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Today in history… world learns of daring ‘Dambusters’

12:00am | & Lifestyle

News of one of the most daring and innovative RAF bombing raids of the Second World War was breaking 75 years ago today, spawning a new name for those who carried it out – the “Dambusters”.

“Operation Chastise” came at a critical point in the war, with the tide finally beginning to turn against Nazi Germany. It used 19 Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron to target three huge dams on the rivers Mohn, Sorpe and Eder, deep in Germany’s industrial heartland.

Each of the Lancasters had been extensively modified to deploy the new and top secret “bouncing bomb” specially designed for the task by scientist and engineer Dr Barnes Wallis. Released from a low height and already spinning, the bomb was designed to bounce along the surface of the water like a skimming stone, coming to rest against the dam wall before sinking and detonating underwater for maximum effect.

The specially selected bomber crews had been trained to fly at just 60 feet above the water before releasing their bombs at the optimum moment, all while under attack from the ground. They had practised extensively at several English reservoirs which broadly resembled their targets, developing the skills to fly at very low level and at an air speed of 240mph.

Special equipment was also developed including spotlights fixed under the bombers which would align at precisely the right height and special targeting sights which fixed on the towers built on the German dams. Together these enabled the bomber crews to release their bombs at the optimum time and distance to reach the dam walls.

The Lancaster crews, which included Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders as well as British personnel, were only told of their exact targets hours before the operation, to maintain secrecy. They were divided into three formations, each with specific targets. The first formation, comprising nine aircraft, would first attack the Mohne dam and then, if any aircraft had bombs remaining, move on to the Eder.

The second formation of five aircraft would attack the Sorpe dam and the third formation of five Lancasters would be a mobile reserve. It would take off two hours after the first two groups, tasked with making secondary attacks on the main targets if needed, or attacking a range of secondary targets. The first bombers set out from their home base of RAF Scampton, in Lincolnshire, shortly after 9-30pm on May 16th, with the last of the reserve formation airborne at just after midnight.

Both the Mohne and Eder dams were successfully breached, pouring 330 million tons of water into the Ruhr valley, the floodwaters spreading for around 50 miles. The attack on the Sorpe was less successful, the dam being shrouded in fog and of a more solid construction than the other two. Even so, the dam was cracked, needing extensive repairs.

In truth, the disruption to the Nazi war machine was not too severe. Water supply in the Ruhr Valley was restored to near-normal levels within six weeks and only a handful of factories and power stations were destroyed by the floodwaters, although a good deal of food-producing land was lost. Most of the 1,300 people killed on the ground were civilians, including 750 Ukranian prisoners of war detained at a camp below the Eder dam.

Judged strictly in military terms, Operation Chastise was only a minor success, its achievements offset by the heavy losses among the bomber crews involved. Eight of the 19 bombers were shot down or damaged and 53 of the 133 aircrew killed. But far more important was the huge boost to British morale that the Dambusters Raid brought. After being driven from mainland Europe, besieged and bombed by the Nazis for three long years, the Allies were finally striking back, using daring and ingenuity to inflict significant damage in the German homeland.

The surviving bomber crews were feted as heroes, visited at their home base by King George VI, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and senior military figures. The overall leader of the raid, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, was awarded the Victoria Cross and became a national hero. Sadly, he would also die a hero’s death, shot down and killed less than 18 months later, aged just 26.

In 1955 – a decade after the end of the war ­– the raid was immortalised in the film “The Dam Busters”, starring Richard Todd as Gibson and Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis, and set to the rousing theme music of The Dam Busters March. Seventy-five years on, the raids remain a defining moment in the Second World War and one which brought the Allies renewed hope of victory.

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