Ruhr District Reservoirs

[dppintr]

As a private pilot, I had flown already several times over the Ruhr district before I knew that, at one time during World War 2, dams in the area had been subject to air attacks by the British.

 

As aviation interests me, I did a search about it on the internet, and the queries returned thousands of mostly British websites with stories, articles, books, movies, TV-shows, etc. about the "Dambusters". A raid against German dams had taken place, and it is a heroic story in Britain, although it is not commonly known in other countries.

 

Most works on World War 2 European air war make mention of the Dambusters raid as a footnote if at all. The official assessment of the bombing campain (the British Bombing Survey Unit, The Strategic Air War Against Germany, 1939 - 1945) neglects to mention the raid entirely.

 

 

Aerial pictures of the Möhne, Eder, Sorpe, Lister, Ennepe and Diemel-dam

 

It was unavoidable to notice that the raid is fiercely debated in Britain, and further reading was required. For those who are interested, I made an extra page which reflects on the impact against the described goals and predicted results of the air strikes that were drawn-up during the preparation of the operation (link at the bottom of the trip report).

 

The trip report with pictures can be found here

 

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[Peter Anson]

Great report - very informative. From what I have read, the dam raid would have had a far greater effect if the Sorpe had also been breached, but it seems to have been almost an afterthought. Looking at your diagram of the cross section of the Sorpe dam wall, it is little wonder that the British were unable to damage it. They did have large bombs, "Tallboys" later in the war that may have been able to damage the Sorpe but I guess by that time their priorities had changed. I was surprised at hoPeterw quickly the Germans were able to rebuild the dams. Nice that we're all friends now isn't it?

 

Peter

 

 

[dppintr]

Great report - very informative

Thank you.

 

They did have large bombs, "Tallboys" later in the war that may have been able to damage the Sorpe but I guess by that time their priorities had changed

There was another failed attack against the Sorpe dam in October 1944 that used the Tallboy bombs (see The Dams Raid link at the bottom of the trip report). I am still to find out why the Sorpe dam was attacked again in isolation, 1.5 years after the first raid. Perhaps the intention was to first try to breach the Sorpe, before the Möhne was going to be attacked again? The British knew that both the Möhne and Sorpe needed to be breached to achieve a strategic impact. Were they perhaps only testing the (expensive) Tallboys against the Sorpe, or trying to demonstrate that, since the Dambusters raid, they now could also breach the Sorpe?

 

Nice that we're all friends now isn't it?Peter

Europe has achieved a lot after the war in respect of cooperation, stability and peace. I hope that the current nationalistic tendencies in Europe will not succeed bringing us back to the pre-war dark ages.