Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: The Dam Busters (was Re: Strategic targets in Iraq) Message-ID: <1990Sep18.024052.19467@cbnews.att.com> Date: 18 Sep 90 02:40:52 GMT References: <1990Sep11.024301.14007@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Computer Science, Heriot-Watt U., Scotland Lines: 40 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Adrian Hurt In article <1990Sep11.024301.14007@cbnews.att.com> paj@gec-mrc.co.uk (paj) writes: > >The dams breached were the Moehne, the Eder and the Sorpe. I think a >couple of others were attacked but not breached. The attack deprived >German industry in the Ruhr of water (a ton of steel needed eight tons >of water) and also inundated many other factories downstream from the >dams. What effect this had on the German war effort in general I do >not know. I thought the Sorpe was not breached, because its sides were much more angled than the more conventional Moehne and Eder dams. As for effect, I believe Wallis commented that the idea was to deprive the German factories of water, but the result was to give them too much water! >617 squadron then moved to another of Wallis's ideas, the earthquake >bomb. First the six ton "Tallboys" and later the ten ton "Grand >Slams" ... >The bomb would penetrate one or two hundred feet before exploding, >creating a cavity into which the structure would fall. Because of the >cost of the bombs, 617 became experts at pin-point accuracy in >bombing, and were also used for conventional raids involving >high-accuracy, such as hitting a ball-bearing factory in the middle of >a French city and using flares to mark targets for other squadrons. The neat trick with this raid was, they advised the workers via the Resistance that they were coming, and the workers were to go to the canteen. The factory was hit; the canteen was not. (Maybe the USAF should have used Lancasters instead of F-111's on Libya. :-) 617 Squadron also used these bombs against some bridges. "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott Adrian Hurt | JANET: adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian | ARPA: adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk