Enemy Coast Ahead: Operation Chastise – The Dambuster Raid

Information from publishers game page

Operation Chastise: the Dambuster Raid

On the night of May 16, 1943, nineteen Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron took off from their base near Lincoln in Great Britain and headed for the heart of German industry in the Ruhr. The squadron’s task was to destroy the dams that controlled the reservoirs feeding Germany’s war engine. In the words of aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis, the mastermind behind the operation, “power is dependant on the supply of natural stores of energy such as coal, oil and water.... If their destruction or paralysis can be accomplished THEY OFFER A MEANS OF RENDERING THE ENEMY UTTERLY INCAPABLE OF CONTINUING TO PROSECUTE THE WAR.”

The Lancasters had been modified to carry a most unusual ordnance codenamed Upkeep. It looked more like a petrol barrel than an explosive device, but the painstakingly engineered and tested outer layer cushioned a volatile mine designed by Wallis to bounce over torpedo nets and kiss the lip of the dam, its backspin carefully devised to hug the dam rather than ricochet on impact. Upkeep was supposed to plunge down along the wall like a depth-charge, detonating halfway down. The concussion would crack the structure, and the water’s mass held back by the dam would push open the crack, creating a breach in the wall. The dam would be destroyed.

Eight of the Lancasters would not return that night, but the two primary targets of the Möhne and Eder dams were breached, letting loose a combined torrent that measured nearly half a million tons of water and taking the lives of over 1200 German civilians and military personnel. Measured in civilian casualties, it was the most lethal night of the bombing campaign thus far, although later missions would dwarf its casualty list. Measured in terms of industrial disruption, the raid cut the region’s electrical power for several hours and severely reduced its water reservoir. It was not a decisive blow, but it was successful nonetheless. Had at least one other dam been breached, it could have been devastating. This is your challenge: can you match 617’s success? Can you surpass it?