Bombing Nazi Dams - Secrets of the Dead

"Spring rains had swelled the water dammed up in Germany’s Ruhr valley, an on May 16, 1943, Operation Chastise was about to begin. Taking off from an air base in England, nineteen Lancaster bombers manned by 133 airmen from Squadron 617 of the Royal Air Force were on a mission to destroy several of the Nazi’s major hydroelectric dams. The Ruhr region was an important industrial center for Germany, and the demolition of these dams was expected to create widespread destruction, cut off the supply of water for industrial purposes, and halt work in coal mines and factories. Each Lancaster in Squadron 617 was outfitted with a strange new weapon — a bouncing bomb that, when dropped precisely on target, would skip across the water and slam into the wall of an enemy dam."