The Dambusters Raid with Max Hastings

Warfare

History Hit

History

4.5 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

80 years ago, in the late hours of May 16th 1943, Wing Commander Guy Gibson fearlessly commanded the 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force to execute a daring bombing mission. Their aim - to destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley - Germany's vital industrial hub. This top-secret operation was known as 'Chastise', but we know them today as the 'Dambusters'. But why has this famed mission, that was so vital to the allied war effort, become so controversial? And 80 years on, what new information do we have about these pilots?

In this episode, James chats to Sir Max Hastings to help explain just who the Dambusters were and what they did. With decades of Max's research, including first hand accounts from the men who were there, there's a lot to be learnt 80 years on. Examining the controversies surrounding operation Chastise, and looking at the monuments erected in memoriam of those lost - what can we learn about the men, and the victims, of Second World War bombing raids?

Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie. The Assistant Producer was Annie Coloe. Edited by Aidan Lonergan.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It was 80 years ago on the night of the 16th, 17th, May,
0:04.1	1943, that Operation Chastai took place.
0:08.2	You'll remember it, you'll know it as the Dambusters.
0:10.8	The mission to try and strike the dams in the Ruh Valley that would bring German industry to a grinding halt.
0:18.0	Those who carried out this mission have gone down in history as heroes the heroes of 617 squadron led by the
0:26.4	famous Guy Gibson most literally led as he was in the first wave in the first plane that
0:31.7	went in on that mission. But as time has gone by, these heroes have
0:36.4	become controversial, controversial for everything down to the dog that they owned and what they named it through to the mission itself and the 1,500 people
0:47.9	that died on the other side of the dams as they were breached, many of whom were women who were Russian and Polish captured slave laborers.
0:58.0	And so how should we remember this history of the Dambusters on this 80th anniversary.
1:03.4	Well, there was only one person to ask.
1:05.9	Someone who has interviewed Barnes Wallace.
1:08.0	Someone who has interviewed Bomer Harris.
1:10.4	It is one of the countries, one of the world's leading military historians, Sir Max Hastings.
1:17.0	Max has a book out, Chastise, The Dambuster Story,
1:21.0	1943, and it's from his decades of research going all the way back to his first book on Bommacaband
1:27.0	and through to Chastise today,
1:29.0	but we learn from Sir Max about all of the intricacies and the legacies of this vital mission.
1:35.8	So Max, welcome to Warfare. It's an absolute pleasure to host you on the podcast.
1:47.0	How are you? Are you well?
1:48.0	I'm pretty good, as well as anybody can be given the state of the world.
1:52.0	Well, that's a very good point but I think one thing about
	...

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