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Operation Chastise

 
Operation Chastise

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Operation Chastise



 
 
Operation Chastise was the official name for the attacks on German dam
Dam

A dam is a barrier that Reservoirs surface water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates, levees, and Dike are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions....
s on 17 May 1943 in the Second World War using a specially developed "bouncing bomb
Bouncing bomb

A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed specifically to bounce to a target such as across water to avoid torpedo nets. Unlike skip bombing, which uses conventional bombs as during the March 1943 Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the British, Germans, and Soviets developed World War II bombs specifically for bouncing to targets and then exploding....
". The attack was carried out by Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts....
 No. 617 Squadron
No. 617 Squadron RAF

No. 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is better known as the "Dambusters" squadron. It currently operates the Tornado GR4 from RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland....
, subsequently known as the
Dambusters. The Moehne
Möhne Reservoir

The M?hne Reservoir is an artificial lake in North Rhine-Westphalia, some 45 km east of Dortmund. The dam was built between 1908 and 1913 to help control floods, regulate water levels on the Ruhr river downstream, and generate hydropower....
 and Eder
Edersee

The Edersee is a large reservoir created by the construction, from 1908 to 1914, of a rock and concrete dam across the Eder river, near the small town of Waldeck in northern Hesse, Germany, to generate hydropower and regulate water levels for shipping on the Weser river....
 dams were breached in these attacks, causing a catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr
Ruhr

The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine....
 valley, while the Sorpe
Sorpe

The Sorpe dam is a reservoir near the small town of Sundern in the Germany district of the Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia.Like the Biggesee, the M?hne Reservoir and the Verse reservoir, the Sorpe dam is one of the major artificial lakes of the Sauerland's Ruhrverband reservoir association....
 dam sustained only minor damage.

r to the war, the industrial heartland of Germany had been identified by the Air Ministry
Air Ministry

The Air Ministry was formerly a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force....
 as an important strategic target and the dams of the area considered as particular targets.






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Encyclopedia


Operation Chastise was the official name for the attacks on German dam
Dam

A dam is a barrier that Reservoirs surface water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates, levees, and Dike are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions....
s on 17 May 1943 in the Second World War using a specially developed "bouncing bomb
Bouncing bomb

A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed specifically to bounce to a target such as across water to avoid torpedo nets. Unlike skip bombing, which uses conventional bombs as during the March 1943 Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the British, Germans, and Soviets developed World War II bombs specifically for bouncing to targets and then exploding....
". The attack was carried out by Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts....
 No. 617 Squadron
No. 617 Squadron RAF

No. 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is better known as the "Dambusters" squadron. It currently operates the Tornado GR4 from RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland....
, subsequently known as the
Dambusters. The Moehne
Möhne Reservoir

The M?hne Reservoir is an artificial lake in North Rhine-Westphalia, some 45 km east of Dortmund. The dam was built between 1908 and 1913 to help control floods, regulate water levels on the Ruhr river downstream, and generate hydropower....
 and Eder
Edersee

The Edersee is a large reservoir created by the construction, from 1908 to 1914, of a rock and concrete dam across the Eder river, near the small town of Waldeck in northern Hesse, Germany, to generate hydropower and regulate water levels for shipping on the Weser river....
 dams were breached in these attacks, causing a catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr
Ruhr

The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine....
 valley, while the Sorpe
Sorpe

The Sorpe dam is a reservoir near the small town of Sundern in the Germany district of the Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia.Like the Biggesee, the M?hne Reservoir and the Verse reservoir, the Sorpe dam is one of the major artificial lakes of the Sauerland's Ruhrverband reservoir association....
 dam sustained only minor damage.

Background

Prior to the war, the industrial heartland of Germany had been identified by the Air Ministry
Air Ministry

The Air Ministry was formerly a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force....
 as an important strategic target and the dams of the area considered as particular targets. Besides providing power they were used to provide water into the canal transport system. The methods to attack the dams had been duly considered. Calculations indicated that repeated strikes with large bombs would be effective but the necessary accuracy with the standard bombers of Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command

RAF Bomber Command was the organisation that controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II, the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s, was at the peak of its postwar power with the V bombers and a supplemental force of English E...
 in the face of enemy defences was unlikely to be met.

Development of the plan

The mission developed out of a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis
Barnes Wallis

Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, Order of the British Empire|CBE]] Fellow of the Royal Society, Royal Designers for Industry, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society , was an English scientist, engineer and inventor....
 and developed into a working device by his team at Vickers
Vickers

Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 2004....
. Wallis was an aircraft designer and had the successful Wellesley
Vickers Wellesley

The Vickers Wellesley was a United Kingdom 1930s light bomber built by Vickers-Armstrongs for the Royal Air Force. While it was obsolete by the start of the World War II, and unsuited to the European air war, the Wellesley was successfully used in the desert theatres of East Africa, Egypt and the Middle East....
 and Wellington
Vickers Wellington

The Vickers Wellington was a United Kingdom twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R....
 bombers to his credit. While working on the Warwick
Vickers Warwick

The Vickers Warwick was a multi-purpose United Kingdom aircraft used during the World War II. Built by Vickers-Armstrongs, the Warwick was used by the Royal Air Force as a transport, air-sea rescue and maritime reconnaissance platform and by the civilian British Overseas Airways Corporation ....
, he also began work on bomb design with dams specifically in mind.

His initial idea was for a 10-ton bomb to be dropped from 40,000 ft (12,200 m). This was part of the earthquake bomb concept. However, at the time there was no aircraft capable of flying at this height with such a heavy load.

A much smaller charge would suffice if it could be exploded directly against the dam wall below the surface of the water. The major German dams were protected by heavy torpedo netting
Torpedo nets

Torpedo nets were a passive naval warship defensive device against torpedoes, whose use was common practice from the 1890s through World War I. Torpedo nets were superseded by the anti-torpedo bulge and torpedo belts....
 to prevent such an attack, and Wallis's breakthrough was to overcome this. A drum-shaped bomb, spinning rapidly backwards (over 500 rpm) and dropped from a sufficiently low altitude at the right speed, would skip for the required distance over the surface of the water in a series of bounces before reaching the dam wall and then, using its residual spin, run down the wet side to the dam's base. An accurate drop could bypass the dam protection and let the bomb be detonated against the dam with a hydrostatic fuse. After testing, and many meetings, the idea was adopted on 26 February 1943. The bomb was codenamed 'Upkeep'. The dams were to be bombed in May of that year, when water levels would be highest and create the most damage to the German war effort.

The operation was given to 5 Group
No. 5 Group RAF

No. 5 Group was a Royal Air Force bomber Group of the Second World War, led during the latter part by Sir Ralph Cochrane. Cochrane was an advocate of precision low-level marking, and lobbied heavily to be allowed to prove himself, and that 5 Group could attempt targets and techniques that No....
 which formed a new squadron to undertake the mission. Initially called Squadron 'X' as its development ran faster than the beauracracy that named squadrons, it was led by Wing Commander
Wing Commander (rank)

Wing Commander is a Officer #Commissioned officers Military rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth of Nations countries....
 Guy Gibson
Guy Gibson

Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order Medal bar, Distinguished Flying Cross Medal bar, Royal Air Force , was the first Commanding officer of the Royal Air Force's No....
, a veteran of over 170 missions. A further 21 crews were chosen from 5 Group to join the new squadron based at RAF Scampton
RAF Scampton

RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station situated north of Lincoln, Lincolnshire in England, near the village of Scampton, on the site of an old World War I landing field....
, five miles north of Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of around 101,000 - the 2001 census gave the entire urban area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
.

The targets were the two key dams near the Ruhr area
Ruhr Area

The Ruhr Area, is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km? and a population of some 5.3 million, it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany....
, the Möhne
Möhne Reservoir

The M?hne Reservoir is an artificial lake in North Rhine-Westphalia, some 45 km east of Dortmund. The dam was built between 1908 and 1913 to help control floods, regulate water levels on the Ruhr river downstream, and generate hydropower....
 and the Sorpe Dam
Sorpe

The Sorpe dam is a reservoir near the small town of Sundern in the Germany district of the Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia.Like the Biggesee, the M?hne Reservoir and the Verse reservoir, the Sorpe dam is one of the major artificial lakes of the Sauerland's Ruhrverband reservoir association....
, as well as the Eder Dam
Edersee

The Edersee is a large reservoir created by the construction, from 1908 to 1914, of a rock and concrete dam across the Eder river, near the small town of Waldeck in northern Hesse, Germany, to generate hydropower and regulate water levels for shipping on the Weser river....
 on the Eder
Eder

The Eder is a 177 km long river in Germany, left tributary of the Fulda River. It was first mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus as the Adrana in the territory of the Chatti....
 River that feeds into the Weser river. The loss of hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect.

Duxford Uk Feb2005 Bouncingbomb
The aircraft were adapted Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster

The Avro Lancaster was a United Kingdom four-engine World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the British Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley-Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force and squadrons from other Commonwealth of Nations...
 Mk IIIs, known as
B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning). To reduce weight, much of the armour was removed, as was the mid-upper turret. The substantial bomb and its unusual shape meant that the bomb doors were removed and the bomb itself hung, in part, below the body of the aircraft. It was mounted in two crutches and before dropping, it was spun up to speed by an auxiliary motor.

Bombing from 60 ft (18 m) at 240 mph (390 km/h), at a very precise distance from the target, required expert crews, intensive night and low-altitude flight training, and the solutions to two technical problems. The first was to know when the aircraft was the correct distance from the target. The two key dams at Möhne and Eder had a tower at each end. A special aiming device (a device with two prongs making the same angle
Similarity (geometry)

Two geometrical objects are called similar if they both have the same shape. Equivalently and more precisely, one is congruence to the result of a uniform Scaling of the other....
 as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam) showed when to release the bomb. The second problem was to measure the aircraft's altitude (the usual barometric altimeters lacked sufficient accuracy). Two spotlights were mounted, one under the nose and another under the fuselage
Fuselage

The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a hardpoint attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating Hull ....
, such that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised over the Eyebrook Reservoir
Eyebrook Reservoir

Eyebrook Reservoir is a reservoir in the East Midlands of England formed by the damming of the Eye Brook. The reservoir covers 406 acres and straddles the border between Leicestershire and Rutland ....
 in Leicestershire
Leicestershire

Leicestershire County Hall, situated in Glenfield, Leicestershire, about 3 miles northwest of Leicester city centre, is the seat of Leicestershire County Council and the headquarters of the county authority....
/Rutland
Rutland

Rutland is a Counties of England of mainland England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire, and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
, the Derwent Reservoir, Derbyshire
Derwent Reservoir, Derbyshire

Derwent Reservoir is the middle of three reservoir in the Upper Derwent Valley in the north east of Derbyshire, England. The River Derwent, Derbyshire flows first through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir and finally through Ladybower Reservoir....
, and the Fleet Lagoon at Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach

Chesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England. is one of three major Shingle beach in Britain, often identified as a tombolo, although research into the geomorphology of the area has revealed that it is in fact a Shoal which has "rolled" landwards, joining the mainland with Portland Bill, giving the appearance...
, Dorset
Dorset

Dorset , is a Counties of England in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester, Dorset, situated in the south of the county at ....
, while the bomb itself was first tested at Elan Valley Reservoirs
Elan Valley Reservoirs

The Elan Valley Reservoirs are a chain of man-made lakes and reservoirs in the Elan Valley in Powys, Mid Wales , using the rivers River Elan and Claerwen....
.

The bombs were delivered to the squadron on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. With promising weather reports the pilots, navigators and bomb aimers were informed of the targets on 15 May, the rest of the crews on the following day.

The attacks


Organisation

The Lancasters were organised into three groups. Formation 1 was to attack the Möhne and after that, aircraft still with bombs would attack the Eder. Formation 2 was to attack the Sorpe. The third group was a mobile reserve; it would take off two hours later on 17 May and bomb as directed, either attacking the main dams or bombing smaller dams at Schwelm, Ennepe and Diemel.

Formation 1 was of nine aircraft in three groups— piloted by Gibson, Hopgood, Martin; Young
Dinghy Young

Squadron Leader Henry Melvin "Dinghy" Young Distinguished Flying Cross & medal bar was a Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Bomber Command pilot....
, Astell, Maltby; and Maudslay, Knight, Shannon. Formation 2 was of five aircraft, those of McCarthy, Byers, Barlow, Rice and Munro
Les Munro

Squadron Leader Les Munro New Zealand Order of Merit, Distinguished Service Order, Queen's Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross , Justice of the Peace is the last surviving pilot of the Operation Chastise of May 1943....
. Formation 3 consisted of the aircraft of Anderson, Townsend, Brown, Ottley and Burpee. Two crews were unable to make the mission because of illness.

The operations room for the mission was at 5 Group headquarters in Grantham
Grantham

Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It stands athwart the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham, 24 miles south-southwest of the city of Lincoln, Lincolnshire....
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a Counties of England in the east of England. It borders Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire....
. The codes (transmitted in morse
Morse code

Morse code is a type of character encoding that transmits telegraphic information using rhythm. Morse code uses a standardized sequence of short and long elements to represent the alphanumeric, punctuation and special characters of a given message....
) for the mission were agreed on as
Goner for bomb dropped, Nigger for the Möhne breached and Dinghy for the Eder breached. The Nigger code was after Gibson's black dog
Nigger (dog)

File:RAF_Scampton_022.jpgNigger was a black labrador retriever dog who was the mascot of No. 617 Squadron RAF, his owner was Wing Commander Guy Gibson....
  that had been run over and killed on the morning of 17 May, the day of the attack.
Dinghy was from the nickname of Gibson's friend Young who would be flying A-Apple—Young had had to make forced landings in the sea several times on operations, he and his crew having to resort to the aircraft's inflatable liferaft. Thereafter, he had been known as "Dinghy Young".

The outbound flights

The aircraft flew two routes, carefully avoiding known flak
Anti-aircraft warfare

Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defense, is any method of engaging hostile military aircraft in defense of ground Tactical objective, ground or naval forces or denial of passage through a specific Territorial waters region, Area or anti-aircraft combat zone....
 concentrations, and timed to cross the enemy coast simultaneously. The first aircraft, those of Formation 2 and heading for the longer northern route, took off at 21h28. McCarthy's aircraft had a hydraulics fault and he took off in a reserve craft 20 minutes late. Formation 1 took off from 21h39, 16 May, in groups of three at ten minute intervals. The reserve formation did not begin its launch until 0009 of 17 May.

Formation 1 entered continental Europe between Walcheren
Walcheren

Media:Nl-Walcheren.ogg is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus....
 and Schouwen, crossed the Netherlands, skirting the airbases at Eindhoven
Eindhoven

Eindhoven is a municipality and a city located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, originally at the confluence of the Dommel and Gender streams....
 and Gilze-Rijen, curved round the Ruhr
Ruhr

The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine....
 defences and turned north to avoid Hamm
Hamm

Hamm is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany. It is located on the Lippe River, in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of December 2003 its population was 180,849....
 before turning to head south to the Möhne. Formation 2 flew further northwards, cutting over Vlieland
Vlieland

Vlieland is a municipality in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland has only one major town: Oost-Vlieland . It is the second-least population density municipality in the Netherlands ....
 and crossing the IJsselmeer
IJsselmeer

IJsselmeer is a shallow lake of 1100 km? in the central Netherlands bordering the Provinces of the Netherlands of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m....
 before joining the first route near Wesel
Wesel

Wesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel ....
 and then flying south beyond the Möhne to the Sorpe.

The aircraft flew low, at around 100 ft, in order to avoid radar detection. Flight Sergeant
Flight Sergeant

Flight Sergeant is a senior non-commissioned officer rank in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structure....
 George Chalmers, wireless operator on "O for Orange", observing through the astrodome
Astrodome (aviation)

An astrodome is a hemispherical Transparency dome fitted in the cabin roof of an aircraft for the purpose of allowing the use of a sextant during Celestial navigation....
, was astonished that his pilot was flying to the target along a fire break in a forest below tree level. On the return flight over the Dutch
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
 coast, German flak shells were bouncing off the surface of the sea .

The first casualties were taken soon after the craft reached the Dutch coast. Formation 2 did not fare well: Munro's aircraft lost his radio to flak
Anti-aircraft warfare

Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defense, is any method of engaging hostile military aircraft in defense of ground Tactical objective, ground or naval forces or denial of passage through a specific Territorial waters region, Area or anti-aircraft combat zone....
 and turned back over the IJsselmeer
IJsselmeer

IJsselmeer is a shallow lake of 1100 km? in the central Netherlands bordering the Provinces of the Netherlands of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m....
, while Rice flew too low, struck the sea and lost his bomb in the water, but recovered the aircraft to return to base. The aircraft of both Barlow and Byers crossed over the coast around the island of Texel
Texel

Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark....
. Byers was hit by flak and shot down shortly thereafter crashing into the Waddenzee. Only the late aircraft of McCarthy survived across the Netherlands. By contrast, Formation 1 lost Astell, at Marbeck, Germany, by flying into high tension wires and consequently going down in a field after veering low over a farmhouse.

The attack on the Möhne Dam

Formation 1 arrived over Möhne lake and Gibson's aircraft (G for George) bombed first. Hopgood (M for Mother) attacked second. Hopgood's aircraft was hit by flak as it made its low-level run and was then caught in the blast of its own bomb and crashed shortly after when a wing disintegrated. Three crew successfully left the aircraft, but only two survived. Subsequently Gibson flew his aircraft across the dam to draw flak 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.

The attack on the Eder Dam

Eder Dam
The Eder Valley was heavily fogged but not defended. The tricky topography of the surrounding hills made the approach difficult and 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.

The attacks on the Sorpe and Ennepe Dams

The Sorpe dam was the least likely to be breached—a vast earth dam rather than concrete, as were the two structures successfully attacked. Due to various problems, only three Lancasters reached the Sorpe - Joe McCarthy in T for Tommy (the delayed aircraft for the second wave) and later Brown in F for Freddie and Anderson (Y for Yorker), both of the third formation. This attack differed from those on the gravity dams in two ways - the "Upkeep" bomb was not rotated and the approach was made along the length of the dam, not at right angles over the reservoir, because of the topography of the valley.

McCarthy was on his own when he arrived over the dam at 0015 hours and realised that the planned approach was even more difficult than the model had suggested - as it turned out, the flight path led over the church steeple of the village of Langscheid on the crest overlooking the dam, before swooping down into the valley. With only seconds before the aircraft had to pull up again to avoid the hillside at the other end of the dam, bombardier George Johnston had no time to correct the aircraft's height and heading.

McCarthy made nine attempts before Johnston was satisfied and released their 'Upkeep' on the tenth run. It was just as well the Germans had considered the dam invulnerable to air attack and had placed no flak in the vicinity. The bomb exploded, but when McCarthy turned the plane to assess the damage, it turned out that only a section of the crest had been destroyed, while the dam itself was still functional.

Meanwhile, three of the reserve aircraft had been directed to the Sorpe. Burpee (S for Sugar) never arrived (later determined to have been shot down skirting Gilze-Rijen airfield). Brown (F for Freddy) reached the dam and in increasingly dense fog finally dropped his bomb but also failed to breach it. Anderson (Y for Yorker) arrived last, but by then, the fog had become too dense for him to even attempt the run. The remaining two aircraft were sent to subsidiary targets, with Ottley (C for Charlie) being shot down en route to the Lister dam while Townsend (O for Orange) eventually dropped his weapon on the Ennepe without breaching the dam.

Attack on the Bever Dam?

There is some evidence that Townsend may have mistakenly attacked the Bever Dam rather than the Ennepe. Townsend reported difficulty in finding the dam and in his post-raid report complained that the map of the Ennepe Dam was incorrect. The Bever Dam is located only about five miles southwest of the Ennepe Dam and the reservoir has similar geography. However, the Bever Dam is located on the south side of the reservoir while the Ennepe is located on the north side of its reservoir. With the mist filling the valleys in the early morning hours, it would be understandable to mistake the two reservoirs. The War Diary of the German Naval Staff reported that the Bever Dam had been attacked at nearly the same time as the Sorpe. In addition, the
Wupperverband authority responsible for the Bever recovered the remains of a mine. Paul Keiser, a 19-year-old soldier on leave at his home very near the dam, also reported an aircraft making several approaches to the dam and eventually dropping a weapon leaving a big explosion and a great pillar of flame in a column of water.

The Dambusters Raid author, John Sweetman, claims that Townsend's report of the moon reflecting on the mist and water is consistent with an attack heading for the Bever rather than the Ennepe given the moon's azimuth and altitude during the attack. Sweetman also points out that the Ennepe-Wasserverband authority is adamant that only a single bomb was dropped near the Ennepe during the whole war and this bomb fell in 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 rather than the Ennepe. The main evidence supporting an attack of the Ennepe is Townsend's post-flight report that he attacked the Ennepe on a heading of 355 deg. M. Assuming that the heading was incorrect, all other evidence points toward an attack on the Bever.

The return flights

On the way back, flying again at treetop level, two aircraft were lost. The damaged Z-Zebra was caught by flak near Netterden
Netterden

Netterden is a village in the Netherlands province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Oude IJsselstreek, about 5 km northeast of Emmerich....
, while Young's A-Apple was hit by flak north of Ijmuiden
IJmuiden

?muiden is a city in the Netherlands province of North Holland, the main town of the municipality of Velsen. It lies about 17 km north of Haarlem....
 and crashed into the sea just off the coast of the Netherlands.

The nine surviving aircraft began landing at Scampton at 03h11, with Gibson returning at 04h15. The last of the survivors, Townsend, set down at 06h15.

Complete list of the aircraft involved

Aircraft call sign Commander Target Returned? Notes
First Wave
G George Wing Commander Guy Gibson
Guy Gibson

Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson Victoria Cross, Distinguished Service Order Medal bar, Distinguished Flying Cross Medal bar, Royal Air Force , was the first Commanding officer of the Royal Air Force's No....
 
Möhne Dam Yes Raid leader. Mine exploded short of dam. Used aircraft to draw AA fire away from other crews.
M Mother Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant

Flight Lieutenant is a junior Officer #Commissioned officers rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations countries....
 Hopgood
No Hit by AA fire outbound. Mine bounced over dam. Shot down over target while attacking.
P Peter (Popsie) Flight Lieutenant Martin
Harold Brownlow Martin

Air Marshal Sir Harold Brownlow Morgan "Micky" Martin, Order of the Bath, Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross , Air Force Cross was an Australian pilot in the Royal Air Force who took part in Operation Chastise, the RAF's famous "Dambusters" mission in 1943....
 
Yes Mine missed target.
A Apple Squadron Leader Young
Dinghy Young

Squadron Leader Henry Melvin "Dinghy" Young Distinguished Flying Cross & medal bar was a Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Bomber Command pilot....
 
No Mine hit dam and caused small breach. Shot down over Dutch coast while returning.
J Johnny Flight Lieutenant Maltby Yes Mine hit dam and caused large breach.
L Leather Flight Lieutenant Shannon Eder Dam Yes Mine hit target—no effect.
Z Zebra Squadron Leader Maudsley No Mine overshot target and damaged aircraft. Shot down over Germany while returning.
N Nancy (Nan) Pilot Officer
Pilot Officer

Pilot Officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth of Nations countries. It ranks immediately below Flying Officer....
 Knight
Yes Mine hit dam and caused large breach.
B Baker Flight Lieutenant Astell N/A No Crashed after hitting power lines outbound.
Second Wave
T Tommy Flight Lieutenant McCarthy Sorpe Dam Yes Mine hit target—no effect.
E Easy Flight Lieutenant Barlow N/A No Crashed after hitting power lines outbound.
K King Pilot Officer Byers No Shot down over Dutch coast outbound.
H Harry Pilot Officer Rice Yes Lost mine after clipping sea outbound. Returned without attacking target.
W Willie Flight Lieutenant Munro
Les Munro

Squadron Leader Les Munro New Zealand Order of Merit, Distinguished Service Order, Queen's Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross , Justice of the Peace is the last surviving pilot of the Operation Chastise of May 1943....
 
Yes Damaged by AA fire over Dutch coast. Returned without attacking target.
Third Wave
Y York Flight Sergeant
Flight Sergeant

Flight Sergeant is a senior non-commissioned officer rank in the United Kingdom Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structure....
 Anderson
Lister Dam Yes Could not find target due to mist. Landed at Scampton with armed mine.
F Freddy Flight Sergeant Brown Sorpe Dam Yes Mine hit target—no effect.
O Orange Flight Sergeant Townsend Ennepe Dam Yes Mine hit target—no effect.
S Sugar Pilot Officer Burpee N/A No Shot down over Holland outbound.
C Charlie Pilot Officer Ottley No Shot down over Germany outbound.


Bomb damage assessment

Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command

RAF Bomber Command was the organisation that controlled the Royal Air Force's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II, the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s, was at the peak of its postwar power with the V bombers and a supplemental force of English E...
 wanted to conduct bomb damage assessment
Bomb damage assessment

Bomb, or battle damage assessment, often referred to as BDA, is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target by an air campaign....
 as soon as possible. Accordingly, the Commanding Officer of No. 542 Squadron was informed by Bomber Command HQ of the exact time of the attacks. A photographic reconnaissance Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire is a United Kingdom single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allies of World War II countries through the Second World War and on into the 1950s as a frontline fighter and in secondary roles....
 of No. 542 Squadron, piloted by Flying Officer
Flying Officer

Flying Officer is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence....
 Frank "Jerry" Fray took off from RAF Benson
RAF Benson

RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force station near Benson, Oxfordshire in Oxfordshire, England. It is home to the Royal Air Force's support helicopters, the A?rospatiale Puma and the AgustaWestland AW101, known as the Puma HC1 and the Merlin Mk3 and Mk3a....
 at 07:30 and arrived over the Ruhr just after first light. Photographs were taken of the breached dams and the huge floods. The pilot later described the experience:



After the raid

In total, 53 of the 133 aircrew who participated in the attack were killed in action
Killed in action

Killed in action is a Casualty classification generally used by Military to describe the deaths of their own forces by other hostile forces....
 and three bailed out to be made prisoners of war. This represents a casualty rate of almost 40%. Of the aircrew who survived, 33 were decorated at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal entertaining, and a major tourist attraction....
 on 22 June, with Gibson awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration which is, or has been, awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth of Nations countries, and previous British Empire territories....
. There were five Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other Commonwealth of Nations countries, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat....
s, 10 Distinguished Flying Crosses
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other British Armed Forces, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth of Nations countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy"....
 and four bars, 12 Distinguished Flying Medal
Distinguished Flying Medal

The Distinguished Flying Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and the other British Armed Forces, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations countries, below commissioned officer rank, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations aga...
s and two Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal

for Conspicuous Gallantry Medal of SingaporeThe Conspicuous Gallantry Medal was, until 1993, a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Armed Forces and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth of Nations countries, below commissioned officer rank, for conspicuous gallantry in action against the enemy at sea or...
s.

After a public relations tour of America, Gibson returned to operations and was killed on a mission in 1944.

Following the Dams Raid, 617 Squadron was kept together as a specialist unit. The squadron badge ("on a roundel, a wall in fesse, fracted by three flashes of lightning in pile and issuant from the breach, water proper") was chosen and a motto "Après moi le déluge" (After me the Flood). 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 as having inappropriate provenance (having been coined, reportedly, by Madame Pompadour), and après moi le déluge having been used by Louis XV in an "irresponsible" context. The motto having been chosen by the King, the latter was finally deemed acceptable.

The squadron went on to drop Wallis' massive Tallboy bomb
Tallboy bomb

The Tallboy was an earth quake bomb developed by Barnes Wallis and brought into operation by the British in 1944. It weighed five long tons and, carried by the Avro Lancaster bomber, was effective against hardened structures against which earlier, smaller bombs had proved ineffective....
 and Grand Slam bomb
Grand Slam bomb

The Grand Slam was a 22,000 Pound earth quake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against strategic targets during the World War II.It was a scaled up version of the Tallboy bomb and closer to the original size that the bomb inventor Barnes Wallis had envisaged when he first developed his earthquake bomb idea....
, including an attack on the German battleship , using an advanced bomb sight which enabled the bombing of small targets with far greater accuracy than was routinely obtained with conventional bomb aiming techniques. The squadron is still active today.

Effect on the war


The tactical view

The Möhne and Eder lakes poured around 330 million tons of water (equivalent to a cube 687 m on each side) into the western Ruhr region. Mines were flooded and houses, factories, roads, railways and bridges destroyed as the flood waters spread for around 50 miles (80 km) from the source. The Eder drains towards the east into the Fulda, flooding farmland and several villages. Estimates show that before 15 May 1943 water production on the Ruhr was 1 million tonnes, which dropped to a quarter of that level after the raid. In terms of deaths: according to the latest sources, at least 1,650 people were killed: around 70 in the Eder Valley, and at least 1,579 bodies were found along the Möhne
Möhne

The M?hne is a small-size river in western Germany , right tributary of the Ruhr. The M?hne passes the towns of Brilon, R?then, Warstein. There is large articifical lake near the mouth of the river, the M?hne Reservoir, used for hydro power generation and leisure activities....
 and Ruhr
Ruhr

The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine....
 rivers, with hundreds missing. 1,026 of the bodies found downriver of the Möhne Dam were foreign prisoners of war and forced-labourers in different camps, mainly from the Soviet Union. Worst hit was the city of Neheim (now part of Neheim-Hüsten) at the confluence of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers, where over 800 people perished, among them at least 526 female forced-labourers from the Soviet Union. (Some non-German sources erroneously 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.) After the operation Barnes Wallis wrote, "I feel a blow has been struck at Germany from which she cannot recover for several years."

However, on closer inspection, Operation
Chastise did not have the military effect that was at the time believed. By 27 June full water output was restored, thanks to an emergency pumping scheme inaugurated only the previous year, and the electricity grid was again producing power at full capacity. The raid proved to be costly in lives (more than half the lives lost belonging to allied POWs and forced-labourers), but in fact no more than a minor inconvenience to the Ruhr's industrial output.

In his book
Inside the Third Reich
Inside the Third Reich

Inside the Third Reich is a memoir written by Albert Speer, the Nazism Minister of Armaments from 1942 to 1945, serving as Hitler's main architect before this period....
, Albert Speer
Albert Speer

Albert Speer was a Germany architect who was, for part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Nazi Germany. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office....
 expressed puzzlement at the raids; destruction of one of the dams served no purpose at all, he claimed, and the failure to follow up with additional raids represented a major lost opportunity for the Allies.

The true value of the bombing can be seen as the huge, and very real boost to British morale, proving to people of bitterly embattled Britain they had the ability to strike back. In a very real sense it empowered the entire British populace. Its legacy, during the war years, was one of delivering hope, and belief to a people under constant bombing and bombardments.

The strategic view

The Dams Raid was, like many British air raids
Airstrike

An airstrike is a military strike by air forces on either a suspected or a confirmed enemy ground position. Airstrikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as bombers, ground attack aircraft, strike fighters, and helicopters....
, 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
Battle of Berlin (air)

The Battle of Berlin was a British bombing campaign on Berlin from November 1943 to March 1944. The campaign period was not limited to attacks solely on Berlin, other German cities were attacked to prevent the concentration of defences in Berlin, and Bomber Command had other responsibilities and operations to conduct....
 of the winter of 1943–1944. In May 1943 this meant keeping the
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe

is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
and anti-aircraft defence forces' effort away from the Soviet Union; in early 1944, it meant clearing the way for the aerial side of the forthcoming Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord was the code name for the invasion of Western Front during World War II by Western Allies forces. The operation began with the Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 , among the largest amphibious warfares ever conducted....
.

By far the greatest and most unexpected effect was on German food production. The Ruhr Valley below the dams was a major source of vital food for Germany, and large areas of arable land were rendered unusable and huge numbers of farm animals were killed. This had an immediate negative effect on German morale. In addition, the pictures of the broken dams proved to be a propaganda and morale boost to the Allies, especially to the British, still suffering under German bombing.

An associated, but equally major effect was that Barnes Wallis's ideas on earth quake bomb
Earth quake bomb

The earth quake bomb was a concept that was invented by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis before World War II and subsequently developed and used during the war against strategic targets in Europe....
ing, which had been rejected before, now became accepted by 'Bomber' Harris. Prior to this raid bombing practice had been to 'area bomb'
Area bombardment

Aerial area bombardment is the policy of indiscriminate bombing of an enemy's cities, for the purpose of destroying the enemy's means of producing military materiel, communications, government centres and civilian morale....
 with many light bombs, in the hope that one would hit the target. Work on the earthquake bomb theory resulted in the Tallboy
Tallboy bomb

The Tallboy was an earth quake bomb developed by Barnes Wallis and brought into operation by the British in 1944. It weighed five long tons and, carried by the Avro Lancaster bomber, was effective against hardened structures against which earlier, smaller bombs had proved ineffective....
 and Grand Slam
Grand Slam bomb

The Grand Slam was a 22,000 Pound earth quake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against strategic targets during the World War II.It was a scaled up version of the Tallboy bomb and closer to the original size that the bomb inventor Barnes Wallis had envisaged when he first developed his earthquake bomb idea....
 weapons, which caused unprecedented damage to German infrastructure in the later stages of the war. They rendered the V-2 assembly building unusable, buried the V-3 guns, sank the and destroyed many bridges and other hardened installations. Notable amongst their successes were the U-Boat pens at Brest
Brest, Germany

Brest is a municipality in the Stade , Lower Saxony, Germany.It belonged to the Archdiocese of Bremen. In 1648 the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish and from 1715 on by the Hanoverian Crown....
, where they penetrated 20 ft thick roofs of reinforced concrete, and the Saumur
Saumur

Saumur is a Communes of France in the Maine-et-Loire Departments of France in western France.The historic town is located between the Loire River and Thouet rivers, which join to the west of the town....
 Tunnel.

The diplomatic view

An important reason for planning the raid was to persuade Stalin that Britain was capable of being an effective ally. This was the middle period of the war, when the United States had recently entered the war on Britain's side due to the attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Empire of Japan Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, later resulting in the United States becoming militarily involved in World War II....
. Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation
Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that commenced on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 kilometer front ....
, had brought the USSR into the war and it was being hard pressed by the German forces. Due to the seriousness of the situation for the Soviet Union during this period, Stalin often called upon the Western Allies to open a second front
Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord was the code name for the invasion of Western Front during World War II by Western Allies forces. The operation began with the Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 , among the largest amphibious warfares ever conducted....
: the Dambusters raid provided the British with a valuable opportunity to prove that they were harrying the Germans in every way they could while building up forces for an eventual liberation of Western Europe
Operation Overlord

Operation Overlord was the code name for the invasion of Western Front during World War II by Western Allies forces. The operation began with the Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 , among the largest amphibious warfares ever conducted....
. However, by the time the preparations for the British raid were complete, the USSR had managed to fight back
Battle of Stalingrad

The Battle of Stalingrad was a battle between Nazi Germany and its allies and the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in Southern Russia....
 against German forces; the USSR had also found the capacity to begin its counter-offensive
Operation Uranus

Operation Uranus was the codename of the Soviet Union strategic operation in World War II which led to the encirclement of the German 6th Army , Romanian Armies in the Battle of Stalingrad armies, and portions of the German 4th Panzer Army ....
 on the Don and Volga
Volga River

The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, Discharge , and Drainage basin. It flows through the western part of Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia....
. The Dams Raid enabled Churchill
Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, Order of the Garter, Order of Merit, Order of the Companions of Honour, Territorial Decoration, Fellow of the Royal Society, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Queen's Privy Council for Canada was a Politics of the United Kingdom known chiefly for his leadership of the United King...
, in negotiations with the leaders of these new allies, to point to an effective strike against the hitherto apparently invincible German state. As a result, he was taken more seriously as an ally than might otherwise have been the case. This was most relevant in negotiations with Stalin, but also to a lesser degree in the USA. Although Churchill had the sympathetic ear of Roosevelt, many of the US military staff had until then been less persuaded of the value of British experience and capabilities.

International law

In 1977, Protocol I
Protocol I

The Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts is an amendment to the Geneva Conventions....
 to the Geneva Conventions
Geneva Conventions

The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland, that set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns....
 prohibited attacks against installations such as dams, dykes and nuclear power stations "if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population". The special protection covering dams and dykes terminates "only 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 United Kingdom ratified Protocol I in 1998, but made the following reservation in respect of Article 56:

"The United Kingdom cannot undertake to grant absolute protection to installations which may contribute to the opposing Party's war effort, or to the defenders of such installations, but will take all due precautions in military operations at or near the installations referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 56 in the light of the known facts, including any special marking which the installation may carry, to avoid severe collateral losses among the civilian populations; direct attacks on such installations will be launched only on authorisation at a high level of command."


Popular culture

  • A 1954 film, The Dam Busters
    The Dam Busters (film)

    The Dam Busters is a British war film, set during the Second World War, and based on the true story of the Royal Air Force's No. 617 Squadron RAF, the development of the "bouncing bomb", and Operation Chastise, the attack on the Ruhr dams in Germany....
    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

    633 Squadron is a 1964 film which depicts the exploits of a fictional World War II UK fighter-bomber squadron. It was directed by Walter Grauman and produced by Cecil F....
    , provided the inspiration for the Death Star
    Death Star

    The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and Star Wars Expanded Universe. In the films, the first Death Star is featured in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and a second Death Star is under construction in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi....
     trench run in
    Star Wars
    Star Wars

    Star Wars is an epic film space opera Media franchise initially conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was simply titled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but later had the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope added to distinguish it from its sequels and prequels....
    : A New Hope
    Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

    Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is an Cinema of the United States 1977 in film space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It was the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: Star Wars#Original trilogy continue the story, while a Star Wars#Prequel trilogy contributes backstory, primarily for the troubled charac...
    . The film is also watched on television by the character Pink in the 1982 film, Pink Floyd The Wall.
  • In 1984, a Commodore 64 computer combat flight simulator The Dam Busters
    The Dam Busters (video game)

    The Dam Busters is a combat flight simulator set in World War II produced by U.S. Gold. The graphics are very simple by today's standards, and shows only four colours ....
    was made based on this operation.
  • A 1989 British commercial for Carling Black Label lager
    Lager

    Lager is the more popular of two main types of beer; the other being ale. Traditionally, lager is stored for at least three weeks before being served....
     reused footage from the attack sequence of the 1954 film, with a wily German sentry (played by Russ Abbot
    Russ Abbot

    Russ Abbot is an English musician, comedian, and actor....
    ) on top of the dam catching the perfectly spherical bombs in the manner of a football (soccer)
    Football (soccer)

    Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players, and is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world....
     goalkeeper
    Goalkeeper

    In many team sports, a goalkeeper is a designated player that is charged with directly preventing the opposite team from scoring by defending the goal ....
    . The pilot of the attacking Lancaster
    Avro Lancaster

    The Avro Lancaster was a United Kingdom four-engine World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the British Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley-Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force and squadrons from other Commonwealth of Nations...
     then delivers the brand slogan: "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label!" The commercial ran for many years, frequently appearing in advert breaks for both the 1954 film and documentaries about Operation
    Chastise. A subsequent Carling commercial also used bouncing bomb imagery, this time to enable a British holidaymaker to beat the Germans to the sunbeds.
  • The PC game Call of Duty
    Call of Duty

    Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game based on the id Tech 3 engine. This war game simulates the infantry and combined arms warfare of World War II....
    features a mission in the British campaign, sometime after Operation Chastise, where players must suppress the Eder Dam's AA
    Anti-aircraft warfare

    Anti-aircraft warfare, or air defense, is any method of engaging hostile military aircraft in defense of ground Tactical objective, ground or naval forces or denial of passage through a specific Territorial waters region, Area or anti-aircraft combat zone....
     defences and destroy the dam's generators in order to clear the way for the RAF to make a raid against the dam.
  • The console game Secret Weapons Over Normandy
    Secret Weapons Over Normandy

    'Secret Weapons Over Normandy' or is a World War II-based flight simulation video game released on November 18 2003. Published by Lucas Arts and developed by Totally Games, the game is composed of 15 objective-based missions set in 1940s European Theatre of World War II, North African campaign, and the Pacific War theatres of war...
    features a mission in which the player must destroy a dam and the suggested weapon is the bouncing bomb. However the dam involved is stated to be in Norway and the mission objective is based on the sabotage
    Norwegian heavy water sabotage

    File:Vemork Hydroelectric Plant 1935.jpgThe Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of actions taken by Norwegian saboteurs during World War II to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring heavy water, which could be used to produce nuclear weapons....
     at Vemork
    Vemork

    Vemork is the name of a hydroelectricity power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to produce hydrogen for the production of fertilizer....
    , so the game has conflated this sabotage and the Dambusters mission.
  • On 1 September 2006, it was announced that Peter Jackson
    Peter Jackson

    Peter Robert Jackson, New Zealand Order of Merit is a three-time Academy Award-winning New Zealand filmmaker, film producer and screenwriter, best known for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy trilogy adapted from the The Lord of the Rings by J....
     would produce a remake of the 1954 movie, to be directed by Christian Rivers
    Christian Rivers

    Christian Rivers is a Academy Award and BAFTA winning New Zealand visual effects art director and filmmaker. He first met Peter Jackson as a 17 year old, and storyboarded all of Jackson's films since Braindead ....
     with production starting in 2008.
  • On 16 May 2008, a commemorative event to mark the 65th anniversary was held at Derwent Reservoir, Derbyshire
    Derwent Reservoir, Derbyshire

    Derwent Reservoir is the middle of three reservoir in the Upper Derwent Valley in the north east of Derbyshire, England. The River Derwent, Derbyshire flows first through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir and finally through Ladybower Reservoir....
    , including a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight
    Battle of Britain Memorial Flight

    The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a Royal Air Force Flight which provides an aerial display group comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane....
     Lancaster
    Avro Lancaster

    The Avro Lancaster was a United Kingdom four-engine World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the British Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley-Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force and squadrons from other Commonwealth of Nations...
    , Spitfire
    Supermarine Spitfire

    The Supermarine Spitfire is a United Kingdom single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allies of World War II countries through the Second World War and on into the 1950s as a frontline fighter and in secondary roles....
     and Hurricane
    Hawker Hurricane

    The Hawker Hurricane is a United Kingdom single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft. Some production of the Hurricane was carried out in Canada by the Canada Car and Foundry....
    . The event was attended by Les Munro
    Les Munro

    Squadron Leader Les Munro New Zealand Order of Merit, Distinguished Service Order, Queen's Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross , Justice of the Peace is the last surviving pilot of the Operation Chastise of May 1943....
    , the only surviving pilot from the original raid, and Richard Todd
    Richard Todd

    Richard Todd is an Ireland-born actor, United Kingdom soldier and film star....
     the actor who played Wing Commander Guy Gibson in the 1954 film.


See also


Bibliography

  • Arthur, Max. Dambusters: A Landmark Oral History. London: Virgin Books, 2008. ISBN 978-190526-4339.
  • Brickhill, Paul
    Paul Brickhill

    Paul Chester Jerome Brickhill was an Australian writer, whose World War II books were turned into popular movies.He was born in Melbourne, Victoria and educated at North Sydney Boys High School....
    .
    The Dam Busters. 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. London: Cassell, 1951.
  • Cockell, Charles S. "The science and scientific legacy of Operation Chastise." Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 27, 2002, pp. 278–286.
  • Gibson, Guy. Enemy Coast Ahead
    Enemy Coast Ahead

    Enemy Coast Ahead is a book written by Wing Commander Guy Gibson Victoria Cross. It is one of the most recognised books to have come out of World War II, and is the story of Gibson's wartime career in the Royal Air Force, which ends with him leading the famous bombing raid on the dams of the Ruhr Valley ....
    . London: Pan Books, 1955. Gibson's own account.
  • Sweetman, John. The Dambusters Raid. London: Cassell, 1999. ISBN 0-304-35173-3.


External links

  • at the UK National Archives
  • and