Dambusters - 'Was the Raid Worthwhile?'

On 16 May 1943, 617 Squadron's first mission saw 19 Avro Lancasters deploy bouncing bombs to breach the Möhne and Eder dams, inflicting significant damage on Nazi Germanyâ€s industrial Ruhr region. On the evening of 16 May 1943, nineteen Avro Lancasters took off from RAF Scampton to undertake 617 Squadronâ€s first offensive attack since its formation a few weeks earlier. Loaded with Barnes Wallis†newly designed bouncing bombs, the Bomber Command crews set course for their targets – the vital Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams that served the Ruhr, the Third Reichâ€s industrial heartland. By the time the survivors began landing back at base at 03.11 hours the following morning, eight of the Lancasters had been shot down. However, both the Möhne and Eder dams had been breached, while the Sorpe was damaged. The flood waters that the attacks unleashed poured downstream, wreaking havoc on the surrounding countryside. Albert Speer, Hitlerâ€s Minister of Armaments and War Production, later wrote: “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.” In 1990, the renowned historian and author Dr John Sweetman published his seminal work on the events before, during and after Operation Read more