Cost of the Dambusters in damage and morale

From: Ken Cooke, Wheatley Road, Ilkley.

A COUPLE of recent letters on the Dambusters speculated about the damage caused by the wartime raid of May 1943.

The breached Möhne Dam released 140 million tonnes of water, creating initially a massive wave which swept down the valley tearing everything in its path. After the wave had passed, the village nearest the dam, Niederense, stood under eight metres of water. Quite near to the dam, the 800-year-old monastery of Himmelpforten was razed to its foundations and has never been rebuilt.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Downstream Schwerte, a small town of about 25,000 people at that time, was divided in two by the flood and the water reached the first floor bedrooms of many of the lower lying houses.

One old lady – on a trip to the outside loo down the garden – scrambled up a tree, managing to survive.

Around 1,200 human lives were lost, including some 400 foreign forced labourers.

People reported seeing corpses everwhere, but the loss of livestock ran to many thousands – cows, pigs, sheep and poultry. The valley was strewn with uprooted trees and hedges as well as the remains of sheds, barns and furniture from damaged houses.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The interruption to factory production in the Ruhr was not as severe as hoped (by the Allies) since the Germans managed to find alternative sources of water by making diversions in the canal nertwork.

Nevertheless, the Dambusters raid was a tremendous morale booster for the British at the 
time as well as diluting the Nazis’ war efforts.

The Nazi goverment gave top priority to rebuilding the Möhne Dam and it was completed in under six months – claiming a propaganda victory within Germany.

Related topics: