Dambusters anniversary

Apparently Frank Phillips repeated his original announcement, made on 18th May 1943, for the film. No doubt the original announcement was made for propoganda reasons.

Yep, and from memory, in the film it was re-enacted by the same bloke who broadcast the original report on the radio…. how accurate it is I wouldn’t know, but it makes a poignant end to a classic film.

I think so, but that was my question, is the film announcement accurate?

Isn’t Sailor’s quote from the film?

I’ve often wondered about the news announcement made after the Dams Raid; is the text of this announcement correct? It just seems strange to me that in wartime, when security and propaganda were paramount, that the BBC would give out accurate figures for aircraft losses when all that was actually known was that these aircraft were missing and it was certainly possible that some at least would have come down in the sea and their loss not be known to the enemy.

The Dams Raid may have been a special case but did the BBC routinely announce accurate losses after other bombing raids?

“This is London. The Air Ministry has just issued the following communique. In the early hours of this morning, a force of Lancasters of Bomber Command, led by Wing Commander G.P. Gibson DSO DFC, attacked with mines the dams of the Moehne and Sorpe reservoirs. These control two-thirds of the water storage capacity of the Rurh Basin. Reconaissance later established that the Moehne Dam had been breached over a length of 100 yards, and that the power station below had been swept away by the resulting floods. The Eder Dam, which controls the headwaters of the Weser and Fulda Valleys, and operates several power stations, was also attacked and reported as breached. Photographs show the river below the dam in full flood. The attacks were pressed home at extremely low level with great determination and coolness in the face of fierce resistance. Eight of the Lancasters are missing.”

Indeed. Thank you.

Moggy

I find it very difficult to enter this thread, but would refer people to Shakespeare
“Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” William Shakespeare.
I guess most come under the third category and it is a very difficult burden to bear. Very fortunately for me I was never put to the test.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but is also bears no relation to the circumstances.

Agree with Creaking Door : very humbling to see the logbook with the entries on the training flights leading to the Dams Raid : the last entry on F.O. Urquhart’s behalf on 16th May “Ops . Eder Dam -missing” is very moving and thought- provoking. We all owe them, beyond measure. Brian S.

Thought that some members might like to see the logbook of F/O Robert Urquhart DFC.

Yes, thank you for posting those; I’m fascinated to be able to read excerpts from an actual ‘Chastise’ logbook, as I’m sure are other members of the forum (even if we’ve all forgotten our manners today :o)!

It is good that F/O Urquhart’s logbook survives; are you perhaps related in any way?

That’s why I put it in inverted commas…………;)

The Dambusters was more Cricklewood than Hollywood…
Rule no1, no pooftas (obviously) rule no2, never meet your heros.

I think the point being made is that “Hollywood” has tended to sanitise and glorify these individuals, whereas the reality was that they suffered from normal human frailties and could be as unpleasant as many of us lesser mortals.

This, in no way, detracts from thier courage and their achievements. And, yes, your piont is well made – how many of us woild have stepped up the plate in those and similar circumstances.

An ex wartime bomb disposal engineer, talking the other day, explained that he sat astride the “biggies” so that he wouldn’t know anything about it if it did go off. Life expectancy was about 3 weeks I think.

“We do not have the right to judge the actions of young men, in the midst of conflict, by modern day standards”; the question is, how many of us would step up to the plate with an attrition rate of 50%, and don’t think they didn’t know it either.

Indeed.

It was never my intention to take anything away from the guy. Merely that we should try to remember him and all his team, not Richard Todd (A brave man in his own right) and a bunch of actors.

Moggy

Failings? Guy Gibson was twenty-four years old when he commanded 617 Squadron and he was undoubtedly under enormous pressure for Operation Chastise to succeed as well as being responsible for the lives of every one of the crews under him…

…that would make me a tad ‘acerbic’ if I’d had the strength of character to shoulder that responsibility at that age (which I didn’t).

If we put our collective minds to it we would probably find that a chasm separates the fiction from the reality of many of our “heroes”. Bader is another that comes immedialtely to mind and Bader’s temperament carried on throughout his employment with Shell. Montgomerie of course and more recently Kennedy – the list to be continued.

But as has already been said the failings should never detract from their achievements and of those who worked alongside them.

Notwithstanding the bravery of those who put themselves in harms way to conduct the raid, it would not be inappropriate to remember the hundreds of innocents who also perished that night.

ds

the fact that he turned his back on Bomber command after the war did it for me, after being a champion of the force from the beginning, the war cabinet and WC did them(BC) up like a kipper! 😡

It was only recently that i came across reference to the fact that he ordered, despite the objections of some in Bomber command, the attacks in the last months of the war that resulted in Bomber command getting a lot of bad press, Then not that long afterwards implying that the decision was made by others and was a bad mistake. 😡

Brave men, every single one of them.

But let’s remember the reality, not the fiction.

Gibson wasn’t the wonderfully nice guy portrayed by Richard Todd.

Agree totally, very brave, all of them. However, as well as Gibson not being a nice guy (pun not intended), our club found Ken Brown to be, well, less than charitable is perhaps the nicest way to put it.

Geoff Rice lived locally and worked with a friends dad when we were in school. I never met him but my friend always spoke highly of him.

Anyway, three anniversaies for me to remember. Dams raid, Memphis Belle and me and Mrs. Sgt, Austins wedding. I have no excuse to forget our anniversary and she knows it.