When nineteen Lancasters of the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the great dams of western Germany in a daring attack in May 1943, the squadron acquired a legendary status literally overnight. It is doubtful whether any other RAF squadron, either then or since, could have achieved such instant fame and recognition for a single operation.
Between them, the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams provided vital water supplies to the industries of the Ruhr. To breach these dams and unleash millions of gallons of floodwaters would not only deprive Germany's war industry of its lifeblood, it would also wreak havoc in the Ruhr and Eder valleys and crush civilian morale.
Operation Chastise had all the ingredients of a classic war story: a miracle 'bouncing bomb', an eccentric inventor, a secret squadron formed from the very best crews the RAF could muster, and a seemingly impossible task of destroying a clutch of hitherto unassailable targets. Success in the task could alter the course of the war, but the final result was a pyrrhic victory. Two of the three main targets were destroyed, a Victoria Cross was awarded to the squadron's gallant leader, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, but an unsustainable casualty rate saw nearly half of 617's crews killed.
In later years the strategic impact of the dams raid has been called into question, but the fillip it gave to civilian and Service morale in wartime Britain was incalcuable. In 1954 the raid was immortalised in the film The Dam Busters, starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd.
Lavishly illustrated and featuring rare colour archive photographs of some of the aircrew who flew on the raid, The Dam Busters is a worthy tribute both to those who lost their lives and to the scale of their achievement.
In probably one of the best known and most widely told stories of the Second World War, nineteen Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, raided the great hydroelectric dams of western Germany in May 1943. Each Lancaster was equipped with the revolutionary bouncing bomb designed by the inventor Barnes Wallis, creator of the Wellington bomber. Designed to skip over the surface of the water, the bombs rotated at 500 rpm. They had to be dropped at a speed of 240 miles an hour and were set to explode while sinking to the base of the dam's retaining wall. It took five attempts to breach the Moehne Dam. Gibson then led the three remaining Lancasters to attack the Eder Dam. The unleashed floodwaters inundated the Ruhr valley below, killing thousands and causing German industry to grind to a halt. Eight of the nineteen aircraft involved in the raid failed to return to base. Wing Commander Gibson, only twenty-four at the time of the mission, was awarded the Victoria Cross. He was killed in action sixteen months later. In later years the strategic impact of the raid was deemed to be less than was thought at the time, but the fillip it gave to civilian and Service morale in wartime Britain was incalculable. In 1954 the raid was immortalized in The Dambusters, starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd, who contributes a foreword to the book. A box office success, the film has become a classic, the music score being one of the best known of all time.
