The High Peak Dambuster by Frank Pleszak

The High Peak Dambuster by Frank Pleszak

Author:Frank Pleszak
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2022-07-30T00:00:00+00:00


Attacking the Möhne Dam

At the Möhne Dam it was a bright, moonlit night. It was still warm in the Lancaster cockpits; Gibson was still in his shirtsleeves, his concentration intense, despite the continual pain in his feet. The three Lancasters circled at about 600ft over the hills and forests on the southern section of the Möhne Reservoir (known as the Hevesee) while the crews noted the landmarks and reviewed the plan of attack. As they did so the flak emplacements on and around the dam started firing using various colours of tracers. Though they were out of range it enabled an estimate of the number of guns; Gibson concluded there were twelve, though in reality there were only six. As expected, there were no barrage balloons or searchlights to contend with, but the flak increased in intensity whenever the Lancasters got too near the dam.

Although it has never been confirmed, it seems that despite the intensity of flak, it was decided that the best approach was from the southeast over the promontory of the north bank of the Hevesee, over Heveberg spit with a direct run towards the dam.

About 00:20 Gibson announced over VHF radio for the others to circle anti-clockwise while he made a trial approach. Flying low and fast over the calm reservoir with flak coming almost horizontally towards his Lancaster he made a successful pass over the dam and re-joined the circling Martin and Hopgood.

Just after 00:25, Young and Maltby arrived and joined the circuit of circling Lancasters. Shannon arrived a few moments later and approached the Möhne Dam over a ridge from the north, almost directly above the dam. He was immediately targeted and hit by flak from the right-hand tower causing a small hole in the fuselage.

Maudslay had turned south-easterly at the last waypoint of Ahlen, climbed to about 1,000ft in compliance with Operation Orders, which required the leader of each section to listen on VHF ‘channel A’. Although they were still over five minutes from the Möhne Reservoir they will have heard the radio chatter of the six Lancasters ahead of them.

Approach to the Möhne Dam.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.