Alphen, Netherlands. 17 May. All of
we Brits of a certain age remember the film.
Richard Todd coolly leading his
elite squadron of Lancaster bombers into attack the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams. British stiff-upper lip and brilliant “bouncing
bomb” technology combining against the backdrop of a stirring but peculiarly
1950s soundtrack to deal the Nazis a crippling blow. Seventy years ago today the Dambusters of 617
Squadron undertook the actual “dams raid” and in spite of many politically
correct attempts to ‘revise’ history the attack remains one of the most
stunning precision air strikes in military history.
The facts alone speak for themselves.
Twenty-four year old Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, DSO (Bar), DFC (Bar),
RAF, a veteran of over 170 missions, led the 19 Lancaster Mark IIIs in his bomber
G for George. His ‘Lancs’ were armed
with Professor Barnes Wallace’s amazing Upkeep ‘mine’which was designed to
bounce across the lakes behind the German dams before rolling down the dam face
and exploding. Upkeep had been inspired by pebbles skipping across a pond.
Early in the morning of 17 May the Mohne and Eder dams were breached and
water catastrophically-flooded the Ruhr and Eder valleys. Some 1600 people were killed and many
factories were destroyed or damaged together with two hydro-electric
plants. Of the 133 airmen who took part
in the raid 53 were killed. This was
World War Two – total war.
Strangely the raid has touched me personally. A couple of years ago I had the honour to
visit 617 “Dambusters” Squadron at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. Not only do I
have a picture of me posing (no other word for it) in a 617 Squadron Tornado
fighter-bomber but I recall the fascinating squadron museum. Ironically, seventy years ago had I been
sitting at this seat at around 0030 hours the 9 aircraft of Formation One would
have roared over my house no more than 25 metres (80 feet) above my head. The Dambusters flew over Alphen en route to
the dams and the whole village was awakened by the low-flying cacophony of 36
Rolls-Royce Merlin engines.
Furthermore, Formation Three was comprised of two Lancasters which formed a
mobile reserve one of which (S for Sugar) was shot up by German flak over
Molenschot some five kilometres from here and then crashed onto the German
airbase at Gilze-Rijen just up the road.
Earlier this year my wife and I visited the graves of Pilot Officer Lewis
Burpee and his crew which are interred in the Bergen-op-Zoom British-Canadian
Commonwealth War Grave.
Although not connected with the dams raid three weeks ago my wife and I had
the very real pleasure of lunch with Group Captain Steve Reeves and his wife
Michelle at RAF Leeming. This was
following our discovery of another crash site close to our house where a Royal Canadian Air Force Halifax
II (JD363) of 429 Squadron RCAF had crashed.
Piloted by Flight Sergeant Graham Howard the Halifax had crashed in
October 1943 with the loss of all seven members of its Canadian and British
crew. The site at Bolk, Belgium has been
both marked and preserved by local people and my wife and I had the honour to
present my wife’s photograph of the monument to Group Captain Reeves at RAF
Leeming. What moved me to take this
photograph back to Leeming was the fact that last year I had the honour to
address senior RAF personnel at the base (and fly an RAF aircraft – yes, really!). Movingly, I ate my meals in the same mess
(dining room) as the men of JD363 shortly before they left on their final
mission.
So what was the impact of the dams raid.
There have been many attempts to downplay the impact of the raid. Certainly, the Germans moved quickly to
repair the damage and by the following September the lakes were once again
filling, although the dams never achieved full capacity until the following year. However, slave labour had to be diverted from
the building of the Atlantic Wall and this meant that by June 1944 and D-Day
the defences were weaker than they should have been. Moreover, the British had proven they could
undertake precision strike missions and armed with new bombs designed by Barnes
Wallace ‘617’ went onto destroy critical bridges and tunnels before sinking the
German battleship “Tirpitz”.
Time of course moves on and this week I had the honour of leading a
NATO-backed meeting at Wilton Park with my friends from the German armed forces,
including the Luftwaffe. That of course
is the most important historical twist and I am sure the men of 617 Squadron
would have heartily approved.
Good show, chaps!
“Apres nous le deluge”. Now duty done it is back to bed - I have flu!
Julian Lindley-French
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