How The Dambusters Sank Germany's "Unsinkable" Battleship | Dambusters' Great Escape | War Stories
After establishing themselves as some of the best precision bombers in the world, the elite Dambusters unit had a new assignment. Their task was to sink an enormous German battleship named Tirpitz which was deemed "unsinkable" by it's creators.
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This was originally aired on TV - the release date was 30th March 2004. Sadly all the men featured in this amazing documentary will now have passed. Thank goodness we have the opportunity to see and listen to them. Thank you for posting this.
It was released in 2014.
❤]q@@distantthunder12ck55
@@distantthunder12ck55 good to see the men who went on the raid and stopped a battleship capable of causing great problems to the Russian Conveys. Kudos to the RAF but also rest in peace those who died in the raid. Regardless of which side they were on.
I had not seen this documentary before. All these men have probably passed now and I am so happy that their thoughts and recollections were recorded. Thank you for this.
Small mercy they're gone, but their legacy is preserved here at least. They've seen and done enough without having to witness the atrocities of the Pronoun War their great great grandsons are waging.
The last 'Dambuster', George 'Johnny' Johnson died in December 2022, aged 101
I don't watch these episodes for the missions i watch them for the men that fought, died, lived, and became friends
They don't make men like that anymore. True heroes, every one of them.
It's not the size of the dog in the fight...It's the size of the fight in the dog... Thanks Winston.
We all owe so much to all those brave men and women of that generation who made our freedoms possible! Sadly, I am so afraid that what they did for us is being forgotten and discredited today! My generation, the sons and daughters of these heroes is almost gone too--“WHO WILL REMEMBER THEIR SACRIFICE and WHAT WE OWE THEM?”
Their Grand kids who was brought up with them aswell , im 45 now and remember many of them in my town along with their stories, my own gramp who was in the merchant Marines..
This is so impactful, the detail to which they can recall the events despite their age. Make sure you watch this until the end, the last 3 minutes are an emotional rollercoaster.
Oh my goodness! What an incredible feat! How courageous these men were. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up watching this story. I wish I could have met them, saluted and shaken their hands.
43 25 onwards. My Mum LOVED Tommy Trinder. She belonged to a group of parents who helped to support our local Scout Group. It was very much a social group as well and they organised a coach trip to see Tommy Trinder in London. He was acting as compare for other performers with his usual banter in between. My Mum said that he really knew how to work an audience. He reached a point which would have normally produced a response from the audience. My Mum was the only one who came out with what he had hoped for. My Mum called out, "YOU LUCKY PEOPAWL". There was laughter as Tommy looked directly at my Mum, "Thank you Lady, I nearly thought that I'd died there". Several more occasions in the evening, he played directly to my Mum. My Mum was full of it when she got home. A memorable occasion.
Growing up American I always loved the B17 but when I saw the Lancaster in the Dambusters film well, I had a new love
I love the idea of a guy who faked his way past the eye exam being inducted into the highly skilled precision bombing wing, fake it til you make it?
I can't get enuff of watching these heroes and their stories. This one was truly amazing and I got a lot out of this. Thank you for continuing with your solid World War Two stories. These guys should never be forgotten.
We thank you all for your service. Rip the fallen . If only the world would remember and learn from the mistakes from the passed.
If you don't learn the lessons of the past then you're an idiot. Lessons that were brought by the lives of the airman on many raids.
What a machine the Lancaster is 💪
One of the biggest bombers apart from the Volcan
The biggest bomb of bombers. It was very inefficient terribly underpowered.
@@spikenomoonit certainly was built or flown by know it alls
@@spikenomoon Merlin 20 series were only single stage supercharged and were lucky to get to 20,000 Ft loaded, a B17 would go to 30,000 ft and a B24 would go to 28,000 because of their 2 staged TURBOcharged radial engines !!! Lancasters average bomb load throughout the war was only about 6,000# compared to their "Could carry 14,000#" !!!! could and did were two different stories !!!
@@wilburfinnigan2142 It helped win the war. I believe we lost a lot of crews because of horrible engines and other engineering failures. The old sky coffin. ⚰️
Amazing story! The ending brings a tear to your eye.
971 sailors lost their lives when the "Unsinkable German Ship " The "Tirpitz" sank . They and many others left their families behind, never to see them again.
Wow. Powerful how some of these old men - once young and thoughtless of the killing they were involved in - now feel real compassion and sorrow at the thought of all those who died in the war.
Yes. "A crazy war," all for nothing ,this war-veteran said in the documentary. Everyone in his right mind would agree with him.
Perhaps you should rethink that statement. Had it not been for that war, we would not have hade 70 years of relative peace, but rather the fascist oppressive dictatorship, that some right wing nutcases are trying to force onto us now. That particular war told us everything we should know about how we need to avoid another lunatic behind the wheel in the so called free world.
All for nothing? Really?
The British military men in the second world war were tough , resilent, and brave . They did not think twice about going into danger , they were magnificent men , full stop !! I worked with a lot of these men who had fought in the war , and trust me they were really tough guys who didn't talk about their war years unless you heard them talking amongst themselves . I can gaurantee that some of them were Real Killers in their war years , some of them had a Scary look if you said something that upset them , then they would break into a smile and joke with me , frightening ! I was just a young boy 18 years old and admired them very much . They are all gone now , God bless them , but I think about them often ! I hope in the event of another war , God forbid ! That our young men would be as tough and resilent.
Visited the place where Easy Elsie had emergency landing after the raid. She is now a protected place. Located outside of Porjus in North Sweden. collected some 303 casings thnat had exploded when they put her on fire and a little piece of armored glass, Another Lancaster made Emergency landing some 100 Km on an island in the river Kalix Älv just about Överkalix. Have lots of photos from her resting place.
Hero's of the skies!!! Nothing but respect for you all. Thank you
Respect and thanks to all veterans
Amazing they had cameras there to film the battle and deaths.
At the end its the humanity that pulls me in, keep on watching these videos
That was an outstanding film, the a German gentleman, and the Englishmen at the end, were really wonderful people.
Amazing documentary! Thank you so much for telling this piece of history. It is really great that some of the men became friends after the war.
Herr Wesner was so very brave..and saved the lives of many...I would love to know he lived a long and happy life after the war
Even if losses were incurred, Churchill said. "The Unsinkable Ship" has to be destroyed. A great loss of life from those who took part in the war, we never learn.
We are now seeing history repeating its self once again in our time.
People should behave in other peoples countries then?! , and not abuse the sanctuary them or their parents was given..
this video is like a Christmas present for anybody interested in WW2 history! Subscribed!
Went to RAF Coningsby a couple of weeks back. They have an original Lanc and Mozzy under restoration in the hangar. Along with various recovered items from battles, and some incredible personal log books from flight crews... very touching....went with my other half who, until then, had no previous insight, into ww2 history. She was quite overwhelmed. The restoration for both planes is estimated at about 5 years to get them airworthy. A true tribute to fine, fine men and women involved. Truly humbled. My sincere thanks to such brave souls.x
Very different times. respect
I’m so grateful for these old guys coming on this documentary and telling it like it was. So honorable, and so heartfelt. Most importantly, history told by the ones who lived it!
0:11 0:11 0:11
@@SaRa-rh9nl ? …I don’t have a clue what what you mean.
I'm still surprised there's parts laying around. Figured people would have taken them as trophies
Excellent doc. It's great to hear 1st hand accounts from some of the veterans on both sides where involved in this dramatic story.
What a very sad thing war is 🙏🏻
❤ thank you all for your sacrifice❤
Fantastic documentary!!
617 and 9 squadron did it together!
Absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing this documentary. ❤
I like that at 21:55 Old Bold Pilots Assoc... Thats cool because when I was in Alaska there were OLD Pilots and there were BOLD Pilots...but there were No "OLD BOLD" PILOTS!!!
Fascinating and great to see so many very brave men. A thought - the Tirpitz was about 42,000 tons but the IJN's Yamato was well over 70,000 tons (from memory, I didn't look the figures up) and the Yamato was also sunk mainly be aerial attack.
People talk about or you might hear someone say....oh it's a miracle over something simple....a real miracle...this video was made with living history by people that used to try to kill each other....time,age, wisdom changes thangs sometimes for the 👍👍👍👍👍 great video 👍👍
Thank you for this excellent video, which tells the story from both sides, so to speak. So many lives lost, so many sadly affected. I have learned a lot from this video. 🙏🙏🙏
Amazing these guys became friends
A very good documentary, as said, these fine men have probably all passed away, heroes to a man. As I watched it I realised seen it before but still well worth viewing again. Although they were the enemy, the death of all those aboard Turpitz was still a tragedy. Lets hope the like never gets repeated.
Yes, every one of them was someone's son. 😢
Thank you for your service
It is quite amazing how they got thioose bombs onto the target with pin-point accuracy from 15.000 feet
Wow. “I was strong once but it’s all gone”
Great video. Thx. This is the stuff of legends.
What a brave special group of men.Thank you all
Thank you, gentlemen. Hats off.
At 25:03 it was said the bombers had 2.5 Tonnes of high explosives, the Tall Boy weighed in at 12,000 lbs around 5.4 long tonnes
ships will always lose against tall boys and grand slams
That's just too much bomb in one place.. 💥
That's what she said.
Yer mom
Today, known as Daisy cutters, And moab's.
" you could'nt have the nazi's in charge could ya " says it all really , when men were men , god bless the lot of em !!!!!!
You're sitting on the water. What could go wrong. 😢
What a fantastic documentry. Relly well made and very interesting
My Great GrandFather's Served On KMS'S BISMARCK,TIRPITZ,SCHARNHORST & GNEISENAU 😃
He seems to have been a lucky chap all of those ships were sunk I believe.
Bit like uncle Albert bit of a Joanha
Excellent stuff bro
"And Too,633 Squadron & The Flyers of The Dam Busters, We Owe Much"
Tony Iveson first was a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain but later retrained as a bomber pilot.
His son Bob flew harriers in the Falklands I believe.
@@jongulliver984 Actually Bob Iveson is the son of Group Captain Hank Iveson DSO DFC and Bar former Halifax pilot.
Thanks Anthony, my mistake, however that's some family tradition as well!
@@jongulliver984 Re Hank Iveson. There is a memorial plaque to GC Iveson at the industrial park on the old Holme on Spalding Moor airfield. Bob Iveson became the CO of 617 Squadron.
I appear to have misunderstood something early on in this video! I thought they were to fly to the USSR first, bit apparently that idea was scrapped! Still, we owe so much to the jangled nerves of these brave aviators!
They did this in an earlier attempt to sink Tirpitz. It’s in the video at around 9:40.
They had done that previously and had damaged it
Best war doco
The Tirpitz was mostly sunk already by an attack of mini subs, the bombers where sent in as a 2nd wave to finish it off, but this is the first time i heard about it being dambusters, can you post your info source @War Stories.
The mini subs put it out of action for about 5 months, but by early April 1944, the Tirpitz was repaired and ready for sea trials.
@@grahvis It was almost ready yes, but regarding the video makers claim about it being dambusters it was Tallboy bombs here is an excerpt from the tirpitz wiki: Shortly thereafter, the ship was damaged in an attack by British mini-submarines and subsequently subjected to a series of large-scale air raids. On 12 November 1944, British Lancaster bombers equipped with 12,000-pound (5,400 kg) "Tallboy" bombs scored two direct hits and a near miss which caused the ship to capsize rapidly.
@@Sarge80. The air raids mostly resulted in relatively superficial damage, which meant a need to repair. They did not result in serious damage.
@@grahvisexcept on Nov 12th 1944, 2 direct hits and a near miss with tallboy's making it capsize.
@@Sarge80. Yes, that did put a bit of a dent in it. The aircraft with the cameraman hung about for a while after the bombing and watched it slowly capsize. The pilot remarked how it seemed a bit sad as it was such a beautiful ship.
I want Basil Fish to be my adoptive grandad, he's great 💙
Enjoyed the video
Real men will soon only be found in history books
fantastic to watch this so very interesting
Great story guys!!!
Just kids really..and so brave😔
It was a wonderful historical coverage documentary about Germans (Terbitt ) battleships sank by dambusterd air assaulted. During WW2 . German radars officer was a good German through British prospective, but he was a traitor for his motherland Germany 🇩🇪...
_" German radars officer was a good German through British prospective, but he was a traitor for his motherland Germany"_ True. But he was right, in the same way that the Russians working actively underground, together with the Ukrainians, for the defeat of Russia in its monstrous, imperial ambitions are right too. And the most interestihg thing of all is that the vast majority of Germans today would share the above sentiment. (Germany has come a long way in its self-awareness of its past)
Superb.
Excellent.
I can’t b lieve wht I’m hearing omg wow amazing smh unbelievable
The Tirpitz was a sitting duck.
A very well armoured, armed and defended duck.
Drivel
Terrible for the German crewmen; but we have to remember their ultimate purpose.
Tirpizt and Bismarck was like king Tiger
BISMARCK & TIRPITZ 😃
Funny how all "unsinkable" ships end up getting sunk.
Are those Tornadoes in the background at 42:06 and 45:08?
Already saw this on timelines chanel ! 6 years ago xD
Good show ... I like the bit ya couldnt have the natzi in charge but ya can use their technology and drive round in their invention and even call it the love bug lol
Yeah, well, THAT war IS over.
The Tirpitz was mission killed after the x-craft attack by the RN. They were able to make her sail after 6 months which should have taken at least 1.5 yrs. There is another reason I assumed the ship was no longer able to sail at speed so they built a shelve so if the ship was hit it would settle to the shelve,leaving its main artillery in range to hit convoys from its anchorage. The RAF sent 2 attacks with Tallboys. The first attack was called off because of cloud cover. The second had three direct hits and the rest near misses. The ship started to turn turtle and it took 1,000 dead of the ships company. This is war, and the aftermath of war. War is good for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Edit: They tried to hit the ship three times. The first raid came when they had to get Russia to allow the to use an airbase near the fiord as the Lacs didn’t have the range. Russia said yes, I mean if they said no, the Brit’s would be forced to stop the convoy and the weapons aid that Britain was sending them. The raid was cancelled because the ship was covered win smoke from the smoke pots that they put on the sides of the fiord. A couple of Lancs dropped their Tallboys before the ship was covered in the artificial smoke, I do believe that one bomb had either hit the ship or it was a near miss. I do believe that the first raid was before the x-craft raid in 43. I don’t remember so if someone has this information I would be grateful if you can include the info. The next two raids were as I reported earlier . Thank you and have a Happy New Year
I always said the politicians that want war should be the ones to fight it out. No one’s Sons or daughters.
Too bad the world doesn’t work that way. Especially after Pearl Harbor.
I love the dogs name in this movie that Pink Floyd Was watching in the wall.
I don’t get it
@@skipmagil There is an old movie about this event. Black and white movie. In the movie "The Wall" "Pink Floyd" is in his hotel room, being a rockstar letting a cigarette burn to its nub, while he is watching that movie. Particularly the scene where the pilots are talking about their dog. Which has a great name for a dog, because he is black.
you're talking about the famous film about the mission to destroy the dams?
@@MsVanorak Si
Where is that Tripitz model now?
Tirpizt and Bismarck is like
BISMARCK & TIRPITZ
Sure its a sad thing for the Germans but you have to stop and think, there's no one talking about all the people they killed with their massive ship. It was built for one thing. To kill. War is a terrible thing, Not one person wins every one has a loss or knows some one who has been effected by the atrocities that it leave's.
Tony's still not pleased.
It os mad to think that those in planning didn't think to change the route after the penultimate attack. The Germans would have known they flee through the gap in the radar and obviously adjust. Maybe they expected the Germans to think the the same, and so double bluffed, so to speak
Over 120 missions were launched against the Tirpitz only the use of Tall Boys 12,000lb bombs were the weapons that sank it The wreck was broken up from 1945------1949 some parts are reputed to still be there and some parts were made into knives after the war
Sounds like Jimmy mcnulty from the wire
Once enemies who became friends in later life. There was incredible courage and daring in those men. Every day on each side they never knew if they would make it home and wake up the next day. A good account of the battle. RIP to the German sailors upon the Tirpitz.also to all the allied sailors who gave their lives. Not all Germans were Nazis. Those young men back then. Fire in their veins and we owe them so much.
Not ‘sunk’. ‘Sank’!
Have you never heard of poetic licence??? The title just sounds better, has a better ring about it, when using "sunk" instead of "sank" for the past form.
@Muddy283 That is not why it was used, the creator just got the grammar wrong. This word is regularly used in error.
@@sirbarringtonwomblembe4098 Personally, I don't think so.
British (international?) English versus Americanized (bastardized) English. Sink/Sank/Sunk Drink/Drank/Drunk There are a lot of these, where the American version differs from the version used elsewhere.
@@Styphon My bad! The moment I saw this video - and before I noticed anyone posting on this use of "sunk" - I had already noted this usage and, since I doubted myself, checked and verified (from more than one source IIRC) that "sank" was indeed the past form of "sink", seemingly both in British and American English. However, your post prompted me to investigate a bit further, and so I consulted the Merriam-Webster dictionary online (the Bible of American English dictionaries) and it confirms that in American English "sank" and "sunk" are indeed both acceptable past forms of "sink". May I, however, hasten to add: 1. I definitely do NOT agree with you that American English is a "bastardized" form of the English language (btw note here the amusing irony of your _"Americanized"_ _"bastardized"_ spelling of those two aforesaid past participles 😂). It is simply NOT the case that there is one *_pure_* and *_correct_* form of English from which all other _dialects_ - as I suppose you would call them - deviate. No modern, self-respecting linguist would agree with that assertion. 2. I still would maintain that the choice in the title of "sunk" instead of "sank" is a deliberate choice by the video producers dictated by the subtle differences of nuance of meaning a word normally associated by most of us as being the past participle of "sink" convey. Note also that the presenter is not American but British, and the series is a British-produced series which only underscores the fact that this would have been very much a conscious choice of language rather than a spontaneous, inadvertent error.
I am happy to announce that after about a week my left testicle is no longer slightly sensitive :D
🤡
The second world war was a loss for humanity. not for allies only, not for axis only, for anyone. god bless all the fallen soldiers on any side.
Water bladders couldve protected the empty fuel tanks from explosion by flak
Nobody in Germany ever said these ships were unsinkable, steel will sink in water
The greatest generation
Sank
Was the ship actually that great or was the Luftwaffe that good at protecting the Tirpitz