The problem was simple. The solution was difficult. The cost was high. The result was not everything that was expected or even hoped for.
The Dam Busters tells us, with patriotic steadfastness and gallant actions, the development of a bouncing bomb, the story of Squadron 617 and then the action code-named Operation Chastize, carried out on May 17, 1943. Nineteen British aircraft set out on a high-risk mission to destroy key dams providing water and electricity for Germany's Ruhr industrial complex. A new bouncing bomb would be used to skip across the water, smash into the targeted dams and explode. Delivering the bombs required flying skills of the highest order. The planes had to sweep in very low and very fast through mountains and valleys, using unproven altimeters and primitive bomb sights. The crews had to release the bombs, now set to spinning in open bays, at the precise moment when calculations gave the bombs the best chance to skip and not sink and to strike exactly where they should.
The first part of The Dam Busters is the story of Professor Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave), whose idea for a bouncing bomb is nearly smothered by disbelieving civilian and military bureaucrats. Barnes is brilliant, innovative and extraordinarily persistent. Somehow, he succeeds in developing his spinning, bouncing bomb and convinces the war leaders that it can destroy dams where conventional bombing wouldn't.
The second part concentrates more on Wing Commander Guy Gibson (Richard Todd), who has been appointed leader of Squadron 617. He is charged with developing the flying tactics that will get his squadron over the target and successfully deliver the bombs. He has to come up with new flying techniques that will maximize the chances for success. These also maximize the chances for crashing into mountains and receiving a lot of German flak. He also will lead the attack. Through it all a typically inspiring music score will thump away.
Wallis' eccentric genius as he develops his bomb, fixes the glitches and deals with Whitehall is at times amusing but usually inspiring. Redgrave does a fine job with his character. Gibson's assurance and courage in the face of great personal risk (which at times almost seems that gambling with death has become some sort of exciting drug for him) is both inspiring and unnerving. Todd gives the standard ever-optimistic but serious-in-the-face- of-death portrayal that so many war movies dish up. Todd, like John Mills, was good at this sort of thing. He makes his character believable. The run into the Ruhr valley so low the crews could almost shake hands with the civilians, with flak crashing about, the planes shaking, the crews trying to make everything work as it should, the now spinning bombs let loose and bouncing off the waters toward the dams, and then the steep, steep climb of the remaining planes is gripping.
How successful was the mission? The movie doesn't deal with this, only with Wallis' ingenuity and the inspired heroism of the men who flew, who died and those who survived. But let's take a look at what wartime gallantry can bring. Of the several targeted dams, two were breeched and extensive flooding and destruction ensued. Of the 19 aircraft that set out, 11 returned. Of the 133 aircrew members 53 were killed and three became prisoners of war. Within a month after the raid, the Germans had restored water output back to normal and the Ruhr electricity grid was again producing power at full capacity. Of the more than 2,000 men and women who were killed in the flooding, more than half were Allied prisoners of war and forced laborers.
Professor Barnes, who also was the father of the earthquake bomb, was knighted and died full of honors at 92 in 1979. Wing Commander Guy Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross and was killed a year later on another mission. He was 26 years old.
With operations like this, war leaders usually tell us later how much home front morale was improved, how much we learned from the operation, how many resources the enemy had to reallocate to guard against further such attacks, and how the gallantry and courage of our fighting men and women are without parallel. Often these leaders are themselves awarded medals and ribbons and honors. Perhaps we need fewer of these leaders who seem so easily caught up in the kind of gallantry that always results in the deaths of many brave young men and women. For those interested in "gallant" ideas that lead to the essentially pointless deaths of courageous young soldiers, you might want to watch A Bridge Too Far, Dieppe and Cockleshell Heroes.
The Dam Busters tells us, with patriotic steadfastness and gallant actions, the development of a bouncing bomb, the story of Squadron 617 and then the action code-named Operation Chastize, carried out on May 17, 1943. Nineteen British aircraft set out on a high-risk mission to destroy key dams providing water and electricity for Germany's Ruhr industrial complex. A new bouncing bomb would be used to skip across the water, smash into the targeted dams and explode. Delivering the bombs required flying skills of the highest order. The planes had to sweep in very low and very fast through mountains and valleys, using unproven altimeters and primitive bomb sights. The crews had to release the bombs, now set to spinning in open bays, at the precise moment when calculations gave the bombs the best chance to skip and not sink and to strike exactly where they should.
The first part of The Dam Busters is the story of Professor Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave), whose idea for a bouncing bomb is nearly smothered by disbelieving civilian and military bureaucrats. Barnes is brilliant, innovative and extraordinarily persistent. Somehow, he succeeds in developing his spinning, bouncing bomb and convinces the war leaders that it can destroy dams where conventional bombing wouldn't.
The second part concentrates more on Wing Commander Guy Gibson (Richard Todd), who has been appointed leader of Squadron 617. He is charged with developing the flying tactics that will get his squadron over the target and successfully deliver the bombs. He has to come up with new flying techniques that will maximize the chances for success. These also maximize the chances for crashing into mountains and receiving a lot of German flak. He also will lead the attack. Through it all a typically inspiring music score will thump away.
Wallis' eccentric genius as he develops his bomb, fixes the glitches and deals with Whitehall is at times amusing but usually inspiring. Redgrave does a fine job with his character. Gibson's assurance and courage in the face of great personal risk (which at times almost seems that gambling with death has become some sort of exciting drug for him) is both inspiring and unnerving. Todd gives the standard ever-optimistic but serious-in-the-face- of-death portrayal that so many war movies dish up. Todd, like John Mills, was good at this sort of thing. He makes his character believable. The run into the Ruhr valley so low the crews could almost shake hands with the civilians, with flak crashing about, the planes shaking, the crews trying to make everything work as it should, the now spinning bombs let loose and bouncing off the waters toward the dams, and then the steep, steep climb of the remaining planes is gripping.
How successful was the mission? The movie doesn't deal with this, only with Wallis' ingenuity and the inspired heroism of the men who flew, who died and those who survived. But let's take a look at what wartime gallantry can bring. Of the several targeted dams, two were breeched and extensive flooding and destruction ensued. Of the 19 aircraft that set out, 11 returned. Of the 133 aircrew members 53 were killed and three became prisoners of war. Within a month after the raid, the Germans had restored water output back to normal and the Ruhr electricity grid was again producing power at full capacity. Of the more than 2,000 men and women who were killed in the flooding, more than half were Allied prisoners of war and forced laborers.
Professor Barnes, who also was the father of the earthquake bomb, was knighted and died full of honors at 92 in 1979. Wing Commander Guy Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross and was killed a year later on another mission. He was 26 years old.
With operations like this, war leaders usually tell us later how much home front morale was improved, how much we learned from the operation, how many resources the enemy had to reallocate to guard against further such attacks, and how the gallantry and courage of our fighting men and women are without parallel. Often these leaders are themselves awarded medals and ribbons and honors. Perhaps we need fewer of these leaders who seem so easily caught up in the kind of gallantry that always results in the deaths of many brave young men and women. For those interested in "gallant" ideas that lead to the essentially pointless deaths of courageous young soldiers, you might want to watch A Bridge Too Far, Dieppe and Cockleshell Heroes.