Perhaps the most daring and dangerous
raid conducted by the Royal Air Force, the attacks on the
Mohne, Eder and Sorpe Dams in the Ruhr Valley in Germany
exemplified the dedication and tenacity of the British Armed
Forces to bring about an end to the domination of Europe
by Hitler.
The idea to breach the dams was conceived
before the war, but it was brought to the attention of The
Air Ministry and Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris by Dr Barnes
Wallis who believed that a weapon could be created to destroy
these imposing targets. His initial ideas were met with
lukewarm cynicism by the Government mandarins, many
of whom felt that his ideas were too fanciful to be viable.
However after persistent lobbying his idea was eventually
accepted and rubberstamped by Winston Churchill himself.
Wallis was given the means to develop
and test his theories, with the eventual outcome being the
creation of the now famous ‘Upkeep’ bouncing Bomb.
The weapon was to be carried by the newly arrived four engine
Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.
The RAF set about organising a special
Squadron for the mission, and recruited one of the most
capable and skilled pilots in the Royal Air Force to lead
it - Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson. His task was to
assemble the best Bomber crews in the RAF. The newly formed
Squadron was to be called 617 Squadron. All of the operational
crews were reassigned from their Squadrons and were posted
to RAF Scampton some 6 miles outside Lincoln. For several
weeks they practised without knowledge of the targets or
the weapon they were to use.
Operation Chastise was conducted in 16th May
1943 with the end result that the main Mohne and Eder Dams
were breached and the Ruhr Industrial Area was literally
‘drowned’ hindering the Nazi heavy industry and power production
for many months. The attack had huge propaganda value and
made Gibson a national hero. Sadly, of the nineteen Lancasters
that took part in the attacks with 133 crew, eight planes
were lost with the loss of 56 men; three of these men survived
to become prisoners-of-war. Gibson was awarded the Victoria
Cross for bringing round his Lancaster to give covering
fire to the Lancasters that were following up his attack
on the Mohne Dam.
The Imps and The Dambusters
Most English football fans are fond of
attaching some aspect of our military history to the game.
The national team has seen the theme from the Great Escape
used regularly during international tournaments and games.
Lincoln City fans are no exception to this. The Dambusters
have become very much a part of The Imps psyche and those
teams who have conceded a goal against Lincoln City will
have seen the fans paying their very own unique tribute
to The Dambusters. Lincolnshire was and still is intrinsically
linked to the RAF, particularly Bomber Command. During WW2,
Lincolnshire was nicknamed Bomber County due the large number
of RAF Bomber Command Airfields in this flat county. Also,
RAF Scampton being so close to Lincoln has special
significance. The music you are hearing is The Dambusters
March by Eric Coates. You can download this uplifting
and instantly recognisable track as an mp3 file by clicking
on the link at the top left of this page. The music was
composed for the 1954 film, The Dambusters,
made famous by it's star billing of Sir Michael Redgrave
as Barnes Wallis and Richard Todd as Wing Commander Guy
Gibson. In the film Lincoln makes it's very own special
appearance as our magnificent City and Cathedral are
seen shortly after takeoff during the mission
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