American Reacts Britain's Most Daring WW2 Raid

[@woooster17]

My great uncle (grandads brother) was a Lancaster pilot with 100 squadron. He and his crew were KIA (the tail gunner survived) February ‘43 returning from a mission. He was 23 years old. I have his flying logbook, including a letter written by the tail gunner to my uncles mother explaining how he avoided houses just before they crashed. Truly brave men who deserve to be remembered.

[@idristaylor5093]

Earlier today I was watching a video by The History Chap about the cast of Dad's Army. It covered that Talfryn Thomas (Private Cheeseman.) was a crash sole surviving rear gunner. Perhaps there is a connection.

[@sharonbunn2363]

My dad was a rear gunner in Lancasters. He was shot down and had the soles of his feet burned by leaking hot oil. I don't remember which squadron he was with though.

[@carlosanguineti956]

@@sharonbunn2363 The Lancaster rear gunner had the lower percentage of the crew to save himself after the aircraft was shot down. Your dad knew it, and he flew anyway. All my respect to him. A real brave man. He could get the LMF and stop flying, but he didn't.

[@nigeldewallens1115]

@@sharonbunn2363 My dad lost his brother in his first bombing raid in a Wellington! I thank your dad for what he did! My dad was in a protected profession and helped in quality control on the floating harbours!Called the Mulberry's R.I.P to all back then!

[@davesheppard8797]

​​@@sharonbunn2363 You don't know what Squadron he was with? Why? Because they never talked about the horrors they went through. Those men like your Dad were incredibly brave. A Bombing mission once over Germany would have been bad enough, but these crews did it night after night! And all were volunteers!! Huge respect to your Dad!! Dave.

[@Forestfalcon1]

The British treated POW's so well here in the UK many thousands of them stayed here after the war..

[@balista7406]

Yes...the great German goalkeeper of Manchester city was one of them

[@johnjohns9501]

Yes very true.

[@lukemorris4065]

⁠​⁠@@balista7406Bert trautmann

[@jirokoshibailey2052]

No.. we left German POWs in a field with no cover in middle of winter, and anyone seemingly German was abused

[@DiGiDaWgZs]

My grandfather on my mothers side was an Italian P.O.W. I wasn't even told until I was in my 30's.... Naughty nan.

[@kentthompson3836]

To achieve the correct altitude to drop the bombs, altimeters were not accuate enough. So they fitted the Lancasters with two powerfull lights facing downwards. One was mounted at the nose and the other at thhe tail. These two lights were angled slightly towards each other. They were turned on as they flew over the resevoir and as the aircraft decended the two 'spotlights' converged, when they were alongside each other they new they were at the correct altitude (60ft). They then had a hand held sight/aiming device which looked a bit like a catapult with two vertical pins at the end of the sight. When the two pins lined up with the towers on the dam they were at the correct distance to drop the bomb.

[@davemacmurchie6982]

MacGyver would have been proud!

[@paulthomas-hh2kv]

Interesting fact Guy Gibson, leader of Dambusters flew over 170 missions by the age of 24

[@seancorker5815]

A couple of points not mentioned In the documentary: Two small lights were mounted in the nose and tail of each Lancaster. When the lights cast converged on the water surface, the Lancaster was at the correct hight to drop the bomb. In order to drop the bomb at the correct time, a simple solution was found in that two bits of wood were nailed together in a v shape on a handheld mount. Two nails were knocked in at each end of the V. When the two nails lined up with the towers at each end of the damn, you dropped the bomb.

[@B-A-L]

That was one of the techniques used. Some of the bomb aimers just used tape stuck to the bomb aimers window at the correct distance.

[@carlosanguineti956]

You got the point, man.

[@Volcano-Man]

Something that was said some years ago by yanks 'If we had been told to fly that low, we would have said two words: Feck orf!! and refused to carry it out. Despite all you see about them even today the yanks don't like flying low.

[@richardhargrave6082]

Sir Barnes Wallis was one of the greatest engineers in the world and something of a hero of mine. My exam project for my history exams was about Barnes Wallis Barnes was tortured by the loss of life on all sides. He went on to develop the TSR2, swing wing aircraft. It was cancelled, but the concepts were used in the Tornado aircraft which only went out of service a few years ago

[@B-A-L]

Barnes Wallis had no part in the development of the TSR2, in fact he was actually critical of it's design because it did not have the swing wing which he did help to develop that was featured on the American F-111 which ironically was the reason why the TSR-2 was cancelled.

[@joannedickie7863]

Two of my uncles were RAAF aircrew in Australian 460 squadron flying Lancasters. One uncle was shot down & lost with all his crew just prior to D-Day. The other was transferred to 617 Dambuster squadron after the dam raid & flew missions dropping Tall Boy & Grand Slam earthquake bombs. He survived the war.

[@B-A-L]

Thanks for being unwavering allies!

[@carlosanguineti956]

No. 617 Squadron was much more than any other air unit of the past, present, and maybe the future. Did you know that the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs were so expensive that was forbidden to jettison them? The crew had, if not used, go back and LAND with the bomb. Quite hard. But they were part of the No. 617 Squadron, not just an aircrew.

[@davidgriffiths9156]

I might be wrong on this, but i believe Nelson used to do something similar by skipping cannonballs.

[@polarisukyc1204]

Yes it was called skipshot, I’m fairly certain that Barnes Wallis based his idea for the bouncing bomb on this

[@B-A-L]

My dad's Commanding Officer when he was serving in the RAF Regiment at RAF Nicosia in the 60s was Sir Harold B 'Micky' Martin who was the Australian pilot who was 3rd in command of the dambuster raid and flew P for Popsy! When I was 14 I wrote an award winning extended essay about the Dambusters and my mum wrote to him about it and he sent me a signed print of his Lancaster in action over the Moehne dam with Guy Gibson flying cover to draw the fire from the anti-aircraft guns. It is still to this day my most prized possession.

[@carlosanguineti956]

"It is still to this day my most prized possession." Keep it with all the possible care!!!

[@barwick6690]

Fun fact for you guys: RAF Scampton is actually being shut down and there has been protesters camping outside it for months. I live not far from it and frequently drive past it.

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

When I was a boy at choir school in England (58-63), my roomie and best friend was from N Wales. I spent each Xmas with his family, as the holiday was too short for me to travel the 6,500 miles to my home. One year my pal's dad took us to the Nant y Glo dam in the Elan Valley, where my pal's dad had served in the ground crew for tests of this Barnes Wallis bomb. This has remained a memorable event over 60 years now.

[@charlesfrancis6894]

The captured German prisoners of war were treated quite well by the Brits plus the high ranking German officers were sent to large stately home where German speaking Brits would listen in to the conversations for intelligence use,there is a documentary on this subject and a separate documentary on lower rank prisoners but they were treated well and a number of German prisoners went on to settle in the U.K. The film "The One That Got Away" is the true story of the only German to escape from England during WW2. and well worth a watch.

[@jeffgraham6387]

I believe he escaped from Canada

[@superted6960]

​@@jeffgraham6387Correct 👍

[@charlesfrancis6894]

@@jeffgraham6387 You are correct as i qualified my comment within seconds see below.

[@robertmcqueen289]

​@@jeffgraham6387. Correct he did escape twice in Britain, but got caught. His escape in Canada did cause a few issues for the allies. In that, he revealed to the Germans the practices that we were using to get information. The Germans then adopted their own system of bugging and fake prisoners in getting information themselves after he crossed into America. I have the stated movie myself. It always amazes me, how the Germans after the war forgot about the bugging, and gave away so much information to the allies. Before they went to the war crimes trials. Great comment sir.

[@sprinter1832]

@@jeffgraham6387 A lot of people escape from Canada!😂🤣😅🙃 who wouldn't?

[@kumasenlac5504]

It is arguable that the most remarkable operation ever conducted by 617 Squadron was on D-Day. They flew in close formation in a series of long loops to form the radar image of a naval invasion fleet advancing at 7 knots or so. The amount of precision flying to do this is enormous.

[@B-A-L]

Don't forget their part in destroying the Tirpitz too.

[@kumasenlac5504]

@@B-A-L Good point !

[@Volcano-Man]

That operation reinforced the Germans view that the invasion was to occur at the Pas de Calsis Nord. The shortest crossing. The Germans fell for the ruse because it was exactly the crossing they would have used.

[@montyzumazoom1337]

My uncle Fred was a rear gunner in a Lanc during the war. He did 27 ops, many a time coming back with the aircraft having an engine or two out and shot up. He survived the war and lived out his days in Peterborough UK

[@carlosanguineti956]

As I wrote before, to be the rear gunner on a Lanc was a really dangerous work. All my respect to him.

[@hikaru9624]

My utmost respect to your uncle from the Highlands.

[@Walesbornandbred]

You should watch the film The Dambusters it shows how much detail that went into designing and testing the bombs. While it's true that a lot of POWs were killed in the factories so in hindsight you may feel it wasn't as effective as thought, no one knew that and we were at war.

[@darkdaxter5190]

As others said, the movie Dambusters tells this story. I watched it many times as a child. What I missed in this youtube video but what was explained in the Dambusters movie is that they didn't have accurate altitude meters and used lamps. From the operation Chastise wiki page: "The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric altimeters lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water."

[@stevet7695]

Unfortunately, the film portrays Gibson getting the idea of the two spotlights whilst in a London theatre watching a show. The mechanism was actually created by Benjamin Lockspeiser, a scientist at the Ministry of Aircraft Production who remembered RAF Coastal Command trying something similar earlier in the war. Still a great film though.

[@lawrencek1900]

Skimming stones with his daughter was what inspired it

[@dzzope]

There are ton es of great suggestions but ill add another.. still barnes wallace, tall boy and grand slam (mentioned as the most powerful non nuke till 05??) Artisanal bombs which were accurate in well trained hands(unlike general purpose bombs) and devastating in their effect.

[@davesheppard8797]

Plus he designed the Wellington Bomber.

[@geoffmower8729]

Originally Barns Wallis the bomb inventor wanted the Lancaster's to fly over the dams at 160 feet but in testing the bombs disintegrated when they hit the water. He then asked then if they could do it at 60 feet. The altimeter was no use at that altitude so they came up with the idea of putting two spotlights on the plane one in the nose pointing down and one in the middle of the plane pointing down. They adjusted the lights so that at exactly 60 feet the lights would form a figure 8 on the water under the plane. One crewman looked through a bubble window and called out ....Up ...Down to the pilot through the intercom. They had a device that had two nails attached to the two end bits of a hand held Y shaped wooden aimer. They would look through a sight in the single end to the two ends witch had the nails in them and when the dams towers lined up with the nails they would drop the bomb. When Barns Wallis was told how many men and planes were lost he broke down and cried. 617 Squadron went on to become a precision bombing unit that would go in before the mass bombers and drop there bombs first on target so the other bomb groups knew where to drop there's. There is a 1955 movie called The Dam Busters that would be an excellent movie for you to watch to get the whole story.

[@Suprahampton]

617 Squadron (The Dambusters) still exists within the RAF today & actor Ewan McGregor's older brother Colin was a 'Dambuster' His call sign was "Obi Two"!

[@pureholy]

If you take the sound track from The Dam Busters attack on the first dam and the Star Wars Ep4 attack on the first Death Stat, you can swap them and they still work. Some people think Lucas was influenced by The Dam Busters. There are videos on YT that compare them.

[@B-A-L]

​@@pureholy George Lucas actually used footage from The Dambusters to simulate the Death Star trench run when showing the pre-production footage to the movie studio executives before the acual trench run footage was finished.

[@PiersDJackson]

Connor to explain the spinning of the Bomb, it's a Cricketing trick... he based his idea on a trick that Nelson did at the Battle of Trafalgar, skipping cannonballs over the surface, like stones. The height was managed by a light in the nose and another in the tail, angled so that when both converged as one it was the correct height. The exact time to release was gained by a guide with two nails that lined up to the Towers on the wall. Simple fixes to complicated problems.

[@clinging54321]

At the battle of the Nile

[@MadaraUchiha-vd2bx]

I’m not a regular or anything but you must be the only KZbinr I’ve enjoyed watching and actually feel smarter afterwards! 👌

[@andrewcrisp4495]

With regards to POWs. My grand farther was in a steward on a merchant ship (Arandora Star), he was on the ship carrying German and Italian internees and POWs to Canada when it was torpedoed off north west Ireland - hundreds died. The ship was carrying the internees and POWs to Canada was to ensure they did not escape back to Germany / Italy. From what I have read the ship was barb-wired and no safety drill where conducted to try to ensure no one tried to take over the ship.

[@mattbaigent5373]

Such an amazing mission. My grandfather was a spitfire and mosquito pilot and was a pathfinder for the dambusters working closely with guy Gibson. Story goes (as told by my Nan) guy Gibson was killed whilst flying in my grandads mosquito.

[@grahvis]

Skip bombing was also used later in the war against ships.

[@PedroConejo1939]

I am not a fluid dynamicist but the back spin on the bomb became important when the bomb came up against the dam wall - it kept the bomb tight against the wall as it sunk. This was necessary to create the maximum explosive force into the structure. I suspect that it may have also improved the 'skip' across the water. It's a while since I researched this, so this latter point is more from intuition than knowledge.

[@sbrykeddie]

I had a neighbour who had been in Chengi prison camp famous as the builders over the river Kwai he was one of very few who came home he was 6 foot three and weighed 8 and a half stone when he got back spent an awful long time in hospital. Wouldn’t buy anything at all that came from Japan, a neighbour offered him a lift in a toyota years ago and he politely refused and walked instead.

[@Naylte]

09:29 It's a kind-of electrical switch similar to a telegraph key; some of our most iconic sci-fi programmes from the '60s involved the use of them for voice-syncing. 12:25 Barnes Wallis got the idea of the bouncing bomb from two different sources. First, Lord Nelson who used a similar technique to increase the range of his cannon (other commanders had done a similar thing, but not at sea), the second was watching his daughter playing with her marbles. 18:13 I have seen promos on KZbin of videos that attempt that very thing.

[@neilreading3552]

Good job 👍 Les Knight was 22 on that raid, 22! Barnes-Wallis was distraught that so many crews were killed. Look up Leonard Cheshire who took over command of 617 after the Dam raids. Then look up Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown, George Beurling and Freddie Spencer Chapman.

[@matthill216]

My grandma and grandad lived in a rural town in the north of England during the war, they told many stories of the German pow’s who were sent to their town. They lived in what was effectively an open prison and were free to integrate into British society, many of which stayed after the war and some even married British women.

[@bill-wd7zs]

My mother was in the land army and worked with POWs on farms in the Lincolnshire area. The prisoners were treated very well and with it being on farms they were well fed, probably better than some city dwellers were being fed on strict rations. When it was German POWs working they were normally guarded by a couple of home guard soldiers. Later in the war it was all Italian POWs who were trusted to work with no guards. They were even occasionally allowed to go to the pub for a pint on the way home.

[@Steve-gc5nt]

By that stage I don't suppose the Italians knew which side they were on anyway 🤭

[@johnchristmas7522]

Its easy to be wise after the event. What was so incredible, was that Barnes Wallace thought of the idea and was able to make a bouncing bomb. Think back to those days, no computers or gps or anything, which would make it relatively easy today. The opposite spin was to keep the bomb against the wall of the dam as it sank. to get the exact height of 60 feet above the water, Guy Gibson. D.S.O and Bar . VC .(Wing Commander) dreampt up an idea after watching a stage show. using spot lights that converged exactly at the aircraft being at 60 feet.. All in all a remarkable achieve meant. Even today there is a video of a pilot flying the same course as the bombers flying 60 foot above the water, found it extremely difficult and he was not facing being the only target for the flak. Because Gibson flew back 3 times to take the flak from the other aircraft with a bomb, he won his VC (Victoria Cross- highest possible British award for bravery)

[@davesheppard8797]

@johnchristmas, The idea of the spotlights came from Farnborough. Gibson watching the follow spot op at the Theatre and getting the idea, was made up for the film.

[@michaelbaines1525]

You need to read the various books on the account of this raid. The low levels that these planes actually flew is given by one of the pilots who thought he was flying down a road at below tree top height until he realised that he was flying down the driveway to a chateau and had to pull up to clear it. German prisoners were well treated by the standards at the time and quite a few chose to remain in England after the war having no home to go back to or else it being in the Soviet zone. I used to talk with a few when I was younger; most interesting.

[@gchecosse]

The Operations Room video on this is brilliant.

[@nigelgordon]

One thing that is not mentioned is how they managed to maintain a height of 60' above the water at the dams before releasing the bombs. In training, this had proved to be a major problem. They eventually solved it by having two spotlights fitted fore and aft on the planes, angled so that the beams met at exactly 60'. However, that meant that when they were flying their attack runs they had the lights fully illuminated, allowing the anti-aircraft gunners to see them in the dark.

[@bjandtj1959]

The most difficult part of the bomb drop was knowing a) When are you the correct distance away from the Dam to release the bomb and b) How to be at the correct height to facilitate the correct series of bounces to hit the target accurately. Bearing in mind how quickly this whole thing was put together the answers are also almost unbelievable. The first issue was addressed by sticking two Lollypop sticks at either side of the bomb aiming device, when the sticks lined up with the towers placed at either end of the dam, then you were at the point when you had to release the bombs. The hardest problem, however, was no equipment had yet been invented whereby you could measure accurately your distance above the water, it was something ridiculous like EXACTLY 60 feet. This was solved by attaching a spotlight at the end of each wing. These were pointed inwards so that both circles of light would merge together when the height was right where it was needed. This should indicate to you the immense bravery of the crew. they were attacking some of the most heavily defended targets in the war, yet they did so by not being able to swerve from their height and course. Not only that but the planes were illuminated by the huge bright spotlights under their wings. Guy Gibson was awarded the "Victoria cross" for his actions, not for leading the whole raid, but instead for even though he had finished his bombing run he immediately turned and accompanied the following planes in turn to draw the anti-aircraft fire from them to give them a better chance of success. This whole raid BTW was made into a movie called " The Dam Busters" its B&W but incredible.

[@christophercarr3755]

The Raf pilots did everything possible to escape prisoner of war camps which tells you everything, which led to the great escape another documentary worth looking into

[@The.Android]

One of Steven Spielberg's favourite films is The Dam Busters (1955).

[@nfnworldpeace1992]

i recently watched it and its so good!

[@Jobch42v4-6]

My mother was P.A. to Barnes Wallace in the late fifties to early sixties at Vickers in Weybridge. She said he was so quiet and she had to remind him to change into shoes when he got to work having ridden his bicycle to work every day his mind was so much on his work. The offices she worked from are still there at Brooklands today. When I went to the Brooklands museum, I mentioned this to the lady on the desk and she said I needed to speak to ***** (I don't remember his name) who was helping the work on a recovered WWII Wellington bomber. I went over and introduced my self to a little old guy in a crisp jacket and RAF tie holding a spanner (wrench). It turned out he was a navigator on the Dambuster raid and he remembered my mother arranging a flight for him to Brize Norton all those years back.

[@alisonrodger3360]

The One Who Got Away is a film about an escaping German POW, based on a true story. Allied offerings include Bridge Over The River Kwai/ King Rat / A Town Like Alice (Japan) Stalag 17/ Colditz/ The Great Escape (Germany).

[@B-A-L]

To be precise The One Who Got Away was about the only German POW to successfully escape with a great performance by Hardy Kruger.

[@debbieburton938]

My obsession.. The lancaster bomber.. I will travel the UK in summer to various air shows just to see this amazing aircraft ❤

[@Varksterable]

The Magnus Effect (spinning a ball backwards against the direction of travel) causes lift because of the pressure change between the top and bottom of the ball. The bottom of the ball is moving almost into the oncoming air, so pressure is relatively high. The top of the ball is pushing air over it even faster that normal; so the pressure is low. Although it seems like using the opposite spin would help the bomb skip better (and it would), what would actually happen is the reverse of the above. I.e. it would plummet more sharply into the lake, hitting it at an angle where it didn't bounce at all. Take a look at how a tennis topspin shot accelerates downwards more quickly than one hit 'flat'. The backspin means the angle that the bomb travels at could be much flatter, and thus it can still skip even at higher drop position and slower speed. Check out some of the earlier videos on the channel 'How Ridiculous' for some great examples - many of which involve throwing things off a dam!

[@KGardner01010]

As to your query about the bomb shape, C . . . I think smaller rounder ones came out a little later which were called, "Hi-Balls" . . . I think some Mosquito's were fitted out to use them in low precision bombing against submarine pen entrances and railway tunnels, etc - even against enemy shipping perhaps . . .

[@jimcook1161]

Hi-ball was developed at the same time as Up-keep for use against shipping as you say, but it was never used.

[@B-A-L]

Hi-ball was intended to be used in the Pacific theatre against Japanese warships but the war ended before it could be used.

[@IanDarley]

All the questions you had (the shape of the bomb, the direction of spin, the angle to hit the water) were all covered in this video. Pay attention in class 😜

[@drboris01]

You asked about how prisoners were treated by the enemy, My grandmother's brother was taken prisoner after the battle of Muar in Malaya in January 1942. A few days later he was among 100 Australian and 40 Indian troops who were murdered by their Japanese captors at Parit Sulong. Atrocities like this were commonplace, especially in the early period where the Japanese forces were advancing rapidly through SE Asia and the Pacific. As a result, the war against Japan was a particularly bitter one where both sides often refused to take prisoners. Sorry to go so long. Keep up the good work, mate

[@brucebartup6161]

Thanks for this. A highly unpleasant and difficult thing to talk about. My impression is that at home the extreme experiences of our people captured by hhe Japaneae was washed uout, hiden denied for many years as many of the Burma Star asociatoion in the UK have atttested.. Or rather here was attention of a kind, but rather more using the images and stories told by the guys as a point of nnational identity ratyhher tshn for their own sake,. I just hope we treat returning servvicemen better nowadays. A Brit.

[@drboris01]

@@brucebartup6161 I look at it as being simple historical fact. Atrocities like these are too unpleasant for many people to look at objectively, even after 80 years. But, If we want to learn from history, we have to be objective when we study these kinds of incidents and not let our emotions cloud our judgement. I have much respect and admiration for the fighting men of all the combatant nations, even if I don;t agree with their motives, political or ethical or some of the things they did.

[@brucebartup6161]

@@drboris01 I doubt that objectivity is possible in such matters and I doubt that even if possible objectivity would enable the complete set of lesson to be learned. For example is it the careful weighing of evidence that will best inform our future selves of the dangers of attrocities or is it the blinding insight that anyone absolutely anyone, you., me, anyone can, and will commit attrocities?

[@drboris01]

@@brucebartup6161 You still have to try to be objective, Bruce. And you are right, are we capable of learning from history? Current events would suggest not. The Nazis showed us that anyone can be taught, trained indoctrinated or brainwashed into committing the most awful acts, especially in the heat of battle.

[@brucebartup6161]

@@drboris01 Yes, quite right.

[@tomj819]

German treatment of Western PoWs was significantly better than on the Eastern Front. Even in 1940 Hitler's plan was to force Britain into a surrendered peace agreement rather than conquest, and he knew he could not directly challenge the US. As a result the Germans tried hard to avoid any incident that might make this less likely.

[@ac1455]

Meanwhile Hitler planned to depopulate the entirety of Eastern Europe Manifest Destiny style, except with gas chambers instead of smallpox, though he’d probably try out some bio weapons if he could

[@ac1455]

Not equating the 2 scenarios, just saying they share similarities

[@bigal3055]

We were guilty of some appalling actions towards German PoWs. We would give them all the tea that they could drink, but we'd ration the milk so severely that even a builder would turn his nose up at a German PoW's brew. We'd build the PoW camps to Imperial measurements and finish them to an acceptable, but rough around the edges standard, torturing the millimeter precision of the German mind. We would deliberately and randomly change tea time to any time between 2pm - 4pm and have the camp's laundry purposefully leave one sleeve cuff unstarched, or not press the hem of one trouser leg on the prisoner's uniforms. We'd only let them use the prison issue bone china tea sets on Sundays and Christmases, instead having to use the cheap earthenware mugs for tea and plates that were far too small for anything more than a dozen chocolate digestives the rest of the time. You might get away with some manner of fanned out circular arrangement with a packet of shortbread fingers on a saucer, but you're not pulling that stunt off with a choccy digestive and I don't care how prolific your engineering skills are. No way. Its circular properties mean that one of those suckers is always going to overlap on the saucer, making any arrangement look rubbish. As soon as one is removed too, the strength of the formation is lost and the rest slide down the rim of the plate into a pile of very none uniformed and entirely messy looking random chaos. Even stacking them in a tower formation of more than a dozen is just asking for trouble. Wreckless, even. You don't get that problem with a shortbread finger, or even a pink wafer. Those puppies are like biscuit Jenga! Not the best for dunking though. I digress. We wouldn't take into consideration consecutive letters after the initial when arranging lists alphabetically, or would sometimes deliberately miss out a number during morning roll-call, then carry on with the count without starting it again from the beginning. For a German, this is completely unacceptable! Headgear would be flat, tweed and absolutely no picklestabbers allowed. We weren't complete savages though and tea bags weren't expected to be reused, but using more than the standard issue of 10 per day, per prisoner, would see an entire blockhouse issued with only Tetley's tea bags for the rest of the week. Square ones too. Only officers would have access to tea strainers and those fancy little sieves, but all PoWs, regardless of rank, would be forced to pronounce 'th' and 'w'correctly too, or see their washing up liquid removed. Fine for a day or two, but sooner or later, a tea spoon that has just been used to stir a brew is going in the sugar bowl through a lack of a clean one, you're fishing brown snow balls out of the colonies finest that the cane plantations have to offer, the problem worsening with every attempt to remove the offending clump of tea soaked granules through the clean, dry spoon shortage, older and more dehydrated lumps fracturing just at the mere sight of a spoon, showering your bowl of once pure white granules with an irretrievably tiny, countless particles of contaminate. Your sugar bowl is bollocksed and because Hans called the Pime Minister "Vinston" again, you can't sweeten your brew with a long soak off a coccy digestive now, because your entire blockhouse are on Rich Tea until further notice. Wolfgang (with a 'W') tried to pass a packet of Nice biccys off as Rich Tea, but once the sniffer bulldogs got the scent of the sugar coating in their snouts, it was all over. The river of slobber that a British bulldog can secrete once its got a whiff of sugar in its nose is a hell of a thing and always a dead giveaway when plonked snuffling and farting next to a German PoW suspected of trying to circumnavigate camp contraband rules with rebellious acts of continental decadence. Y'see, for your average Jerry, it was all about coffee and cake. With your cake slice, little fancy fork, plate with a doyley on it, coffee cup, saucer, cake spoon AND a coffee stirrer spoon though, that's an entirely different crockery and cutlery set up! Our camp waiting on staff didn't have time for any of that foreign nonsense and wartime Britain certainly wasn't going to indulge them with pretentious percolators and faffing around with bloody Blackforest gateaux. No, it was a box of 70 Typhoo, brewed in the mug, 1 lb of Tate & Lyle, 7 pints of silvertop milk and 2500 grams of McVities (milk or dark chocolate) per prisoner, per week and that was it! To save any confusion, it's said that even Jaffa Cakes were banned, though history shows that may have had more to do with orange rationing than the prisoner's human rights. Not our finest moment as a civilised nation, I admit, but war is a hell that brings out the true savagery of man.

[@mweskamppp]

It was due to the nazi ideology. They considered the germanic tribes as superior to all other people and counted the enlish as germanic too. According to them all the germanic people ought to work together as they were brothers actually. The slavic people were underlings and subhuman in their eyes and were treated as such. app 3mio russian POW died in german captivity. 600000 by execution, the rest from starvation, forced labor at terrifying conditions, freezing and diseases so as typhoid.

[@davesheppard8797]

My Uncle told me that he was stationed with Guy Gibson. My Uncle was on a fighter station. I was only about 12 when my uncle told me so I thought he was mistaken as Gibson was on Bombers. I found out later that instead of being rested from Bombers and getting a desk job, Gibson did for a while go to a fighter station so he could keep flying. The Dambuster crew I felt so sorry for was the crew of John Hopgood, who went in 2nd after Gibson. Hopgood was already quite badly wounded and as he made his run in, the German gunners on the Dam knew what to expect and shot him up. Hopgood gained as much height as he could and stayed at the controls so his crew could bale out. Two of the three crew members who baled out lived, even though they baled out at a low height.

[@ragandoil]

that railway viaduct at 5,35 was is in Bielefeld a main supply route (MSR), i lived in Bielefeld for 4 years as a member of the British Army Of the Rhine (BAOR), it was rebuilt after the war , and most of the craters are still ther, just covered with brush and grass, i think it now called the Schildersher Viadukt , a guy i new said his mother sat and watched that 10 ton bomb dropped and explode , they called it the earthquake bomb

[@stevehartley7504]

The altitude for bomb release was achieved with maths Two spotlights slung below the wings were angled to create a triangle culminating in a single lit spot. When the two lights came together, the correct height was achieved The precision of the drop was achieved by using a triangle again with a nail in two corners 5jat lined up with towers of the dam when viewed from the other corner of the triangle

[@carlosanguineti956]

Perfect explanation.

[@JJ-of1ir]

In answer to your question about how POW's were treated in Camps by the allies you can get an idea from 'How Germans were treated in British POW Camps' and 'The most comfortable WW2 Prison Camps that Prisoners Didn't Want to Leave' and 'Why Treating their Captured Nicely Helped the British Win WW2'

[@PassportToPimlico]

I would rate two other raids as the most daring. One was Operation Jericho, attacking a prison to release Resistance fighters and the other is the raid on the Phillips radio factory. There is a KZbin video of footage from the latter on KZbin and it gives insight into what these raids were like. Well worth checking out "RAF raid Holland in Daylight"

[@harryjohnson9215]

Look up a video about Lancaster vs Flying fortess There are some big differences And the video about the moquitos the plane that terrified German

[@annemariefleming]

Barnes Wallace also designed the Wellington bomber. Necessity is the mother of invention...that saying is so accurate.

[@clinging54321]

Barnes Wallace also designed the R100 Britain's most successful airship - he used the lattice design construction of the airship on the Wellington, which ensured it didn't fall apart unlike the R101

[@batman51]

You commented on the height issue over the dam. The correct height was managed by having a spotlight (which of course made the plane more visible to the Germans) at each end of the plane pointed down at an angle. Where the two lights coincided was the correct height (60 feet I believe).

[@jonathanvince8173]

Water is not like a plying pool top spin causes forward motion in water top spin will give forward motion but to a point as it also gives burying causing the water to go over it pull it down which slows it and also dives it. It is like skimming stone you throw oit but make it spin right to left or left to right. Because it is flat and you put forward spin it will drop same backward spin but if you and back wood a round stone fast enough it will bounce try forward spin and see.

[@TOYSTITCHER]

Glad you found this one….these stories need telling I think🤗. You might like the movie “ The Dam Busters”…..covers the whole story with much more detail…and more insight on the people involved. Thanks again 👍✨

[@angelabushby1891]

The German's murderd US Soldiers,even thou they surrendered,coloured Soldiers were found with their eye's gouged out,but this was done by the Waffen SS not the ordinary German Soldier,the British treated the German POW'S so well thousands stayed here after the war, but i guess there were some that didn't treat them so well espcially after they saw their mates die.

[@grahamgresty8383]

The bombs had backspin so they would 'kick up'. Forespin would have caused the bomb to 'plough in'. Tennis players use forespin to minimise the bounce of the ball. At my dad's school, the males all became Lancaster rear gunners in 1945: all were killed.

[@CharlotteBaker-q7h]

Gibson was truly a legend but remember a great amount of his ops were with fighter command

[@clinging54321]

He wasn't a fighter pilot he would have only flown Bombers, Lancasters and Mosquitoes. He was killed during a raid it was thought a rear gunner mistook his Mosquito for a JU88

[@bordersw1239]

German POWs used to help out at my Grandfather’s farm in Wales. My Grandad liked them and said they worked harder than the Italian POWs.

[@TerryD15]

To judge the altitude above the water, a spotlight was fitted under each wing. These were pointing vertically and angled inwards so that when the y converged the plane was at exactly the aat the correct altitude. Of course they were switched off until the plane was approacing he water. Distance from the dam was judged by using a simple targetting device which focussed on the towers at each end of the dam. It is well explained in the post war British feature film called "The Dam Busters"

[@gibson617ajg]

They weren't under each wing, they were in the nose and tail. If they were under each wing they wouldn't converge onto a single spot when the altitude decreased.

[@stuarthumphrey1787]

You should look into the DeHavilland Mosquito, it was a fighter bomber. Great history attached to this aircraft too. For example an excellent Pathfinder for heavy bombers

[@andirutherford2615]

And made from wood

[@matthewcharles5867]

Also they did a raid on one of the German prisons bombing walls so the prisoners could escape at extremely low level under a hundred feet.

[@Windowswatcher]

My dad was shot down in WWII over northern Holland on 6 Jun 1942. The whole crew survived and were captured and initially sent to Stalag Luft III, of ‘The Great Escape’ fame. He was only there for a year and sent on to further camps…Heydekrug, Thorn and Fallingbostel. He said that after he was shot down he and the crew were visited by Oblt Ludwig Becker and Josef Straub, who shot them down. Not to gloat but to see if they were OK. In SL III he said the Germans were mostly very fair to them…although in each subsequent camp it wasn’t so good. He wrote his memoirs and after he died I published them. ‘Of Stirlings and Stalags: an air-gunner’s tale’ by WE Bill Goodman.

[@waynec3563]

Here is a documentary about the dams raid kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWbUpKhvfdiMpdU It is 1 hour long, but worth a watch. Another raid worth looking into - the Shell House raid in Copenhagen. The Story Of WW2's Most Ambitious Air Raid kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIDcYWOMarNgps0 Narrated by Martin Sheen. Approximately 23 minutes long.

[@stephenlee5929]

The spinning of the bomb, I believe if it spins forward (rather than backward) it would work as a negative wing, and thus shorten the time in the air and make the angle of impact with the water greater (less chance of bouncing). Another reason for the spin was to reduce the impact on the shell of the bomb, without it they tended to break up on 2nd or 3rd bounce. The film 'The Dambusters' is worth watching, not only for the theme music.

[@simontomlinson6484]

617 Squadron- the most famous squadron in the RAF. Half of all Lancasters flew from Lincolnshire airfields which is still called Bomber County to this day. 617 sqn flew from an airbase 4 miles North of Lincoln. We remember Bomber Command- Lincolnshire never forgets.

[@stevetheduck1425]

A few extra details: Barnes Wallis was thinking about coal and iron mines as the primary targets for his 'earthquake' bombs, but such mines were never attacked this way. The explosive used in the 'Upkeep' bouncing bombs was part of the equation: 'Torpex' (Torpedo Explosive) was a modern high explosive, with added aluminium powder, which caused the explosion to last a longer time, increasing the 'shove' effect underwater. Without this, the explosive was called 'RDX' and was employed in most of the large 'cookie' or High Capacity' bombs used by the RAF for land targets, like buildings. Wallis's earthquake bombs were used many times, on battleships hiding in Norwegian fjords, large concrete structures like the V2 assembly and launch sites the Germans had built in France, railway viaducts such as the Bielefeld Viaduct (this attack is on youtube), and numerous attacks on U-Boat or submarine pens (bases), these are also here on youtube. The idea was also used by the USAF to attack bridges and other targets in North Korea during the Korean War, as the AZON and TARZON guided bombs.

[@darrenchristian141]

My Step Grandfather was a POW camp 101 in Wales. He said it was preferable to what awaited them in battles to come .

[@martinsigsworth8286]

The back spin was so that as the bomb now slowed sufficiently at the dam wall after bouncing would hug the side of the damn as it sank.

[@geoff1201]

Depth charges are remarkably ineffective as weapons as any water between them and the target absorbs the explosion. However, by the same token, a direct hit is lethal.

[@georgecarlinismytribe]

Using two pre-aligned spotlights shining on the water below to determine correct drop height was simple, yet genius.

[@stevetheduck1425]

It was already in use by Coastal Command of the RAF, so that flying boats could get the correct altitude for torpedo and depth-charge dropping against enemy ships and submarines. Something that the 'back-room boys' were rarely given the credit for. The wooden bomb-sight was a neat idea, but most of the crews had already superseded that with a piece of string attached across the bomb-aimer's window, held up to his eye. Loose objects were frowned upon in aircraft, as they could kill whole crews. The movie 'The Dambusters' implies the leader of the unit thought up the searchlight height-finder, but he was too busy being a bigamist to his wife and a ba****rd to his men (if they weren't officers).

[@andyp5899]

If I'm right the backspin was needed for when the bomb hit the dam above the waterline it caused the bomb to be forced to run down the face and submerge before exploding

[@tullochgorum6323]

They used an ingenious device to set their altitude accurately. They mounted angled spotlights under the nose and tail, so that the reflections on the surface of the water converged at the correct height.

[@paulmurphy5648]

Ladybower Dam is about 10 miles from my house. It is hard to imagine that such a beautiful, tranquil place as this could be the practice area for such destruction...

[@MrChris11852]

years ago i used to know one of the three survivers of being shot down , he was a tail gunner and the turret was blown clear as the aircraft crashed , the one near hamm

[@JenniferRussell-qw2co]

Thousands of POWs here, both Gernan & Italian, stayed in Britain after the war. I went to school with a descendent of a Lufrwaffe bomber pilot, I spent many happy hours at their home. They hated Hitler and what he did to their country, and the rest of the world. That's when I learned that not all Germans were bad, I am grateful for that Today, one of my favourite trips to make is to Munich, a beautiful city. People have criticised our bombing of Germany, later in the war, forgetting what they did to us in 1940. Apart from hitting London for about a year, 56 nights in a row at one point, they also bonbed virtually every other major city too. They complained bitterly about the heavy attack on Dresden, but they destroyed Coventry, an equally beautiful city with little or no value to them, early on in the war. War is dreadful, but defending ones country and values has to be done, sad but true. 💖🙋‍♀️🇬🇧

[@stephenbesley3177]

Depth charges depend on the pressure wave. Effectively squashing a submarine like a tin can against the wall of water the sub is pushed against if you see what I mean? POWs: my uncle Tom spent much of the war in an Italian camp. He said he hated Italians after that. There were exceptions but German POWs were treated pretty well tyo the point that not many wanted to go home. One prisoner even made slipprs for my grandmother as they particularly appreciated Christmas in the UK. Some became lifetime friends with the Brits.

[@zee2012]

617 Squadron (The Dambusters) are still an active squadron and now fly F35b lightning II's.

[@MrChillerNo1]

correct on the depth charges

[@carlbolger1]

Former Man city goal keeper Bert Trautmann was a German pow who remained in the U.K. he also has an O.B.E. he played in a cup final with a broken neck and didn't know until after the game.

[@britanniafirst1254]

The startling irony of this whole video is that the commentator is from Southern Ireland, which remained neutral during the war. Who can forget the sight of Eamonn de Valera, the Prime Minister of Eire signing the Book of Condolence at the German Embassy in Dublin on hearing of the death of Hitler.

[@laurainelindley9190]

The bouncing bomb was tested at Derwent , Derbyshire, not far from where I live (Sheffield)👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@bluesrocker91]

Britain and Germany were both signatories of the Geneva Convention, which established rules on the treatment of prisoners of war... POWs were required to be held in conditions equivalent to your own men in terms of housing, food, clothing discipline and facilities. Obviously there were violations from time to time, but by and large if you were taken prisoner as a regular British, American, Canadian or German combatant in WW2, you could expect to live reasonably comfortably for the remainder of the war. The lower ranking men were generally put to work doing fairly mundane, non-war related manual jobs, usually farm labour.

[@ifax1245]

Yes the dams were repaired within five months after the raid and yes construction resources were diverted for this but the real impact of the raid was the huge redeployment of resources to defend the dams after the raid which were needed elsewhere.

[@B-A-L]

A lot of the men and resources meant for the Atlantic Wall defences on the French Coast were diverted to rebuilding the dams.

[@Flibbles]

Watch the film The Dambusters, it shows the actual damage done by the flooding and briefly discusses the massive loss of life. Also The Great Escape and the Bridge Over the River Kwai illustrates how some POW's were treated by Germans and Japanese.

[@paulthomas-hh2kv]

Some good stories by Dambuster Johnny Johnson who’s pilot was American Joe McCarthy flying for Canadian Air Force

[@johnbooker-t3j]

models of the bouncing bomb where used when the pilots trained how to drop them on ladybower dam in the derbyshire peak district not far away from where i come from

[@planekrazy1795]

617 (Dam Busters) Squadron went on to use the Tall Boy and Grand Slam earthquake bombs, knocking out vital installations and logistic sites including the V2 production facility in France, the V3 long range guns, the Tirpitz Pocket Battle Ship. On the night before D Day they flew a precision race track course at low level dropping the radar reflecting chaff called Window to fool the Germans into thinking they were a slow moving invasion fleet heading to Calais, it worked perfectly. Two Victoria Crosses were awarded to two Commanders of the Squadron Guy Gibson and Leonard Cheshire. The Squadron after the war continued on flying Canberras (the worlds first jet bomber), Vulcans, Tornados and now F35 Lightning II.

[@charleslatora5750]

There are two military simulation games from a company called GMT about the Doolittle Raid and the dam buster's raid. Solitaire friendly.

[@Andy-Capp]

The leader Gibson was 24 years old at the time of this raid. Sadly he died on a mission a year or two after this raid.

[@Cobalt-Jester]

I saw the movie "Dam Busters" when I was a child. It would often be shown on the TV on or around the Remembrance day. It had a huge effect on my. So much so that 35 years later I'm still really scared of dams. They terrify me.

[@orwellboy1958]

My grandfather was a farmer during WWII, he had a lot of Italian pow's working the land.

[@marcuswardle3180]

Speer, the German armaments minister, wondered why; in his book, the British never attacked again as it would have seriously hampered German war production. What it did do was to divert massive amounts of labour and raw material to provide defend dams and other targets that were deemed being unable to be hit by the Allies. It also greatly increased the number of flak guns to defend those targets. Those guns and ammunition could have better been used on the Eastern front. Some historians argue the Atlantic Wall was not as strong due to resources being diverted.

[@johnjohns9501]

The Dambusters raid was a very successful raid by the British RAF and definitely had a huge impact on German war production. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@mariafletcher6603]

In a situation like war time. that was pretty Quick to repair a dam. I thought it would have taken a lot longer than 5 month's. from 🇬🇧👍 an old cockney gal

[@hadesdogs4366]

Depth chargers creates a positive and negative pressure wave from both the rapid expansion of water pushing the ship or submarine apart as well as the secondary effects where due to a massive vacuum in the water the water would try and fill in the void within a matter of seconds, which would result in a negative pressure wave sucking the submarine or ship into the void essentially pulling the submarine apart, meanwhile the crew inside are either liquified due to the pressure wave or badly stunned, or simply crushed by both the positive and negative pressures of rapid depression, which is a big fancy way of getting sucked out into the deep sea in the middle of nowhere

[@stephendukes6582]

I worked with a great guy who had been a tail gunner on Lancasters and he had been forced to bail out and was sent to Colditz because he tried to escape twice before he even arrived at whatever camp he was supposed to go to. He didn't have a good time in Colditz or so he said and I believed him.

[@chrism7969]

Albert Speer who was in charge of German war industry said the attack had a big impact on German Arms production in the short term. The one thing he didn't understand was why the British didn't follow up the initial attack with conventional bombing raids to destroy the scaffolding when the Germans were trying to rebuild the dam. That way the short-term big impact would have been a long term big impact on German Arms production. So the attack was a success, the failure was not following it up with conventional bombing raids to prevent the rebuilding of the dams.

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

Putting it simply, spinning it backwards gives the bounce more height. Spinning it forward would make it plough into the water. A solenoid is a type of electromagnet made with coils of wire. And I agree about seeing images of people from the past. I'm convinced we still think of WWII as "recent" because we can see those faces in colour.

[@earlgreen1720]

Göring had by then already announced in a radio speech, "If as much as a single enemy aircraft flies over German soil, my name is Meier!", something that would return to haunt him, when the RAF began bombing German cities on 11 May 1940.