The Dambusters Raid

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2018

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1943, the Royal Air Force attacked a set of dams in Germany's Ruhr valley which were considered indestructible. Flying low and at night, the crews used special bouncing bombs to bring down two of their targets. The Dambusters mission was a huge propaganda success for Britain and later inspired a famous film. In 2013, Simon Watts talked to Johnny Johnson, one of the few survivors of the raid.

PHOTO: Johnny Johnson (far left) with members of his crew, part of 617 squadron (DAMBUSTERS) at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, 22 JULY 1943 (Imperial War Museum).

Transcript

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1:09.6	BBC World Service with me Simon Watts. Today we go back to
1:14.0	1943 and one of the most famous British attacks on Germany during World War II
1:20.0	the Dambusters raid. In 2013 I spoke to one of the few survivors of the mission.
1:27.0	It's May the 17th, 1943, and news comes through of a spectacular raid by the Royal Air Force in Germany's
1:35.2	Ruhr Valley. This is London. The Air Ministry have just issued the following
1:41.0	communicator. In the early hours of this morning a force of Lancaster's of bomber command led by Wing Commander GP Gibson, DSO DFC, attacked with mines the dams of the Merner and Sauva Reservoir.
	...

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