On 16–17 May 1943, an attack on the Mohne and Edersee Dams was carried out by 617 Squadron, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson.
The attack famously used the ‘bouncing bombs’ that had been invented by Barnes Wallis.
Included below is a newspaper report of the attack and also some photographs, which were published just two days afer the attack on the dams.
1 comments On The Dambusters Raid – 16 and 17 May 1943
When I was 7, in 1959, my dad was posted to Soest with the Canadian army.
I knew about “The Dam Busters”
I was taught to be so proud.
We went to Belgian and Canadian army schools and and walked around the repaired dam for exercise.
We didn’t mix much with the German children even though we walked into town and shared their recreational facilities.
Never realised until now that , of course, like Hirohsima nd Nagasaki, civilians were targeted; for a reason of course….
Strange that we were never taught to be sensitive to that reality. How sad.
In the final anaysis , was the loss of civilian life worth the great engineering accomplishment?
Did the loss of the lives of the sodiers shorten the war?