Operation Chastise

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The badly damaged Edertalsperre
Edersee dam today; there are no drain gates where the wall was damaged
Aerial view of the flooding along the Eder after the Edersee dam was bombed; in the picture below left the Wabern train station (Imperial War Museum)

The Operation Chastise ( English for punishment ) it has carried out in the night of 16 to 17 May 1943 military operation , with the aim that dams of six dams in today's North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse destroy.

The company with 19 converted Lancaster bombers was owned by No. 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force . Specially developed roll or rotation bombs were used , which severely damaged the walls of the Eder and Möhne dams . The attacks on the Lister , Sorpe and Ennepetalsperre were unsuccessful. In the tidal waves caused by the outflowing reservoirs of Eder and Möhne , between 1,300 and more than 2,400 people died (for sources of different numbers see section Tactical Viewin this article), a significant proportion of whom were forced laborers and Allied soldiers in POW camps . The military usefulness of the operation was controversial within the British military. 53 of the 133 Allied soldiers involved died in the operation.

Goal setting

The targets of attack were the Edersee in northern Hesse and the Sorpe and Möhnesee lakes in the Ruhr catchment area , as well as the dam walls of the Listertalsperre, Ennepetalsperre and Diemelsee .

The strategic aim of the British offensive operation was to damage the arms industry in the Ruhr area , which for the British was the center of German arms production. The destruction of the dams was therefore seen as crucial to the war. The water supply should also be interrupted as permanently as possible not only for industry but also for the population. The British knew that the reservoirs regulated the water level of waterways ( Mittelland Canal , Weser ) in the wider area, on which economic and war material was transported. Damage, destruction and casualties among the civilian population in the areas below the respective dams were more of a side effect of the attack. The demoralizing effect hoped for by the British on the population did not materialize, as did the other air raids during World War II .

The British military had already discussed the destruction of the German dams in 1937 and determined that their destruction was not possible with conventional means. Since the outbreak of war there have been various ideas about how to carry it out, for example with torpedoes , remote-controlled bombers or paratroopers .

Development of the attack plan

Roll or rotation bomb: replica in front of the barrier wall museum Edersee in Hemfurth-Edersee am Edersee
The Upkeep Roll- Up Bomb under Guy Gibson's Lancaster B Mk III (Special).

Barnes Wallis , an engineer with the British Vickers Aircraft Works, designed a special bomb for dam destruction. Wallis was best known for developing the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers.

Conventional bombing

Wallis' original idea was to drop a bomb weighing ten tons from a height of 12,200 meters on a dam. This plan was not feasible: tests and calculations had shown that a sufficiently heavy bomb would require an immensely powerful bomber for this purpose. However, a much smaller explosive charge would be sufficient if the bomb were to explode directly on the embankment of the dam or the wall of a wall below the surface of the water. But this possibility was already thwarted by the torpedo nets , which (similar to a warship) were installed at the dams in order to detonate a torpedo at a certain protective distance or to intercept it there.

Roll bomb

Schematic representation of the dropping of a roll or rotation bomb to destroy a dam

Because of the protection provided by torpedo nets, Wallis constructed the roll or rotation bomb . It was a cylinder-shaped bomb weighing 4 tons, containing approx. 3 tons of explosives, which was set in reverse rotation by an electric motor shortly before being dropped (rotation speed: 500 revolutions per minute). After being dropped, the bomb jumped over the surface of the water like a flat pebble while jumping stones and was thus able to overcome the torpedo defense nets. When it reached the dam, it began to sink at a low residual speed. A pressure detonator detonated the bomb at a depth of about 10 m, where it was supposed to tear a hole in the dam. The water forces of the draining reservoir then cause a rapid enlargement of the hole.

Deployment decision and implementation

After tests and much discussion, this plan was approved by the commanders on February 26, 1943. The bomb was codenamed Upkeep . May 20th was set as the latest deployment time. Then the reservoirs had their highest water level and there was a full moon. This left only a preparation time of around three months for the production of the bombs, the conversion of the aircraft and the training of the pilots.

With the operation, the No. 5 commissioned the Royal Air Force Bomber Group , which in March 1943 set up a new squadron for this mission. Originally called Season X , it was commanded by Wing Commander Guy Gibson , who had operational experience of more than 170 missions. 21 additional flight crews were called in by the 5th group to complete this new squadron stationed in Lincolnshire on the RAF Scampton military airfield located about 8 km north of Lincoln .

The attack aircraft were converted Avro Lancaster  Mk III, with the other designation Type 464 (Provisional) . To save weight, most of the armament has been removed; likewise the middle machine-gun turret. The bomb and its unusual shape meant that the flaps of the bomb bay were omitted and the bomb partially protruded from the fuselage. It was mounted using two hook holders (crutches) ; Before being released, an auxiliary motor set them into rapid reverse rotation.

Dropping technique

Derwent Reservoir where training runs were made

Dropping bombs from a height of 18 meters at a speed of 390 km / h at a precise distance to the target required a great deal of skill on the part of the crews. This required experts with extensive night and low-level flight experience who set about solving two difficult technical problems.

The first was to drop the bombs at the correct distance from the dam wall: the Möhne and Edersee dams each had a tower on both sides. Based on previous aerial photographs, it was calculated at which angle the towers should appear at the time of the drop. To help with the control, a simple device was built that basically consisted of an isosceles wooden triangle . The two corners facing the target were provided with a pin (nail), the third corner was reserved for the bombardier's eye. When aiming the congruent pins - turrets the correct distance was reached.

The second technical problem was the drop height: the conventional barometric altimeters in airplanes were far too imprecise for this purpose. So two headlights were attached to the underside of the aircraft - one each at the bow and one at the stern. They were aligned with one another in such a way that the circles of light that each emerged on the surface of the water touched an “8” when the optimum drop height of 18 (or 20) m was reached.

These two techniques were intensively practiced over the Eyebrook Reservoir in Leicestershire and the Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire for 6 weeks.

The attack

The final tests were carried out on April 29, 1943. The roll-bombs were delivered to the squadron on May 13th. When the weather conditions were found to be suitable, the crews were informed of the targets on May 15.

organization

The 19 Lancaster bombers from RAF Scampton involved in the attack were divided into three groups. Formation 1 should attack the Möhne dam and then the Eder dam and formation 2 the Sorpestaudamm. The third group formed the reserve, which was to take off two hours later and attack any targets that had not yet been destroyed. If Formations 1 and 2 were successful, Formation 3 was assigned the dams at Schwelm and the walls of the Ennepe- and Diemelsee lakes .

The command center for the mission was located at the headquarters of the 5th Group in Grantham. The Morse code for the Missions were Goner for bomb dropped, Nigger for the destroyed Möhne dam and Dinghy for success on the Eder dam. Guy Gibson chose nigger because that was the name of his black dog that was run over by a vehicle on the night of May 17th.

Outward flight

The outward flight took place at treetop height (between 25 and 40 meters) in order to avoid detection by German radar stations. The planes used two carefully crafted routes to avoid anti-aircraft positions.

Formation 1 flew ashore between Walcheren and Schouwen-Duiveland , crossed the Netherlands , bypassed the airfields near Eindhoven and Gilze-Rijen as well as the air defense of the Ruhr area, flew around Hamm in the north and then turned south towards the Möhnetalsperre. Formation 2 first flew further north over Vlieland and the Zuiderzee , then took the same route from Wesel as the first group and turned south behind the Möhne towards the Sorpe.

Formation 1 consisted of nine machines in three groups - Guy Gibson , Hopgood and Martin, Young, Astell and Maltby, and Maudslay, Knight and Shannon. Formation 2 consisted of the five McCarthy, Byers, Barlow, Rice, and Munro aircraft. Townsend, Brown, Ottley and Burpee formed Formation 3. Two crews were out due to illness.

The machines in Formation 2 were the first to take off at 9:10 p.m. due to the longer flight distance on the northern route. Due to a hydraulic defect, McCarthy and the crew took off in a replacement aircraft 20 minutes late. Formation 1 started at 9:25 p.m.

The first losses occurred shortly after the Dutch coast. Formation 2 was hit hard: Munro lost his radio through a flak hit and turned off over the Zuiderzee. Rice's bomb fell into the sea because it went too low, but he was able to intercept the machine and return to base. The Barlow and Byers bombers flew over the coast near Harderwijk and were shot down a little later. Only the late McCarthy crossed the Netherlands unharmed. Formation 1 lost only Astell and his crew at Marbeck near Raesfeld (North Rhine-Westphalia).

Attack on the Möhne dam

Möhne dam after the attack
The badly damaged Möhne dam

Formation 1 reached the Möhne dam and Gibson's plane (callsign "G" for George) went into the attack first, Hopgood (callsign "M" for "Mother") second. Hopgood's plane was hit low by enemy flak fire and finally destroyed by the pressure wave of its own exploding bomb. Martin (callsign "P" for "Peter") was also hit as the third attacker, but his attack was successful. After Young (callsign "A" for "Apple") and after him Maltby (callsign "J" for "Johnny") were also able to fly a successful attack on the dam, the wall was broken. Eventually Gibson led Young, Shannon, Maudslay and Knight to the Eder .

Attack on the Eder dam

The Eder valley was shrouded in thick fog, but not defended. The surrounding hills made the approach to the Edertalsperre difficult , so that the first plane, Shannon's plane, broke off after six unsuccessful attempts. Maudslay (Z for Zebra) made the next attempt, but his bomb detonated on the crown and damaged the aircraft. Shannon made a successful drop on the next approach. The last bomb in the formation, dropped from Knight's machine, eventually damaged the dam.

Attacks on the Sorpe and Ennepe dams

McCarthy (T for Tom) reached the Sorpe Dam alone. The wide earth dam was a much more difficult target to destroy than the two successfully attacked stone and concrete structures on Möhne and Eder. For this reason, despite the unfavorable, hilly terrain on both sides of the dam, an approach along the dam and dropping of the bomb without rotation was planned on the Sorpe.

This maneuver turned out to be even more complicated in practice, as the old Langscheid church tower on the hill was not taken into account. After the subsequent dive into the valley, the pilot only had a few seconds before he had to pull the machine up again in front of the hills on the east bank, so that the bombardier George Johnson had no time to correct course.

McCarthy initially made nine unsuccessful approaches to the dam, which was still undefended at the time, when the fog was increasing, until Johnson decided to trigger the weapon on the tenth attempt. However, the direct hit only damaged the dam crest, the dam remained intact.

Then three reserve machines were ordered to the Sorpe. Burpee (S for Sugar) never got there. Brown (F for Freddy) reached the goal and was dropped despite the thicker fog, but also without destroying the dam. When Anderson (Y for Yorker) was the last to arrive, the fog was already too thick for an approach. The remaining two machines were ordered to take alternative destinations. Ottley (C for Charlie) was shot down while Townsend (O for Orange) dropped his bomb on the wall of the Ennepetalsperre .

Return flights

On the flight back to Great Britain - again at treetop height - another plane was shot down. Young's machine was hit by anti-aircraft guns and crashed into the sea near the Dutch coast.

List of aircraft involved

Airplane callsign commander target Remarks
First wave of attacks
G George W / C Gibson Möhne reservoir Attack leader. The bomb exploded just before the wall. Attracted the enemy flak fire.
M mother F / L Hopgood Möhne reservoir Hit by flak on the outbound flight. The bomb jumped over the top of the wall. Shot down over target during attack.
P Peter (Popsie) F / L Martin Möhne reservoir Bomb missed the target
A apple S / L Young Möhne reservoir The bomb hit the target and caused the wall to break. Shot down during the return flight over the Dutch coast.
J Johnny F / L Maltby Möhne reservoir The bomb hit the target and caused a major dam break.
L Leather F / L Shannon Edertalsperre The bomb hit the target - with no effect.
Z zebra S / L Maudsley Edertalsperre Bomb missed target and damaged the aircraft. Shot down during the return flight over Germany.
N groove P / O Knight Edertalsperre The bomb hit the target and caused a great wall collapse.
B Baker F / L Astell N / A Crashed on the outbound flight after colliding with a power line.
Second attack wave
T Tommy F / L McCarthy Sorpe dam The bomb hit the target - with no effect.
E Easy F / L Barlow N / A Crashed on the outbound flight after colliding with a power line.
K King P / O Byers N / A Shot down over the Dutch coast on the return flight.
H Harry P / O Rice N / A Bomb lost over the sea. Returned without attacking the target.
W Willie F / L Munro N / A Damaged by flak over the Dutch coast. Returned without attacking the target.
Third wave of attacks
Y York F / S Anderson Lister dam Couldn't find target because of fog.
F Freddy S / S Brown Sorpe dam Bomb hit the target - with no effect.
O orange S / S Townsend Ennepetalsperre Mine hit the target - with no effect.
S Sugar P / O Burpee N / A Shot down on the outbound flight over the Netherlands.
C Charlie P / O Ottley N / A Shot down on the outbound flight over Germany.

After the attack

Unexploded roll bomb of the downed Lancaster "Easy", crew F / L Barlow

A total of 53 of the 133 soldiers were killed; three parachuted and were captured. Of the survivors, 33 were honored by the King on June 22nd at Buckingham Palace : Gibson received the Victoria Cross , five men received the Distinguished Service Order , ten the Distinguished Flying Cross with four bars, twelve received the Distinguished Flying Medal and two with honored with the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal .

Gibson returned to service after a promotional tour in the United States and was killed on a reconnaissance flight on September 19, 1944.

After the attack on the dams, the 617th squadron was retained as a specialist unit. The group's badge was coined by Operation Chastise, it consists of three lightning bolts, a broken dam and the motto “Après moi le déluge” (“ After me the deluge ”). The squadron then had the order to use the massive Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs also developed by Barnes Wallis with the help of a newly developed, much more precise bomb sight. On October 15, 1944, another, also unsuccessful, air raid by the British Air Force on the Sorpe Dam took place, this time with bombs of the Tallboy type.

The 617th season still exists today, the members of this unit are still referred to as "Dam Busters".

Influence on the course of the war

Tactical point of view

Memorial for the victims of the flood disaster at the Möhnestausee in Neheim

Around 330 million tons of water flowed out of the Möhne and Eder reservoirs. Mines were flooded and numerous houses, factories, roads, railroad lines and bridges were damaged or destroyed. Estimates show that before May 15, 1943, drinking water production was one million tons per day; this amount fell to a quarter after the attack.

There are different statements about the total number of victims: some dead could not be identified, some people remained missing. Official reports and German press releases were subject to propaganda at the time and showed deficiencies. In particular, data on the killed forced laborers and prisoners of war have so far only been incompletely reconstructed.

  • Below the Möhne Reservoir, the number of deaths was between 1284 and over 1600 people, including over 1000 forced laborers. Most of the dead were caused by the initially up to 12 meter high tidal wave in the forced labor camp Möhnewiesen (at least 526 dead forced laborers) in Neheim, almost eleven kilometers downstream. But also in the Ruhr valley , 100 km away from the dam, in Essen-Steele , people were killed by the masses of water.
  • The number of fatalities below the Edersee fluctuates between 47 and 68 people. Some recent contributions, in which the death of over 700 prisoners of war in a labor camp directly below the Edersee dam is mentioned, are probably based on a confusion with information about the Möhne dam. A forced labor camp was only set up on the Edersee after the attack to restore the dam.

British Air Marshal Arthur Harris , who had rejected the plan, ruled that the attack had not brought any noticeable success and was just a spectacular action.

After the mission, however, Barnes Wallis wrote: "I felt that Germany was suffering a blow from which the country could not recover for several years." However, on closer inspection, Operation Chastise did not have the desired or expected effect. On June 27, the drinking water supply was back to its previous performance - thanks to an emergency plan that had been introduced just a year earlier. At the same time the electricity network was repaired. The attack claimed many deaths - more than half of them were Allied prisoners of war - but in fact the damage was nothing more than a small “problem” for the industry in the Ruhr area .

The British exhibited photos of the badly damaged dams and it was a propaganda success for them. The attack suggested that the Allies would win the war, according to a BBC report.

Strategic view

The mission was undertaken with the aim of forcing the German defense back into the heartland and achieving war success away from the arenas of ground offensives - a strategy that culminated in the bombing of Berlin in the winter of 1943 to 1944. In May 1943 this meant that the German air force and anti-aircraft defense should be kept out of Eastern Europe, and in the spring of 1944 the invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord , should be strategically prepared.

Workers deployed to build defenses against an Allied invasion were withdrawn from the job to help rebuild the dams in record time. This weakened the corresponding defensive structures. In May 1943, German coal production collapsed by 400,000 t, which the German armaments minister Albert Speer in particular viewed as a catastrophe.

Diplomatic point of view

A major reason for even planning this bold attack was to convince Stalin that Britain was a powerful ally. The consequence of this was that the Soviet Union could not give up its defense in the face of the German invasion of Russia . At the time of execution, however, this aspect was hardly of any importance, because in the meantime with the sinking of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad, the turning point in the course of the war had already occurred.

Pictures of the damaged dams and floods

  • Heavily damaged Möhne dam; View to the northwest

  • Damaged house and car below the badly damaged Möhne reservoir

  • Water supply near the Möhne reservoir

  • Largely destroyed bridge beneath the heavily damaged Möhne dam

  • Largely destroyed bridge beneath the heavily damaged Möhne dam

Film adaptation and popular culture

See also

literature

  • Ralf Blank : The “Möhne catastrophe” in May 1943 as part of European war commemoration, in: Der Märker 61 (2012), pp. 97–121.
  • Paul Brickhill : The Dam Busters. 1952.
  • Winston Churchill : The Second World War . 1951, Volume IV, Chapter XXV.
  • Douglas C. Dildy: Dam Busters. Operation Chastise 1943 . Osprey, Oxford New York 2010, ISBN 978-1-84603-934-8 .
  • Helmuth Euler : When Germany's dams broke. The truth about the bombing of the Möhne-Eder-Sorpe dams in 1943. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 1975, ISBN 3-87943-367-4 .
  • Helmuth Euler: Water War - May 17, 1943: Roll bombs against the Möhne, Eder and Sorpestaud dams. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-613-02789-3 .
  • Guy Gibson: Enemy Coast Ahead Uncensored , Crecy, Manchester 2006, ISBN 978-0-85979-118-2 .
  • Max Hastings: Operation Chastise: The RAF's Most Brilliant Attack of World War II. HarperCollins, New York, 2020, ISBN 978-0-06-295363-6 (Ebook: 978-0-06-295362-9).
  • John Sweetman: The Dambusters Raid. Cassell, 1999, ISBN 0-304-35173-3 .

Web links

Commons : Operation Chastise  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Secret Möhnetalsperre - WDR documentary youtube.com, 19: 00-20: 40/43: 47
  2. ↑ Group badge , on valka.cz.
  3. ↑ a b c Ralf Blank : The night of the 16./17. May 1943 - "Operation Chastening": The destruction of the Möhne Dam , on lwl.org.
  4. ↑ a b c The Dambusters raid: How effective was it? , BBC News, May 15, 2013, accessed May 15, 2013.
  5. ↑ Nachtauge , short description and review, 480 pages, Karl Blessing Verlag, 2013, ISBN 3-89667-458-7 , on histo-couch.de, accessed on December 28, 2013.