"The Dambusters raid: How effective was it?" Topic

An interesting article on the Dambusters Raid, and much more than just a propaganda boost.
link

If you want to know the havoc the dams raids caused, look at the effects in early 1945 when the Germans opened the sluice gates of these same Dams to flood the Area that the British and Americans prepared to attack.

Whilst the dams were fairly quickly rebuilt, the power station at the Mohne was not reopened until post war. A lot of effort was expended – concrete, labour, AA guns – that would have been useful elsewhere and it put the Germans on notice that they weren't invulnerable.
Some German friends of mine lived in the area of the Eder dam at the time and it certainly frightened them.

You also have to take into consideration the effect had on morale and the prestige of Bomber Command at the time. The Dambusters movie show some of this . The fact that we are still talking about the raid 60 years after the event shows that there are factors other than physical damage have to be taken into consideration when judging effectiveness.

No one would have schemed up a raid as ridiculous as this without having a good reason behind it.

Electricity production, industrial disruption, industrial re-allocation, worker disruption, defense re-allocation.

Flat out I'ld hazard a guess of two to three months complete loss of production for key sections of the Ruhr. Long term disruption more likely as nine months to a year. As has been said already, the Mohne damand station not rebuilt until after the war.

What I don't understand is why the Brits didn't mount another raid on the rebuilt dams. Was the info about the effect of the raid not encouraging enough? A score of bombers puts the Ruhr into complete chaos for weeks/months, using up huge amounts of manpower and resources to repair the damage, and the entire thing could go for nothing by simply busting the dams again. But that never happened. Why?…

And despite the raid's audacity, pluck, heroism, damage to the facilities, and positive effect on Bomber Command, the movie remake's (Spielberg, I think??) likely effect on today's audience will be a furor over what to call the dog.

If they can't use the real name, then my vote is for "Niger".

Or Niggle

Evidently it is a toss up between "Nigsy" and "Digger."

Having just finished "The Red Line" by John Nichol about the Nuremburg raid of March 30th / 31st 1944 when 95 Lancaster and Halifax bombers were lost for no military advantage whatsoever, I think it it is clear the raid was worth the effort.

I'd love to see the ten full size Lancasters they've built for the film, though.

Wonder how many guns and personnel the raid caused the Germans to move to places they didn't really want to put them?

GMT Games just announced a solitaire game about these raids in their newsletter today.

Why not just leave the damn dog out of the movie!

Another link showing the journey & incidents (who crashed where, etc), plus radio commentary from some of those involved.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22544567

Bomber Harris thought the raid a waste of resources, the damage was extensive, but essentially limited, and nearly all the casualties on the ground were Russian slave labourers. Although some economic resources were briefly dislocated, the damage wasn't anything like as bad as has been suggested, and no effort was made to interdict the repair work, which would have been a relatively simple task, with minimal use of resources. Repeat attacks would have prolonged the repair work and encouraged the relocation of far more resources, both Flak and everything else necessary. All in all a rather depressing waste of life, and I'm not sure that the British public were quite as impressed as was thought.

Chouan – Bomber Harris thought that anything that didn't involve carpet bombing German city centres was a waste of resources – including interdicting railways during the D-Day period. On the other hand Albert Speer said it severely disrupted production for several months. And I think all casualties of war a "rather depressing waste of life."

I think the British public was very impressed – my Mum danced with Guy Gibson!