Operation Chastise was an attack on German dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, subsequently publicised as the "Dam Busters", using a specially developed "bouncing bomb" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley; the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more were damaged. Factories and mines were also either damaged or destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians drowned: about 600 Germans and 1,000 mainly Soviet forced-labourers. The damage was mitigated by rapid repairs by the Germans, but production did not return to normal until September.
http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-incredible-story-of-the-dambusters-raid
An excellent movie was made in 1955 titled, not surprisingly, The Dam Busters.
“The Dambusters” was a single squadron formed during the Second World War to carry out a single special and dangerous task. That operation “Chastise” has since become a legend in the annals of military history and it possess all the traditionally admired military attributes of originality, surprise and heroism coupled with a very dramatic outcome. Operation Chastise has in many ways overshadowed the later exploits of the men who formed the squadron.
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I watched a documentary a few years ago on NOVA called "Bombing Hitler's dams" where they recreated the conditions of the attacks.Astounding stuff.link to wiki page for doc
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That is interesting - too bad the original blueprints were lost. Speaking of recreations, I had forgotten about this :)
"The attack on the Death Star in the climax of the film Star Wars is a deliberate and acknowledged homage to the climactic sequence of The Dam Busters. In the former film, rebel pilots have to fly through a trench while evading enemy fire and fire a proton torpedo at a precise distance from the target to destroy the entire base with a single explosion; if one run fails, another run must be made by a different pilot. In addition to the similarity of the scenes, some of the dialogue is nearly identical. Star Wars also ends with an Elgarian-style march, like The Dam Busters.[20] The same may be said of 633 Squadron, in which a squadron of de Havilland Mosquitos must drop a bomb on a rock overhanging a key German factory at the end of a Norwegian fjord.[21] Gilbert Taylor, responsible for Special Effects Photography on The Dam Busters, was the Director of Cinematography for Star Wars."
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Being a huge Star Wars nut ;)I actually knew that, saw it in some documentary (maybe The Making of a Saga? or possibly on the first release Special Edition dvds that had bonus features).There were a lot of "callbacks" to WW1 and WW2 aerial dogfights for the space combat, which is one reason it seemed so "realistic" in some ways.
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Saw it too. It was good.
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The best news all week, my salvation during this exam period. Thanks, i will definately try it out after exams !
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You're very welcome. Good luck with your exams!
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Thank you :)
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