The British had not succeeded, however, in destroying the three
other reservoirs. Had they done so, the Ruhr Valley would have been
almost completely deprived of water in the coming summer months.
At
the largest of the reservoirs, the Sorpe Valley reservoir, t
hey did achieve
a direct hit on the center of the dam. I inspected it that same day. Fortu-
nately
the bomb hole was slightly higher than the water level. Just a few
inches lower— and a small brook would have been transformed into a
raging river which would have
swept away the stone and earthen dam. 4
That night, employing just a few bombers, the British came close to a
success which would have been greater than anything they had achieved
hitherto with a commitment of thousands of bombers.
But they made a
single mistake which puzzles me to this day: They divided their forces and
that same night destroyed the Eder Valley dam, although it had nothing
whatsoever to do with the supply of water to the Ruhzr
יהודה
ראשי
צ'אט
18-05-2008, 15:52
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