A one-off surprise attack might succeed but the RAF lacked a weapon suitable for the task. Calculations indicated that attacks with large bombs could be effective but required a degree of accuracy which RAF Bomber Command had been unable to attain when attacking a well-defended target. The dams provided hydroelectric power and pure water for steel-making, drinking water and water for the canal transport system.

3.5 Attacks on the Sorpe and Ennepe Damsīefore the Second World War, the British Air Ministry had identified the industrialised Ruhr Valley, especially its dams, as important strategic targets.

The RAF lost 53 aircrew killed and 3 captured, with 8 aircraft destroyed. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. An estimated 1,600 civilians – about 600 Germans and 1,000 forced labourers, mainly Soviet – were killed by the flooding. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed.

Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged.

The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Operation Chastise or commonly known as the Dambusters Raid was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/ by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special ' bouncing bombs' developed by Barnes Wallis. 1,000 prisoners and slave labourers, mainly Soviet) Eder, Möhne and Sorpe (Röhr) rivers, Germany

Nazi busters