5. The Dambusters Raid
Also known as Operation Chastise, the Dam Busters was a supreme Lancaster bomber unit who was led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC. Their mission was to drop the innovative creation of the bouncing bomb that had been invented by Dr. Barnes Wallis. During the night of 16th May 1943, Wing Commander Guy Gibson directed 617 Squadron of the RAF on a dramatic bombing campaign, with the mission of destroying three major dams in the Ruhr valley which was of huge industrial significance to the Germans.
From 9.28 pm on 16 May, 133 aircrew in 19 Lancasters deployed in three waves to begin the bombing of the dams. Gibson was in the first wave of flights and their goal was to attack the Möhne at 12.28 am. Unfortunately, five planes were forced to drop their bombs early, though the remaining aircraft were still able to deploy their attack and moved on to the Eder, which eventually collapsed at 1.52 am. During the same time, planes from the subsequent two waves dropped their bombs on the Sorpe, but the dam was not destroyed. 53 men were killed in the attack and three were captured as prisoners of war. The bombing raid resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,300 people on the ground because of the flooding caused by the burst dams.