v.1.0 August 5, 2001

References

These 71 words are from No. 617 Squadron, RAF's war diary entry of May 16, 1943. Impersonally, they describe one of the most famous air actions in history. We may suspect the entry is not an example of the famous British penchant for understatement. Rather, judging from other entries, the diarist was wholly without imagination, resentful of an imposed duty, and eager to get the chore over with by making the most perfunctory of entries. In this respect, he was no different from the vast majority of his similarly burdened colleagues, simultaneously leaving history sadly short-changed and humanity subtly diminished. But then, not every war diarist is a Churchill or a Hemingway. When we look at World War 2, we see it as a succession of sharply defined, dramatic events. For the men and women who lived through and fought in the war, however, the great majority of days were routine boredom, grinding, exhausting work, no more memorable than any of the routine days that make up a person's life.

Any devotee of cinema knows that Americans and Hollywood are the masters of big drama. If you want something showy, fantastic, and a spectacle, you can't do better than Hollywood, and the Americans approach their wars the same way. The British, however, are the masters of war's small screen. At least from the days of Elizabeth I's sea captains, they have excelled at individual, bold actions that have very little impact on the final outcome of events, but do become part of the British collective consciousness, the factual basis for the myths by which these island people define themselves.

That is the real import of Operation Chastise, carried out by a unit raised just for the one purpose of breaching at least three, and hopefully even six, of Germany's Rhur dams. The Rhur was Germany's industrial heartland; by breaching the dams that supplied it with water and power, Bomber Command hoped to strike a devastating blow at Germany's armament production. In the event, the operation did not have the desired impact, because the Germans, as always, reacted with speed and efficiency to limit damage. Despite the terrible hammering that Germany received from the air for years on end, it is a fact that almost till Germany itself was invaded on the ground, its war production increased each month, seemingly in direct proportion to the tonnage dropped under the Combined Bomber Offensive.

Yet the operation may rank among the ten most dramatic in Britain's World War 2 history, ranking right up with the evacuation of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the River Plate, the Chindits, and Arnhem. Compared to any other operation it was tiny - 133 men and 19 aircraft. Chastise cannot compare in sheer size and mayhem with the American raid on Ploesti, but for the British, it is burned far more indelibly into their historical consciousness than Ploesti is for the Americans. And like Ploesti, Chastise earned more medals than any other single operation flown by the RAF. It made No. 617 Squadron instantly the most famous of Bomber Command's 144 squadrons, and a match for squadrons like Fighter Command's No. 56, which won their fame over long years of combat in both World Wars.

Chastise was unique in a typically British way, the myth of the daring individual braving all odds to succeed. Its two key figures could have been selected by Central Casting.

One was a scientist who doggedly pursued a one-point agenda: how to break a dam, which by its intrinsic nature is a vast structure of incredible strength meant to hold back a mighty river, and which is cushioned against blast by the water it impounds. The German dams were further protected by anti-torpedo nets, flak, and night fighters. After repeated experimentation, Barnes Willis developed his 10,000-lb hydrostatic bomb, which for some reason official accounts refer to as a mine. This bomb actually skipped on the water when dropped, like a flat stone thrown on a pond, and when it hit its target, sank to the bottom before exploding.

This ingenious device resembled a huge beer barrel and was named Upkeep. A smaller version, Highball, was designed to be carried by smaller attack aircraft like the Mosquito. It had to be dropped with what for those days was an unprecedented precision: it must be released 1275 feet from the target, at a speed of 220 miles an hour, and at a height of 60 feet above the water. If done perfectly, the bomb would hit the dam at the exact point the structure rose above the water. The guidance mechanisms were a masterpiece of simplicity and a testimony to the astonishing ingenuity of the human race. The aircraft had two searchlights fixed at a precise angle under its nose and tail; where the two beams met on the surface of the water was the required height. The bombardier used a device constructed of a wooden V with nails as his gunsight. When the target dam came exactly within the nails, he released his bomb. When dropped as required, the bomb worked beautifully, as evidenced by the massive destruction caused to the Eder, flooding 250 square miles of the Rhur, and the destruction of the Eder. Some damage was caused to the Sorpe, which being a stone-and-earth structure was far harder to break. Five of the bombs - the attackers carried one each - hit their targets; others dropped did not; and yet others were not dropped because the aircraft were lost en route.

The other key character was Wing Commander Guy Gibson. At age 24, he was younger than many graduate students of today, but he had already flown 172 bomber missions and was already famous for his leadership abilities and personal bravery when chosen to command Squadron X as it was first known, and No. 617 Squadron as it was formally christened.

Gibson was born in Simla, India, in 1918 and joined the RAF on a short commission. He was due to be mustered out when the war began. He flew several attack missions with No. 83 Squadron, went on to No. 29 Night Fighter Squadron before coming to his new command.

Gibson was given carte blanche by his superiors to choose his crews from the thousands that flew for Bomber Command. He handpicked his men who besides the British, consisted of 29 Canadians, 12 Australians, two New Zealanders, and even one American, Flight-Lieutenant Joe McCarthy, a hulking, profane flier who came to RAF by way of Canada. McCarthy was to win a DSO for the attack, and ended the war by adding a DFC with bar.

No. 617 Squadron came into existence on March 23^rd, 1943, at RAF Scampton, as part of No. 5 Group. It was one of ten heavy bomber squadrons in the Group, and flew the Lancaster Mk.III, a quietly efficient, if unspectacular, heavy bomber of British design and manufacture. Not even Gibson knew the mission for which the crew trained, till almost the last moment. They knew something unusual was required by them only because the Squadron's aircraft had specially modified bomb-bays.

Of the 19 aircraft that participated:

• 9, as the first wave, in cells of 3 X 3 led by Gibson were to attack the Mohne, then the Eder, and if bombs were left, the Sorpe.
• 5, as the second wave, were singles to attack the Sorpe.
• 5, as the reserve, were to depart two hours after the first wave. They were to reattack the first three dams if needed, or the Lister, Diemel, and Eneppe Dams if possible.

The first aircraft left at 2030. All aircraft were required to travel under 500-feet for the entire trip to avoid detection by German defenses. One of the first wave aircraft hit a power cable and crashed. The attacks lasted between 0038 and 0049. The first three aircraft on the Mohene missed, but the fourth and fifth aircraft hit the dam. While the attackers took their turn at the dam, Gibson flew in circles with his searchlights on, to focus the defense's attention on himself, giving the remaining attackers a better chance of success. He repeated this tactic at his next destination

Gibson now led the remaining three aircraft to the Eder, while the first four turned for home, with the return leg also being flown at under 500 feet. The attack was conducted between 0139 and 0156. Two of the three missed their target, but the third broke the Eder, and all four aircraft, including Gibson, turned for home. Two were lost on the return.

In the second wave, two aircraft were lost outbound, one on account of hitting a cable. Another aircraft was hit by flak and had to return. A fourth hit the Zuider Zee on its outbound flight and lost its mine. It managed to return. The last survivor of this group, T for Tommy, piloted by the American Flight Lieutenant McCarthy, made ten passes over the Sorpe target to align itself properly - contrariwise to the other targets, the Sorpe had to be attacked by flying along the length of the dam. In an air environment where repeated passes was inviting being shot down, T for Tommy's crew seemed exceptionally determined to do their job right, but succeeded only in damaging the dam.

In the third wave, two were lost outbound to enemy flak. The fifth aircraft could not find its target due to mist in the valleys by the time it arrived. Another was forced to turn back because of battle damage. One aircraft attacked the Sorpe, causing some further damage, and one the Schwelm Dam, without results.

The last aircraft landed at 0615 back at Scampton. Fifty-six crewmen were lost, of which three ended up as POWs and the rest were all killed.

The Dambusters, as they were now nicknamed, conducted 95 raids after this, their first, including the historic raid with No. 9 Squadron on the German battleship Tirpitz. They had another famous commander, Leonard Cheshire, who won a Victoria Cross during the war and later went on to set up the Cheshire Homes for Boys.

No. 617 Squadron won 33 decorations for its first mission, including a Victoria Cross for Guy Gibson. It was awarded a special battle honor - "The Dams" - for its action, and went on to win seven more during World War 2. Its newest battle honor was for the Gulf, 1991.

In 1946 the Squadron converted to the Lincoln, and in 1958 became part of the RAF's V-Bomber force with the Vulcan, tasked to the British nuclear deterrent. In 1982 it reequipped with the Tornado GR1B, and now flies maritime strike from Lossiemouth. Its motto is a rare pun among RAF squadron mottos: Apres moi, le deluge.

The Squadron's war diary records no entry for May 17. For May 18, laconic as ever, it records that the AOC No. 5 Group addressed the squadron, after which all aircrew were given seven days leave, and all ground crew except for essential skeleton crews were given three.

Squadron ID letters: AJ; the lead was AJ-G, presumably chosen by the commander for that reason.

At least one other squadron, AJ-Q, did not take part in the raid. It was assigned to Flt.-Lt. McCarthy's crew, but was mechanically unfit to take off. He participated using AJ-T.

The award of a country's highest decorations is often based on a subjective assessment. Nonetheless, a clue to Gibson's popularity among the RAF's top echelons is the speed with which he won his VC. Leonard Cheshire, another RAF bomber hero, and about the same age as Gibson, was given a VC in 1944 more or less in recognition of his collective heroism during 100 bomber missions. These, however, took place over four years. Gibson already had 172 missions under his belt before coming to the future Dambusters. Cheshire won his VC in a typically understated British way, displaying leadership and bravery on mission after mission over long years. Gibson, who already had a DSO and Bar, and a DFC and Bar, all earned in three years, picked up high decorations almost as if they had come with his breakfast cereal. After his performance in Chastise, his VC was a "natural", and his already considerable reputation as a hero was further burnished when, at the investure ceremony, his award was announced first, instead of last, as was the custom for Victoria Cross winners. That Churchill asked Gibson to accompany him to America was just another indication of the high popular esteem Gibson enjoyed.

He was killed in action on September 19, 1944, near Bergen-op-Zoom, Holland, while flying a Mosquito with No. 627 Squadron, another special duties unit. His navigator was also killed. Guy Gibson is buried in Holland, where a street is named after him.

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