Operation Chastise in May 1943 was an outstanding success on several levels.
i) Propaganda wise it was great boost for British morale.
ii)Material wise every bridge for 30 miles below the breached Mohne dam was destroyed, and buildings were damaged 40 miles away. Twelve war production factories were destroyed, and around 100 more were damaged. Thousands of acres of farmland were ruined. German sources attribute a 400,000-tonne drop in coal production in May 1943 to the damage caused. Another German report into the effects of the raid talked about "considerable losses of production" caused by "the lack of water" and that "many shaft mines, coking plants, smelting works, power stations, fuel plants and armaments factories were shut down for several days".
(Above taken from James Holland's book, Dam Busters: The Race to Smash the Dams)
iii) No other raid by so few aircraft caused so much widespread damage during the War until the dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945.
But as was expected, the effects were relatively shortlived. The Germans certainly rose to the challenge: the dams, which had taken five years to build, were repaired by armies of forced labourers working around the clock in just five months, in time for the autumn rains. Thousands of troops, Hitler youth, prisoners of war and enslaved workers were thrown at the task. Canals were dredged, factories rebuilt, river banks reinstated, bridges replaced.
The fact that a titanic effort was made to repair this damage shows how high a priority the dams were, and it meant resources were shifted from elsewhere. Nowhere was this costlier to the Third Reich than on the beaches of Normandy.
So given the enormous damage that resulted, with such relatively little loss, I wonder why a second Dams raid wasn't conducted in May of 1944. Imagine the effects on German industry leading up to D-Day.
A Second Dams Raid?
Re: A Second Dams Raid?
Several reasons.
From the German perspective, they were not going to be caught a second time. Dam defences across Germany were significantly upgraded. More flak and more importantly floating barriers of wood placed out on the reservoirs to attempt to interfere with the bounces.
From the British perspective, losses during Chastise were heavy. 8 of 19 aircraft. Any future raid would likely have been even more costly. More importantly however was that beyond the propaganda effect, AVM Harris, the chief of Bomber Command, seemed to consider it a failure, probably because it’s effects were so short lived. They might have lasted longer if there had been follow up raids on the reconstruction works, as happened with some of the V weapon sites later.
And finally, on 14th April 1944 control of the strategic air forces was turned over to Eisenhower and most of their attention turned to bombing targets in the French transportation network in the lead up to D-Day. That was perceived to be the thing that would most help the invasion. After the invasion attention was turned to V weapon sites and the in Sept to the German oil industry.
From the German perspective, they were not going to be caught a second time. Dam defences across Germany were significantly upgraded. More flak and more importantly floating barriers of wood placed out on the reservoirs to attempt to interfere with the bounces.
From the British perspective, losses during Chastise were heavy. 8 of 19 aircraft. Any future raid would likely have been even more costly. More importantly however was that beyond the propaganda effect, AVM Harris, the chief of Bomber Command, seemed to consider it a failure, probably because it’s effects were so short lived. They might have lasted longer if there had been follow up raids on the reconstruction works, as happened with some of the V weapon sites later.
And finally, on 14th April 1944 control of the strategic air forces was turned over to Eisenhower and most of their attention turned to bombing targets in the French transportation network in the lead up to D-Day. That was perceived to be the thing that would most help the invasion. After the invasion attention was turned to V weapon sites and the in Sept to the German oil industry.
Re: A Second Dams Raid?
I was going to suggest that the Tallboy bomb (rather than another raid using the Upkeep bomb) could have been used against the dams second time around. After all it was ready for operations from May '44 onwards.
Then I just found this reference. The Tallboy was used against the Dams in '44. A raid was conducted against the Sorpe Dam in fact, on 15 October 1944 by No.9 Squadron. Five Tallboy were dropped, leaving huge craters, but causing only minor spillage.
The Upkeep bomb in the '43 raid had not been successful against the Sorpe embankment dam's construction with its concrete core covered in soil. Nor was the Tallboy.
I would certainly like to see any photographs from the 15 October Tallboy raid, to see how close those craters were to the dam wall.
Then I just found this reference. The Tallboy was used against the Dams in '44. A raid was conducted against the Sorpe Dam in fact, on 15 October 1944 by No.9 Squadron. Five Tallboy were dropped, leaving huge craters, but causing only minor spillage.
The Upkeep bomb in the '43 raid had not been successful against the Sorpe embankment dam's construction with its concrete core covered in soil. Nor was the Tallboy.
I would certainly like to see any photographs from the 15 October Tallboy raid, to see how close those craters were to the dam wall.
Re: A Second Dams Raid?
These are actually the same photo
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=222891
https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history ... and-4.html
Greetings from the Wide Brown.
Re: A Second Dams Raid?
Thanks for that Max. Surprising just how little damage the bombs did. Sorpe Dam was a hard nut to crack.
Am also surprised at the accuracy, given the bomb sites of the day and that he bomb itself was dropped from 18,000ft.
Am also surprised at the accuracy, given the bomb sites of the day and that he bomb itself was dropped from 18,000ft.
Re: A Second Dams Raid?
9 squadron used the Military.XIV sight but 617 used the SABS sight which was even more accurate.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabili ... Bomb_Sight
Although the Sorpe dam was not breached in WW2 there was some leakage in the early 1950s that was attributed to the big bombs and that required some remedial repairs. 1958 saw a further repair program with the reservoir being drained. At that point they found an unexplored Tallboy.
Some further info here
https://britishdams.org/assets/document ... isited.pdf
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stabili ... Bomb_Sight
Although the Sorpe dam was not breached in WW2 there was some leakage in the early 1950s that was attributed to the big bombs and that required some remedial repairs. 1958 saw a further repair program with the reservoir being drained. At that point they found an unexplored Tallboy.
Some further info here
https://britishdams.org/assets/document ... isited.pdf