How do historians measure the effectiveness of the RAF’s attacks on the German dams in 1943, and why was the ‘bouncing bomb’ success never repeated?
Operation Chastise, the 1943 attack on the Möhne, Sorpe and Eder dams by the Dambusters and immortalised in a film of the same name, has captured the imagination of countless historians and enthusiasts since it was successfully executed 80 years ago. The daring raid was completed with such pride against such large odds, that it led to 617 Squadron adopting ‘Après moi, le déluge; After me, the flood’ as its motto.
It has also led, perhaps unsurprisingly, to some forensic analysis of its results, and whether the loss of so many brave men in a single raid was proportionate to the effort required, the resources allocated and the destruction it achieved.
