced labourers, mainly Soviet – were killed by the flooding. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. The RAF lost 53 aircrew killed and 3 captured, with 8 aircraft destroyed.
Background
Before the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, the British
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...
had identified the industrialised
Ruhr Valley
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
, especially its dams, as important strategic targets. The dams provided
hydroelectric power
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
and pure water for steel-making, drinking water and water for the canal transport system. Calculations indicated that attacks with large bombs could be effective but required a degree of accuracy which
RAF Bomber Command had been unable to attain when attacking a well-defended target. A one-off surprise attack might succeed but the RAF lacked a weapon suitable for the task.
Concept
![Operation Chastise (the Dambusters' Raid) 16 - 17 May 1943 C(AM)1603](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Operation_Chastise_%28the_Dambusters%27_Raid%29_16_-_17_May_1943_C%28AM%291603.jpg)
The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer at
Vickers
Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public i ...
. Wallis had worked on the
Vickers Wellesley
The Vickers Wellesley was a medium bomber that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey. It was one of two aircraft to be named after Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of ...
and
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...
bombers and while working on the
Vickers Windsor
The Vickers Windsor was a Second World War British four-engine heavy bomber, designed by Barnes Wallis and Rex Pierson at the Vickers-Armstrongs factory at Brooklands.
Design and development
As a possible replacement for the pre-war Vickers ...
, he had also begun work, with
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
support, on an anti-shipping bomb, although dam destruction was soon considered. At first, Wallis wanted to drop a bomb from an altitude of about , part of the
earthquake bomb
The earthquake bomb, or seismic bomb, was a concept that was invented by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis early in World War II and subsequently developed and used during the war against strategic targets in Europe. A seismic bomb ...
concept. No bomber aircraft was capable of flying at such an altitude or of carrying such a heavy bomb and Wallis proposed the six-engined
Victory Bomber for this purpose but this was rejected.
[Sweetman 1999, p. 40.] Wallis realized that a much smaller explosive charge would suffice if it exploded against the dam wall under the water but German reservoir dams were protected by heavy
torpedo nets
Torpedo nets were a passive ship defensive device against torpedoes. They were in common use from the 1890s until the Second World War. They were superseded by the anti-torpedo bulge and torpedo belts.
Origins
With the introduction of the Whitehe ...
to prevent an explosive device from travelling through the water.
[Sweetman 1999, pp. 44-45.]
Wallis devised a bomb (more accurately, a mine) in the shape of a cylinder, equivalent to a very large
depth charge armed with a hydrostatic fuse, designed to be given a backspin of 500
rpm
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
. Dropped at and from the release point, the mine would skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall as its forward speed ceased. Initially the backspin was intended to increase the range of the mine but it was later realized that it would cause the mine, after submerging, to run down the side of the dam towards its base, thus maximising the explosive effect against the dam.
[Sweetman 1999, pp. 58-61.] This weapon was code-named
''Upkeep''.
[Sweetman 1999, p. 66.]
![Nant y Gro Dam - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Nant_y_Gro_Dam_-_geograph.org.uk_-_887096.jpg)
Testing of the concept included blowing up a scale model dam at the
Building Research Establishment
The Building Research Establishment (BRE) is a centre of building science in the United Kingdom, owned by charitable organisation the BRE Trust. It is a former UK government national laboratory that was privatised in 1997. BRE provides resear ...
, Watford, in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused
Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July. A subsequent test suggested that a charge of exploded under water would breach a full-size dam; crucially this weight would be within the carrying capacity of an
Avro Lancaster.
[Sweetman 1999, pp. 60-62.] The first air drop trials were at
Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) in Dorset, England is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain.A. P. Carr and M. W. L. Blackley, "Investigations Bearing on the Age and Development of Chesil Beach, Dorset, and the Associat ...
in December 1942; these used a spinning 4 ft 6 in sphere dropped from a modified Vickers Wellington, serial BJ895/G; the same aircraft was used until April 1943 when the first modified Lancasters became available. The tests continued at Chesil Beach and
Reculver
Reculver is a village and coastal resort about east of Herne Bay on the north coast of Kent in south-east England.
It is in the ward of the same name, in the City of Canterbury district of Kent.
Reculver once occupied a strategic location ...
, often unsuccessfully, using revised designs of the mine and variations of speed and height.
Avro Chief Designer
Roy Chadwick
Roy Chadwick, CBE, FRSA, FRAeS (30 April 1893 – 23 August 1947) was an aircraft design engineer for the Avro Company.
Born at Marsh Hall Farm, Farnworth, Widnes, the son of the mechanical engineer Charles Chadwick, he was the chief designer ...
adapted the Lancaster to carry the mine. To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper (dorsal) gun turret. The dimensions of the mine and its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed and the mine hung partly below the fuselage. It was mounted on two crutches and before dropping it was spun by an auxiliary motor. Chadwick also worked out the design and installation of controls and gear for the carriage and release of the mine in conjunction with Barnes Wallis. The Avro Lancaster B Mk IIIs so modified were known as ''Lancaster B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning)''.
[Sweetman 1999, pp. 82-83.]
![Dambstrajj](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Dambstrajj.gif)
In February 1943, Air Vice-Marshal
Francis Linnell at the
Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the
Vickers Windsor
The Vickers Windsor was a Second World War British four-engine heavy bomber, designed by Barnes Wallis and Rex Pierson at the Vickers-Armstrongs factory at Brooklands.
Design and development
As a possible replacement for the pre-war Vickers ...
bomber (which did not become operational). Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to offer to resign.
[Sweetman 1999, p. 78.] Sir
Arthur Harris, head of Bomber Command, after a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain
Frederick Winterbotham
Frederick William Winterbotham (16 April 1897 – 28 January 1990) was a British Royal Air Force officer (latterly a Group Captain) who during World War II supervised the distribution of Ultra intelligence. His book ''The Ultra Secret'' was ...
, who ensured that the
Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal
Charles Portal
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford, (21 May 1893 – 22 April 1971) was a senior Royal Air Force officer. He served as a bomber pilot in the First World War, and rose to become fi ...
, heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced. On 26 February 1943, Portal over-ruled Harris and ordered that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage.
[Sweetman 1999, p. 79.] With eight weeks to go, the larger Upkeep mine that was needed for the mission and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
Assignment
![Cochrane, Gibson, King George VI and Whitworth discussing the Dambusters Raid](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Cochrane%2C_Gibson%2C_King_George_VI_and_Whitworth_discussing_the_Dambusters_Raid.jpg)
The operation was given to
No. 5 Group RAF
No. 5 Group was a Royal Air Force bomber group of the Second World War, led during the latter part (February 1943 – 1945) by AVM Sir Ralph Cochrane.
History
Overview
The Group was formed on 1 September 1937, with its headquarters at RAF Mild ...
, which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron X, as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Led by 24-year-old
Wing Commander
Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...
Guy Gibson
Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, (12 August 1918 – 19 September 1944) was a distinguished bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. He was the first Commanding Officer of No. 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam ...
, a veteran of more than 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, twenty-one bomber crews were selected from 5 Group squadrons. The crews included RAF personnel of several nationalities, members of the
Royal Australian Air Force
"Through Adversity to the Stars"
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march =
, mascot =
, anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...
(RAAF),
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
(RCAF) and
Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The squadron was based at
RAF Scampton
Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station located adjacent to the A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-west of the city of Lincoln, England.
RAF Scampton stands on the site of a Firs ...
, about north of
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
.
The targets selected were the
Möhne Dam and the
Sorpe Dam
The Sorpe Dam (german: Sorpetalsperre) is a dam on the Sorpe river, near the small town of Sundern in the district of Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Together with the Biggesee, the Möhne Reservoir, and the Verse reservoir, ...
, upstream from the
Ruhr industrial area, with the
Eder Dam on the
Eder River, which feeds into the
Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...
, as a secondary target. The loss of
hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect and there was potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
Preparations
![Bouncing bomb tranining - IWM FLM 2343](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Bouncing_bomb_tranining_-_IWM_FLM_2343.jpg)
Bombing from an altitude of , at an air speed of and at set distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude training began. There were also technical problems to solve, the first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. The Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs,
making the same angle as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
documentary ''Dambusters Declassified'' (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used, owing to problems related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric
altimeter
An altimeter or an altitude meter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth under water. The m ...
s lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the
fuselage
The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...
, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the
Eyebrook Reservoir
Eyebrook Reservoir (or Eye Brook Reservoir) is a reservoir and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which straddles the border between Leicestershire and Rutland in central England. The closest towns are Corby and Uppingham.
The rese ...
, near
Uppingham
Uppingham is a market town in Rutland, England, off the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, south of the county town, Oakham. It had a population of 4,745 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 4,853 in 2019. It is known for its ...
, Rutland;
Abberton Reservoir
Abberton Reservoir is a pumped storage freshwater reservoir in eastern England near the Essex coast, with an area of . Most of its water is pumped from the River Stour. It is the largest body of freshwater in Essex.
Constructed between 1935 ...
near Colchester;
Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire; and Fleet Lagoon on
Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) in Dorset, England is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain.A. P. Carr and M. W. L. Blackley, "Investigations Bearing on the Age and Development of Chesil Beach, Dorset, and the Associat ...
. Wallis's bomb was first tested at the
Elan Valley Reservoirs
The Elan Valley Reservoirs are a chain of man-made lakes created from damming the Elan and Claerwen rivers within the Elan Valley in Mid Wales. The reservoirs, which were built by the Birmingham Corporation Water Department, provide clean drin ...
. The squadron took delivery of the bombs on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 18:00 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed the squadron's two
flight
Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...
commanders,
Squadron Leader
Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...
Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr
H. M. "Dinghy" Young, Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Flt Lt John V. Hopgood and the squadron bombing leader,
Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb-aimers at about midday.
Organisation
![Upkeep in Lancaster](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Upkeep_in_Lancaster.jpg)
Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups (listed by pilot): Gibson,
Hopgood and Flt Lt
H. B. "Micky" Martin (an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt
David Maltby and Flt Lt
Dave Shannon
David John Shannon, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar (27 May 1922 – 8 April 1993) was an Australian bomber pilot of World War II, known for his part in the "Dambusters" raid on the night of 16/17 May 1943. Born in South Australi ...
(RAAF); and Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and
Pilot Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt
Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), P/O Vernon Byers (RCAF), Flt Lt Norman Barlow (RAAF), P/O Geoff Rice
and Flt Lt
Les Munro (RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by
Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson, Flt Sgt Bill Townsend, Flt Sgt Ken Brown (RCAF), P/O Warner Ottley and P/O Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or to attack three smaller secondary target dams: the Lister, the Ennepe and the Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission owing to illness.
The Operations Room for the mission was at 5 Group Headquarters in
St Vincents Hall,
Grantham
Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...
, Lincolnshire. The mission codes (transmitted in
morse
Morse may refer to:
People
* Morse (surname)
* Morse Goodman (1917-1993), Anglican Bishop of Calgary, Canada
* Morse Robb (1902–1992), Canadian inventor and entrepreneur
Geography Antarctica
* Cape Morse, Wilkes Land
* Mount Morse, Churchi ...
) were: ''Goner'', meaning "bomb dropped"; ''
Nigger
In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...
'', meaning that the Möhne was breached; and ''Dinghy'', meaning that the Eder was breached. Nigger was the name of Gibson's dog, a black
labrador retriever that had been run over and killed on the morning of the attack. Dinghy was Young's nickname, a reference to the fact that he had twice survived crash landings at sea where he and his crew were rescued from the aircraft's inflatable
rubber dinghy
An inflatable boat is a lightweight boat constructed with its sides and bow made of flexible tubes containing pressurised gas. For smaller boats, the floor and hull is often flexible, while for boats longer than , the floor typically consists ...
.
The attacks
Outbound
The aircraft used two routes, carefully avoiding known concentrations of
flak
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...
, and were timed to cross the enemy coast simultaneously. The first aircraft, those of Formation No. 2 and heading for the longer, northern route, took off at 21:28 on 16 May.
["617 Squadron, The Operational Record Book 1943–1945, pp. 22–30."](_blank)
''Dambusters.org.uk'', 15 February 2009. Retrieved: 15 May 2009. McCarthy's bomber developed a coolant leak and he took off in the reserve aircraft 34 minutes late.
Formation No. 1 took off in groups of three at 10-minute intervals beginning at 21:39.
The reserve formation did not begin taking off until 00:09 on 17 May.
Formation No. 1 entered continental Europe between
Walcheren
Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two ...
and
Schouwen, flew over the Netherlands, skirted the airbases at
Gilze-Rijen
Gilze en Rijen () is a municipality in the southern Netherlands. The municipality contains four villages: Rijen, Gilze, Hulten and Molenschot. It is home to the Gilze-Rijen Air Base.
Rijen grew in the 19th century due to its leather factories.
P ...
and
Eindhoven, curved around the
Ruhr defences, and turned north to avoid
Hamm before turning south to head for the Möhne River. Formation No. 2 flew further north, cutting over
Vlieland
Vlieland (; fry, Flylân) is a municipality and island in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland is the second most sparsely populated municipality in the Netherlands, after Schiermonnikoog.
Vlieland is one of the West Frisia ...
and crossing the
IJsselmeer before joining the first route near
Wesel
Wesel () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.
Geography
Wesel is situated at the confluence of the Lippe River and the Rhine.
Division of the city
Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighove ...
and then flying south beyond the Möhne to the Sorpe River.
The bombers flew low, at about altitude, to avoid radar detection.
Flight Sergeant George Chalmers, radio operator on
"O for Orange", looked out through the
astrodome
The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston ...
and was astonished to see that his pilot was flying towards the target along a forest's
firebreak
A firebreak or double track (also called a fire line, fuel break, fireroad and firetrail in Australia) is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. A firebre ...
, below treetop level.
First casualties
The first casualties were suffered soon after reaching the Dutch coast. Formation No. 2 did not fare well: Munro's aircraft lost its radio to flak and turned back over the
IJsselmeer, while Rice
flew too low and struck the sea, losing his bomb in the water; he recovered and returned to base. After the completion of the raid Gibson sympathised with Rice, telling him how he had also nearly lost his bomb to the sea. Barlow and Byers crossed the coast around the island of
Texel
Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of Den ...
. Byers was shot down by flak shortly afterwards, crashing into the
Waddenzee
The Wadden Sea ( nl, Waddenzee ; german: Wattenmeer; nds, Wattensee or ; da, Vadehavet; fy, Waadsee, longname=yes; frr, di Heef) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern conti ...
. Barlow's aircraft hit electricity pylons and crashed 5 km east of
Rees, near Haldern. The bomb was thrown clear of the crash and was examined intact by
Heinz Schweizer.
Only the delayed bomber piloted by McCarthy survived to cross the Netherlands. Formation No. 1 lost Astell's bomber near the German hamlet of Marbeck when his Lancaster hit
high voltage electrical cables and crashed into a field.
Attack on the Möhne Dam
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-637-4192-20, Zerstörte Möhnetalsperre](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-637-4192-20%2C_Zerst%C3%B6rte_M%C3%B6hnetalsperre.jpg)
Formation No. 1 arrived over the Möhne lake and Gibson's aircraft (G for George) made the first run, followed by Hopgood (M for Mother). Hopgood's aircraft was hit by flak as it made its low-level run and was caught in the blast of its own bomb, crashing shortly afterwards when a wing disintegrated. Three crew members successfully abandoned the aircraft, but only two survived. Subsequently, Gibson flew his aircraft across the dam to draw the flak away from Martin's run. Martin (P for Popsie) bombed third; his aircraft was damaged, but made a successful attack. Next, Young (A for Apple) made a successful run, and after him Maltby (J for Johnny), when finally the dam was breached. Gibson, with Young accompanying, led Shannon, Maudslay and Knight to the Eder.
Attack on the Eder Dam
![The crew of Lancaster AJ-T sitting on the grass, posed under stormy clouds](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/The_crew_of_Lancaster_AJ-T_sitting_on_the_grass%2C_posed_under_stormy_clouds.jpg)
The Eder Valley was covered by heavy fog, but the dam was not defended with anti-aircraft positions as the difficult topography of the surrounding hills was thought to make an attack virtually impossible. With approach so difficult the first aircraft, Shannon's, made six runs before taking a break. Maudslay (Z for Zebra) then attempted a run but the bomb struck the top of the dam and the aircraft was severely damaged in the blast. Shannon made another run and successfully dropped his bomb. The final bomb of the formation, from Knight's aircraft (N for Nut), breached the dam.
Attacks on the Sorpe and Ennepe Dams
The Sorpe dam was the one least likely to be breached. It was a huge earthen dam, unlike the two concrete-and-steel gravity dams that were attacked successfully. Due to various problems, only two Lancasters reached the Sorpe Dam: Joe McCarthy (in T for Tommy, a delayed aircraft from the second wave) and later Brown (F for Freddie) from the third formation. This attack differed from the previous ones in two ways: the 'Upkeep' bomb was not spun, and due to the topography of the valley the approach was made along the length of the dam, not at right angles over the reservoir.
McCarthy's plane was on its own when it arrived over the Sorpe Dam at 00:15 hours, and realised the approach was even more difficult than expected: the flight path led over a church steeple in the village of
Langscheid, located on the hillcrest overlooking the dam. With only seconds to go before the bomber had to pull up, to avoid hitting the hillside at the other end of the dam, the bomb aimer
George Johnson had no time to correct the bomb's height and heading.
McCarthy made nine attempted bombing runs before Johnson was satisfied. The 'Upkeep' bomb was dropped on the tenth run. The bomb exploded but when he turned his Lancaster to assess the damage, it turned out that only a section of the crest of the dam had been blown off; the main body of the dam remained.
Three of the reserve aircraft had been directed to the Sorpe Dam. Burpee (S for Sugar) never arrived, and it was later determined that the plane had been shot down while skirting the
Gilze-Rijen
Gilze en Rijen () is a municipality in the southern Netherlands. The municipality contains four villages: Rijen, Gilze, Hulten and Molenschot. It is home to the Gilze-Rijen Air Base.
Rijen grew in the 19th century due to its leather factories.
P ...
airfield. Brown (F for Freddie) reached the Sorpe Dam: in the increasingly dense fog, after 7 runs, Brown conferred with his bomb aimer and dropped incendiary devices on either side of the valley, which ignited a fire which subsequently lifted the fog enough to drop a direct hit on the eighth run. The bomb cracked but failed to breach the dam. Anderson (Y for York) never arrived having been delayed by damage to his rear turret and dense fog which made his attempts to find the target impossible. The remaining two bombers were then sent to secondary targets, with Ottley (C for Charlie) being shot down en route to the Lister Dam. Townsend (O for Orange) eventually dropped his bomb at the Ennepe Dam without harming it.
Possible attack on Bever Dam
There is some evidence that Townsend might have attacked the by mistake rather than the Ennepe Dam.
[Sweetman 1999, pp. 222–224.] The War Diary of the German Naval Staff reported that the Bever Dam was attacked at nearly the same time that the Sorpe Dam was. In addition, the ''Wupperverband'' authority responsible for the Bever Dam is said to have recovered the remains of a "mine"; and Paul Keiser, a 19-year-old soldier on leave at his home close to the Bever Dam, reported a bomber making several approaches to the dam and then dropping a bomb that caused a large explosion and a great pillar of flame.
In the book ''The Dambusters' Raid'', author John Sweetman suggests Townsend's report of the moon's reflecting on the mist and water is consistent with an attack that was heading to the Bever Dam rather than to the Ennepe Dam, given the moon's azimuth and altitude during the bombing attacks. Sweetman also points out that the ''Ennepe-Wasserverband'' authority was adamant that only a single bomb was dropped near the Ennepe Dam during the entire war, and that this bomb fell into the woods by the side of the dam, not in the water, as in Townsend's report. Finally, members of Townsend's crew independently reported seeing a manor house and attacking an earthen dam, which is consistent with the Bever Dam rather than the Ennepe Dam. The main evidence supporting the hypothesis of an attack of the Ennepe Dam is Townsend's post-flight report that he attacked the Ennepe Dam on a heading of 355 degrees magnetic. Assuming that the heading was incorrect, all other evidence points toward an attack on the Bever Dam.
Townsend reported difficulty in finding his dam, and in his post-raid report he complained that the map of the Ennepe Dam was incorrect. The Bever Dam is only about southwest of the Ennepe Dam. With the early-morning fog that filled the valleys, it would be understandable for him to have mistaken the two reservoirs.
Return flight
On the way back, flying again at treetop level, two more Lancasters were lost. The damaged aircraft of Maudslay was struck by flak near
Netterden, and Young's (A for Apple) was hit by flak north of
IJmuiden and crashed into the
North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...
just off the coast of the Netherlands.
On the return flight over the Dutch coast, some German flak aimed at the aircraft was aimed so low that shells were seen to bounce off the sea.
Eleven bombers began landing at Scampton at 03:11 hours, with Gibson returning at 04:15. The last of the survivors, Townsend's bomber, landed at 06:15.
It was the last to land because one of its engines had been shut down after passing the Dutch coast. Air Chief Marshal Harris was among those who came out to greet the last crew to land.
List of aircraft involved
Bomb damage assessment
Bomber Command wanted a
bomb damage assessment
Bomb damage assessment (BDA), also known as battle damage assessment, is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target from a Standoff missile, stand-off weapon, most typically a bomb or air launched missile. It is part of the larger disc ...
as soon as possible and the CO of 542 Squadron was informed of the estimated time of the attacks. A photo-reconnaissance
Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
, piloted by
Flying Officer Frank 'Jerry' Fray, took off from
RAF Benson
Royal Air Force Benson or RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located at Benson, near Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. It is a front-line station and home to the RAF's fleet of Westland Puma HC2 support helicopters, us ...
at 07:30 hours and arrived over the Ruhr River some hours after first light.
[Foggo, Daniel and Michael Burke]
"I captured proof of Dambusters' raid".
''The Sunday Telegraph
''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings.
It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...
'' 15 January 2001. Retrieved: 1 February 2008. Photos were taken of the breached dams and the huge floods. The pilot later described the experience:
After the raid
Three aircrew from Hopgood's aircraft parachuted but one later died from wounds and the others were captured. A crewman in Ottley's aircraft survived its crash. In total, therefore, 53 of the 133 aircrew who participated in the attack were
killed, a casualty rate of almost 40 percent. Thirteen of those killed were members of the RCAF and two belonged to the RAAF.
![HM King George VI visits No 617 Sqn RAF](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/HM_King_George_VI_visits_No_617_Sqn_RAF.jpg)
Of the survivors, 34 were decorated at
Buckingham Palace on 22 June, with Gibson awarded the
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...
. There were five
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...
s, 10
Distinguished Flying Crosses and four
bars, two
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
The Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (CGM) was, until 1993, a British military decoration for gallantry in action for petty officers and seamen of the Royal Navy, including Warrant Officers and other ranks of the Royal Marines. It was formerly awa ...
s, eleven
Distinguished Flying Medal
The Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and other British Armed Forces, and formerly to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for "exceptional va ...
s and one bar.
Initial German casualty estimates from the floods were 1,294 killed, including 749 French, Belgian, Dutch and Ukrainian
prisoners of war and labourers.
[ Later estimates put the death toll in the Möhne Valley at about 1,600, including people who drowned in the flood wave downstream from the dam. After a public relations tour of North America, and time spent working in the Air Ministry in London writing the book published as ''Enemy Coast Ahead'', Gibson returned to operations and was killed on a ]Mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
operation in 1944.
Following the Dams Raid, 617 Squadron
Number 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron, originally based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and currently based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. It is commonly known as "''The Dambusters''", for its actions during Operation Chastis ...
was kept together as a specialist unit. A motto, ''Après moi le déluge'' ("After me the flood"), and a squadron badge were chosen. According to Brickhill there was some controversy over the motto, with the original version ''Après nous le déluge'' ("After ''us'' the flood") being rejected by the Heralds
A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms.
Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen to ...
as having inappropriate provenance (having been coined, reportedly, by Madame de Pompadour) and ''après moi le déluge'' having been said by Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
in an "irresponsible" context. The motto having been chosen by King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of I ...
, the latter was finally deemed acceptable. The squadron went on to drop the Tallboy and Grand Slam bomb
The Bomb, Medium Capacity, (Grand Slam) was a earthquake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against German targets towards the end of the Second World War. The bomb was originally called Tallboy Large until the term Tallboy got into the press an ...
s and attacked the German battleship , using an advanced bomb sight, which enabled the bombing of small targets with far greater accuracy than conventional bomb aiming techniques.
In 1977, Article 56 of the Protocol I amendment to the Geneva Conventions outlawed attacks on dams "if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population". There is however an exception if "it is used for other than its normal function and in regular, significant and direct support of military operations and if such attack is the only feasible way to terminate such support".
The last surviving member of the 617 Squadron (aka Dambusters) responsible for the Operation, Johnny Johnson, died in 2022.
Effect on the war
Tactical view
The two direct mine hits on the Möhnesee
Möhnesee is a municipality in the district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
The Möhnesee municipality is situated around the Möhne Reservoir (hence the name), approx. 10 km south of Soest.
History
On the night of ...
dam resulted in a breach around wide and deep. The destroyed dam poured around 330 million tons of water into the western Ruhr region. A torrent of water around high and travelling at around swept through the valleys of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers. A few mines were flooded; 11 small factories and 92 houses were destroyed and 114 factories and 971 houses were damaged. The floods washed away about 25 roads, railways and bridges as the flood waters spread for around from the source. Estimates show that before 15 May 1943 steel production on the Ruhr was 1 million tonnes; this dropped to a quarter of that level after the raid.
The Eder drains towards the east into the Fulda which runs into the Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...
to the North Sea. The main purpose of the Edersee was then, as it is now, to act as a reservoir to keep the Weser and the Mittellandkanal
The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, (german: Mittellandkanal, ) is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connec ...
navigable during the summer months. The wave from the breach was not strong enough to result in significant damage by the time it hit Kassel, approximately downstream.
The greatest impact on the Ruhr armaments production was the loss of hydroelectric power. Two power stations (producing 5,100 kilowatts) associated with the dam were destroyed and seven others were damaged. This resulted in a loss of electrical power in the factories and many households in the region for two weeks. In May 1943 coal production dropped by 400,000 tons which German sources attribute to the effects of the raid.
According to an article by German historian , at least 1,650 people were killed: around 70 of these were in the Eder Valley, and at least 1,579 bodies were found along the Möhne
The Möhne () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Ruhr. The Möhne passes the towns of Brilon, Rüthen and Warstein. There is a large artificial lake near the mouth of the river, the Möhne Reservoir, us ...
and Ruhr rivers, with hundreds missing. Of the bodies found downriver of the Möhne Dam, 1,026 were foreign prisoners of war and forced labourers in different camps, mainly from the Soviet Union. Worst hit was the city of Neheim
Arnsberg (; wep, Arensperg) is a town in the Hochsauerland county, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the location of the Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg administration and one of the three local administration offices of the Hochs ...
(now part of Neheim-Hüsten) at the confluence of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers, where over 800 people perished, among them at least 493 female forced labourers from the Soviet Union. Some non-German sources cite an earlier total of 749 for all foreigners in all camps in the Möhne and Ruhr valleys as the casualty count at a camp just below the Eder Dam.) One source states that the raid was no more than a minor inconvenience to the Ruhr's industrial output, although that is contradicted by others. The bombing boosted British morale.
In his book ''Inside the Third Reich
''Inside the Third Reich'' (german: Erinnerungen, "Memories") is a memoir written by Albert Speer, the Nazi Minister of Armaments from 1942 to 1945, serving as Adolf Hitler's main architect before this period. It is considered to be one of the m ...
'', Albert Speer acknowledged the attempt: "That night, employing just a few bombers, the British came close to a success which would have been greater than anything they had achieved hitherto with a commitment of thousands of bombers." He also expressed puzzlement at the raids: the disruption of temporarily having to shift 7,000 construction workers to the Möhne and Eder repairs was offset by the failure of the Allies to follow up with additional (conventional) raids during the dams' reconstruction, and that represented a major lost opportunity. Barnes Wallis was also of this view; he revealed his deep frustration that Bomber Command never sent a high-level bombing force to hit the Möhne dam while repairs were being carried out. He argued that extreme precision would have been unnecessary and that even a few hits by conventional HE bombs would have prevented the rapid repair of the dam which was undertaken by the Germans.
Strategic view
The Dams Raid was, like many British air raids, undertaken with a view to the need to keep drawing German defensive effort back into Germany and away from actual and potential theatres of ground war, a policy which culminated in the Berlin raids of the winter of 1943–1944. In May 1943 this meant keeping the ''Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
'' aircraft and anti-aircraft defences away from the Soviet Union; in early 1944, it meant clearing the way for the aerial side of the forthcoming Operation Overlord. The considerable amount of labour and strategic resources committed to repairing the dams, factories, mines and railways could not be used in other ways, on the construction of the Atlantic Wall, for example. The pictures of the broken dams proved to be a propaganda and morale boost to the Allies, especially to the British, still suffering from the German bombing of the Baedeker Blitz
The Baedeker Blitz or Baedeker raids were a series of aerial attacks in April and May 1942 by the German ''Luftwaffe'' on English cities during the Second World War. The name derives from Baedeker, a series of German tourist guide books, inclu ...
that had peaked roughly a year earlier.
Even within Germany, as evidenced by Gauleiters' reports to Berlin at the time, the German population regarded the raids as a legitimate attack on military targets and thought they were "an extraordinary success on the part of the English" ic They were not regarded as a pure terror attack by the Germans, even in the Ruhr region, and in response the German authorities released relatively accurate (not exaggerated) estimates of the dead.
An effect of the dam raids was that Barnes Wallis's ideas on earthquake bomb
The earthquake bomb, or seismic bomb, was a concept that was invented by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis early in World War II and subsequently developed and used during the war against strategic targets in Europe. A seismic bomb ...
ing, which had previously been rejected, came to be accepted by 'Bomber' Harris. Prior to this raid, bombing had used the tactic of area bombardment
In military aviation, area bombardment (or area bombing) is a type of aerial bombardment in which bombs are dropped over the general area of a target. The term "area bombing" came into prominence during World War II.
Area bombing is a form of st ...
with many light bombs, in the hope that one would hit the target. Work on the earthquake bombs resulted in the Tallboy and Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
weapons, which caused damage to German infrastructure in the later stages of the war. They rendered the V-2 rocket
The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develop ...
launch complex at Calais unusable, buried the V-3 guns, and destroyed bridges and other fortified installations, such as the Grand Slam attack on the railway viaduct at Bielefeld
Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...
. The most notable successes were the partial collapse of reinforced concrete roofs of U-boat pens at Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
* Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
* Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
** Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Br ...
, and the sinking of the battleship '' Tirpitz''.
Harris regarded the raid as a failure and a waste of resources.
Memorials
File:Wickede (Ruhr)-8348.jpg, Plaque on the monument to the victims of the bombing of the Möhne dam, called there the
File:Information board new memorial.jpg, Details in Germany of operation Chastise at the Möhne dam memorial entrance
File:617SquadronMemorial.jpg, Memorial to Operation Chastise members at Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire
File:Dambuster3.jpg, Memorial at Castricum aan Zee
File:Dambuster4.jpg, Memorial at Castricum aan Zee
In popular culture
* In 1954 a radio dramatisation of Paul Brickhill
Paul Chester Jerome Brickhill (20 December 191623 April 1991) was an Australian fighter pilot, prisoner of war, and author who wrote '' The Great Escape'', '' The Dam Busters'', and ''Reach for the Sky''.
Early life
Brickhill was born in Melbou ...
's book '' The Dam Busters'' was produced by Australasian Radio in 26 half-hour episodes.
* A 1955 film, '' The Dam Busters'', was made about the raids and was very popular. Its depiction of the raid, along with a similar sequence in the film ''633 Squadron
''633 Squadron'' is a 1964 British / American war film directed by Walter Grauman and starring Cliff Robertson, George Chakiris, and Maria Perschy. The plot, which involves the exploits of a fictional World War II British bomber squadron, wa ...
'', provided the inspiration for the Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional space station and superweapon featured in the '' Star Wars'' space-opera franchise. Constructed by the autocratic Galactic Empire, the Death Star is capable of annihilating entire planets into rubble, and serves t ...
trench run in '' Star Wars: A New Hope''. The film is also watched on television by the character Pink in the 1982 film, ''Pink Floyd The Wall
Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...
''.
* In 1984, a home computer combat flight simulator '' The Dam Busters'' was made based on this operation.
* A 1989 British commercial for Carling Black Label
Carling Black Label is a lager distributed by Carling Brewing Company.
History
Although its original focus was on ale, Carling has brewed lager-style beers since the 1870s. In 1927, as part of a corporate re-branding under new president ...
lager
Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...
reused footage from the attack sequence of the 1955 film, with a German sentry on top of the dam catching the perfectly spherical bombs in the manner of a football goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
. The pilot of the attacking Lancaster then delivers the brand slogan: "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label!" A subsequent Carling commercial also used bouncing bomb imagery, this time to enable a British holidaymaker to beat the Germans to the sun beds. The adverts were criticised by the Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003.
History
The creation of ITC, by the Broadcasting Act ...
after complaints, although "a spokeswoman for the German embassy in London dismissed the idea that Germans might find the commercial offensive, adding: 'I find it very amusing'".
* On 12 February 2003, the operation was the subject of an episode of the PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
series ''Secrets of the Dead
''Secrets of the Dead'', produced by WNET 13 New York, is an ongoing PBS television series which began in 2000. The show generally follows an investigator or team of investigators exploring what modern science can tell us about some of the great ...
'', entitled "Bombing Nazi Dams".
* Channel 4 attempted to recreate the raid in 2003 using a modern-day RAF crew.
* "Dam Buster: World War II's Bouncing Bomb" (2005) was episode 12 of the first season of The History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
's docudrama series Man, Moment, Machine, with the main focus on Wallis.
* On 1 September 2006, it was announced that Peter Jackson would produce a remake of the 1955 movie, to be directed by Christian Rivers with production starting in 2008. , production has not been started.
* On 16 May 2008, a commemorative event to mark the 65th anniversary was held at Derwent Reservoir, Derbyshire, including a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events c ...
Lancaster, Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
and Hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
. The event was attended by Les Munro, the only surviving pilot from the original raid at that time, and Richard Todd
Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd (11 June 19193 December 2009) was an Irish-British actor known for his leading man roles of the 1950s. He received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male, and an Academy Award for Best Actor n ...
the actor who played Wing Commander Guy Gibson in the 1955 film. Vic Hallam's Derwent Valley Museum, located on top of the Derwent Reservoir Dam, also tells the tale of Squadron 617 and its training for Operation Chastise.
* In 2011, a project was initiated to recreate a Dambusters raid. Buffalo Airways would fly the mission, with their plane and pilots,["Dambusters Fly Again."]
''History Television''. Retrieved: 21 August 2011. and drop a replica of the bouncing bomb from their Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1 ...
against a replica dam.[Bryan, Hal]
"'Ice Pilots' Help Re-Create 'Dambusters'."
''EAA'', 5 May 2011 Retrieved: 21 August 2011["Dambusters: Building the Bouncing Bomb."]
''Channel 4.'' Retrieved: 21 August 2011. The project was televised in the documentary television show "Dambusters Fly Again in Canada", "Dambusters: Building the Bouncing Bomb" in the UK, and '' Nova'' episode " Bombing Hitler's Dams" in the U.S.["Bombing Hitler's Dams."]
''PBS, WGBH, Nova.'' Retrieved: 12 January 2012. The filming of the documentary was itself documented as part of the ''Ice Pilots NWT
''Ice Pilots NWT'' (known in the UK and the US as ''Ice Pilots''[''Ice Pilots''](_blank)
at Quest TV) is ...
'' reality series that follows Buffalo Airways, in season 3 episode 2 "Dambusters".["Ice Pilots NWT: Season 3, Episode 2: Dambusters."]
''History Television.'' Retrieved: 11 November 2011.
* On 16 May 2013, a commemorative event to mark the 70th anniversary was held at Derwent Reservoir, Derbyshire, including a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group usually comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane. The aircraft are regularly seen at events c ...
Lancaster, Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
and Hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
, followed by a pair of 617 Sqn Tornados.
* In September 2014, a second airworthy Lancaster was visiting Britain from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum
The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum is an aviation museum located at the John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport in Mount Hope, Ontario, Canada. The museum has 47 military jets and propeller-driven aircraft on display.
Displayed is a ...
in Ontario Canada, so two Lancaster bombers were available to conduct a memorial flypast over the Derwent reservoir during the 71st anniversary year of the raid.
* For the 75th anniversary in 2018, which was also the 100th anniversary of the RAF, a Lancaster flypast was planned but cancelled owing to high winds. A flypast was later conducted by an RAF Typhoon aircraft.
* For the 75th anniversary of the raid, Artist Dan Llywelyn Hall painted portraits for all 133 men who participated in the raid. The exhibition went on show at several different locations, including the International Bomber Command Centre in Lincoln on 13 May 2018.
See also
* Attack on the Sui-ho Dam
The attack on the Sui-ho Dam was the collective name for a series of mass air attacks during the Korean War on thirteen hydroelectric generating facilities by United Nations Command air forces as part of the North Korean bombing campaign on Ju ...
during the Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
* Dam failure
A dam failure or dam burst is a catastrophic type of structural failure characterized by the sudden, rapid, and uncontrolled release of impounded water or the likelihood of such an uncontrolled release. Between the years 2000 and 2009 more than ...
* Hydroelectric power station failures
* Operation Eisenhammer
Operation Eisenhammer (German; in English ''Operation Iron Hammer'') was a planned strategic bombing operation against power generators near Moscow and Gorky in the Soviet Union which was planned by Nazi Germany during World War II but eventually ...
, a German plan to wreck critical Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
hydroelectric turbines in World War II
* Operation Garlic
Operation Garlic was an attack on the Dortmund-Ems Canal by 617 Squadron carried out on 14-16 September 1943. The operation was unsuccessful. The canal was not significantly damaged by the attack, while 617 squadron lost five of the eight aircr ...
, an attack by 617 Squadron
Number 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron, originally based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and currently based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. It is commonly known as "''The Dambusters''", for its actions during Operation Chastis ...
on the Dortmund-Ems Canal
References
Notes
Bibliography
* Arthur, Max. ''Dambusters: A Landmark Oral History''. London: Virgin Books, 2008. .
*
* Brickhill, Paul. ''The Dam Busters: An Account of 617 Squadron, R.A.F., 1943–45, with plates''. London: Evans Bros., 1951. "Novelised" style. Covers entire wartime story of 617 Squadron.
* Churchill, Winston S. ''The Second World War, Volume IV: The Hinge of Fate''. 2nd edition. London: Cassell, 1951.
* Cockell, Charles S. "The Science and Scientific Legacy of Operation Chastise." ''Interdisciplinary Science Reviews'' 27, 2002, pp. 278–286.
* Dildy, Douglas C. ''Dambusters: Operation Chastise'', Osprey Raid Series No. 16. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2010. .
* Falconer, Jonathan. ''The Dam Busters Story''. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: Sutton Publishing, 2007. .
* Gibson, Guy. '' Enemy Coast Ahead''. London: Pan Books, 1955. Gibson's own account.
* Hastings, Max. ''Operation Chastise: The RAF's Most Brilliant Attack of World War II.'' HarperCollins, New York, 2020.
*
*
* Robertson, J. H. ''The Story of the Telephone: A History of the Telecommunications Industry of Britain''. London: Pitman & Sons Ltd., 1947.
* Speer, Albert. ''Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs.'' London: Cassell, 1999, First Edition 1970. (Translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston
Richard Winston (1917 – December 22, 1979) and Clara Brussel Winston (1921 – November 7, 1983), were prominent American translators of German works into English.Fraser, C. Gerald (5 January 1980)Richard Winston, 62, Translator of Books from Ger ...
; originally published in German as ''Erinnerungen'' ecollections Propyläen/Ullstein, 1969.) .
* Sweetman, John. ''Operation Chastise''. London: Jane's, 1982. .
* Sweetman, John. ''The Dambusters Raid''. London: Cassell, 1999. .
*
External links
The Dams Raid with context
Official site of the Royal Air Force about Operation Chastise Archived 5-April-2017
Dambusters site with details of Operation Chastise including video footage and more
Online Dambusters exhibition
at the UK National Archives
BBC Online – Myths and Legends – Home of the Dambusters
60th Anniversary BBC News.
* ttp://www.lwl.org/westfaelische-geschichte/portal/Internet/ku.php?tab=web&ID=493 German history website about Operation Chastise
G for George at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra
German photography archive
Dambusters weblog
List of all 133 aircrew who took part in Operation Chastise
20 Historical Photographs from Operation Chastise
Allied Psychological Warfare to Capitalise on the Dambusters Raid
Dambusters site of Dambusters Museum Germany
(in German)
{{Authority control
Chastise
Castigation (from the Latin ''castigatio'') or chastisement (via the French ''châtiment'') is the infliction of severe (moral or corporal) punishment. One who administers a castigation is a castigator or ''chastiser''.
In earlier times, cast ...
Dambusters Raid
Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by ...
Dambusters Raid
Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by ...
Dambusters Raid
Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "bouncing bombs" developed by ...
History of the Royal Air Force during World War II
Conflicts in 1943
1943 in Germany
May 1943 events