53 young men, (some of them not even classified as adults because they had not reached 21 years of age), gave their lives in one of the most daring raids against Germany.
This was the night of the infamous Dams Raid.
There was strong opposition to the scheme from the head of Bomber Command, (Sir Arthur, 'Bomber', Harris), who said it was a brainless folly dreamt up by a crackpot scientist, and could never be done. He predicted no one would come back from the mission. They would either be killed or captured. He was eventually overruled by his boss, (Sir Charles Portal), and the mission went ahead.
Of the 19 Lancasters that set out, 8 failed to return. 53 young men were either killed or captured after bailing out. Compared to normal missions where the percentage of lost crew was around 4-5% this was indeed a disaster with a percentage of 42% However, it has been shown that the success of breaching 2 of the dams, and damaging a third, had a tremendous morale booster for both the British public and the armed forces spread around the globe.
It's true the dams were repaired by the end of the year, but the consequential loss of power supplies, water pumping stations, roads etc took much longer to repair, and many were never replaced leading to more pressure on those that were working. Add to this the contamination of farmland down the valley and across the surrounding lowlands, meant the land could not be used for crops for a very long time afterwards. The crops that were growing were simply washed away so that caused food shortages throughout the Reich. Many skilled men were taken off the building of the Atlantic Wall in France. A defence scheme similar to the Maginot Line, but this was to prevent allied troops landing if they tried to invade. There were also many more 'knock-on' effects that people have never really appreciated. Not then, and not now.
All in all, what those guys did, had a much bigger impact on the war than has ever been appreciated. Everyone of them should be remembered and honoured.
This was the night of the infamous Dams Raid.
There was strong opposition to the scheme from the head of Bomber Command, (Sir Arthur, 'Bomber', Harris), who said it was a brainless folly dreamt up by a crackpot scientist, and could never be done. He predicted no one would come back from the mission. They would either be killed or captured. He was eventually overruled by his boss, (Sir Charles Portal), and the mission went ahead.
Of the 19 Lancasters that set out, 8 failed to return. 53 young men were either killed or captured after bailing out. Compared to normal missions where the percentage of lost crew was around 4-5% this was indeed a disaster with a percentage of 42% However, it has been shown that the success of breaching 2 of the dams, and damaging a third, had a tremendous morale booster for both the British public and the armed forces spread around the globe.
It's true the dams were repaired by the end of the year, but the consequential loss of power supplies, water pumping stations, roads etc took much longer to repair, and many were never replaced leading to more pressure on those that were working. Add to this the contamination of farmland down the valley and across the surrounding lowlands, meant the land could not be used for crops for a very long time afterwards. The crops that were growing were simply washed away so that caused food shortages throughout the Reich. Many skilled men were taken off the building of the Atlantic Wall in France. A defence scheme similar to the Maginot Line, but this was to prevent allied troops landing if they tried to invade. There were also many more 'knock-on' effects that people have never really appreciated. Not then, and not now.
All in all, what those guys did, had a much bigger impact on the war than has ever been appreciated. Everyone of them should be remembered and honoured.
