The Dams Raid May 1943

	General and timeline.
	Aircraft, teamwork, training, the raid and the men.
	This page: the plan and the actual, results, bibliography, exhibition.

a) The Plan

Three waves. Routes out and back planned to avoid known areas of flak. Fly at low level so that it would be difficult for the aircraft to be spotted and difficult for them to be attacked by night-fighters.

First Wave - Three sections each of three aircraft. Take Southern Route. Target Moehne Dam, once that is breached remaining aircraft to attack Eder Dam and when that is breached any aircraft still with their weapon on board to attack the Sorpe Dam.

Second Wave - Five aircraft. Take the longer, northern, route. Target Sorpe Dam. So that this wave would cross the enemy coast at the same time as the first wave it took off about 10 minutes before the first wave.

Third Wave. Five aircraft. Southern Route. Airborne reserve under control of Group HQ. Took off 2 1/2 hours after waves 1 & 2 to allow its aircraft to be recalled before crossing enemy coast if waves 1 & 2 were successful in destroying all the dams.

b) The actual.

Some indication of the complexity of the operation can be gained by looking at the position of all the aircraft at certain key points in time.

Some of the information is only approximate because surviving records are incomplete. Also, to quote the official report of the operation "As a whole the logs returned do not show as high a standard as they do on a normal high level night sortie". There were, of course, very good reasons for this.

1. At 22.56.The first aircraft crossed the enemy coast. This was Munro in AJ-W. Just one minute later the first loss occurred when Byers in AJ-K crashed. Waves 1 & 2 crossed the enemy coast at about the same time but a hundred miles apart. The third wave aircraft were still on the ground at Scampton.
   
   
2. At 00.28. the first aircraft attacks the Moehne Dam. This was Gibson in AJ-G. By this time one of the aircraft in the first wave had been lost - Astell in AJ-B. As well as Gibson the remaining aircraft of the first wave were now in the vicinity of the Moehne - 8 in all.
   
   
3. At 01.52. The last attack on the Eder Dam - about the same time as third wave crosses enemy coast.
   
   
4. At 03.11.The first attacking aircraft landed back at Scampton.

LINKING NOTES

Very soon after the first aircraft crossed the enemy coast the first crash occurred.
AJ-K, Byers, crashed at 22.57.

AJ-W, Munro, was damaged by flak and had to return to base.

AJ-H, Rice, flew so low it hit the water and its UPKEEP was ripped off. This aircraft returned to base.

AJ-E, Barlow, crashed at 23.50

AJ-B, Astell, crashed at 00.15

The 5 aircraft of the third wave took off between 00.09 and 00.15.

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LINKING NOTES

AJ-M, Hopgood, was shot down during the attack and crashed after dropping his UPKEEP at the Moehne.

5 aircraft from first wave fly on to the Eder after the attack on the Moehne. 2 aircraft from the first wave head for base.

AJ-T, McCarthy, attacked the Sorpe at 00.46 and headed back to base.

Third wave has now crossed the enemy coast.

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LINKING NOTES

AJ-S, Burpee, crashes at 02.00

AJ-A, Young, crashes at about 02.30.

AJ-C, Ottley, crashes at 02.35

AJ-Y, Anderson, has navigational difficulties and at 03.10 Anderson decides to abandon the mission and turns back to base.

The remaining aircraft of waves 1 and 2 head for base having dropped their UPKEEPS.

5 aircraft attacked the Moehne
3 aircraft attacked the Eder
2 aircraft attacked the Sorpe
1 aircraft reported that it had attacked the Ennepe

SUMMARY: 19 AIRCRAFT TOOK OFF; 11 RETURNED

THE RESULTS

Two dams breached - The Moehne and the Eder. One dam damaged - the Sorpe - such that the German authorities lowered the water level in the reservoir to reduce the risk of the Dam giving way. 11 factories destroyed, 114 damaged. 25 bridges destroyed, 21 damaged. Electricity, water and gas supplies interrupted. Approx 1300 casualties. Rationing tightened.
Other consequences - 10,000 German forces dedicated to defending similar targets; Workers redeployed from building the Atlantic Wall to repairing the Dams and the damage done by the raid.
The effect on morale, on each side, was enormous. This raid seemed to be the start of the fight back. Leaflets describing the raid were dropped on Occupied territory. The effect on relations with US and Russia was also significant - Russia was pressing for the opening of a Second Front to relieve pressure on its forces; America was considering giving priority to the war in the Far East. Churchill used the success of the Dams Raid to smooth relations with Britain's allies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Dambusters Raid- John Sweetman. A thoroughly well researched study both of the raid itself and the events leading up to it. This book has been published in various editions, the latest in 2003 and this contains extra chapters bringing the story up to date. Even now new information is coming to light.

The Men who Breached the Dams - Alan Cooper. Particularly good, as might be expected from the title, on details of the men who flew on the raid giving details of the service history of each man. Also an interesting summary of the fate of each of the 19 aircraft which took part in the raid.

The Dambusters - John Sweetman with David Coward and Gary Johnstone. Published in 2003 to accompany the Channel 4 Television programmes. Many photographs and maps. Not as detailed as Sweetman's other book but very readable.

Enemy Coast Ahead - Guy Gibson. First published in 1946. Only about 20% covers Gibson's time with 617 Squadron. The rest of the book covers his earlier career with the RAF. A new edition was published in 2003 using Gibson's original, unedited, words.

The Dam Busters- Paul Brickhill. This is the book on which the 1955 feature film was based. The book, like Gibson's, suffers a little in that much important information was not available to be published at the time they were written. The book also covers the later work of 617 Squadron.

EXHIBITION

This article is based on the exhibition by the Barnes Wallis Memorial Trust at the Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington near York. The exhibition opened on the 16^th May 2003- the 60^th anniversary of the raid, and will remain in place for the rest of the summer of 2003 at least. For details of opening hours and admission prices to the Museum telephone 01904 608595. For more information about the Barnes Wallis Memorial Trust visit www.barneswallistrust.org.

© Peter Rix, Barnes Wallis Memorial Trust

	General and timeline.
	Aircraft, teamwork, training, the raid and the men.
	This page: the plan and the actual, results, bibliography, exhibition.