Do you know how much water it takes the Germans to make a ton of steel? I haven't the...
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Doctor B. N. Wallis, C.B.E., F.R.S.:
Do you know how much water it takes the Germans to make a ton of steel?
Doctor:
I haven't the least idea.
Doctor B. N. Wallis, C.B.E., F.R.S.:
One hundred tons. Now just look at this.
[gestures to a map on his desk]
Doctor B. N. Wallis, C.B.E., F.R.S.:
The whole of this great arsenal of war factories in the Ruhr depends for its water on three enormous dams. The Moehne. The Eder. And, the Sorpe. They control the level of the canals and supply a lot of hydroelectric power as well. When those are full they hold four hundred *million* tons of water. Just think of the chaos if we could break those walls down.
Transcript
00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.913
Do you know how much water it takes
the Germans to make a ton of steel?
00:00:06.041 --> 00:00:09.284
- Haven't the least idea.
- One hundred tons.
00:00:09.416 --> 00:00:10.702
Now just look at this.
00:00:10.833 --> 00:00:13.997
The whole of this great arsenal
of war factories in the Ruhr
00:00:14.125 --> 00:00:17.118
depends for its water
on three enormous dams:
00:00:17.025 --> 00:00:20.448
Möhne, Eder and the Sorpe.
00:00:20.583 --> 00:00:24.497
They control the level of the canals
and supply a lot of hydroelectric power.
00:00:24.625 --> 00:00:29.791
When those are full,
they hold 400 million tons of water.
00:00:29.916 --> 00:00:33.455
Just think of the chaos
if we could break those walls down.
00:00:33.583 --> 00:00:35.791
Now, this is what I wanted to do.
00:00:37.333 --> 00:00:40.326
Drop a 10-ton bomb
from 40,000 feet
00:00:40.458 --> 00:00:44.873
that would seal itself
in the roots of the wall.
00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.583
The shockwaves would be tremendous,
a real earthquake.
00:00:47.708 --> 00:00:49.087
But could you hit a target that size
from eight miles up?
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:52.834
I reckon that a near miss, even 50 feet,
would do the job.
00:00:52.958 --> 00:00:55.003
Is there an airplane that will carry
a 10-ton bomb?
00:00:55.208 --> 00:00:57.666
- No, but I was going to design one.
- What happened?
00:00:57.791 --> 00:01:00.124
Well, a committee was set up
and we went into it,
00:01:00.025 --> 00:01:01.616
but in the end I discovered
00:01:01.075 --> 00:01:04.538
I hadn't made sufficient allowance
for the cushioning effect of the water.
00:01:04.666 --> 00:01:05.907
We should need a 30-ton bomb,
00:01:06.997 --> 00:01:08.328
and that's too heavy for any aircraft
we can produce at present.
00:01:08.458 --> 00:01:09.539
- Sugar?
- No, thanks.
00:01:09.666 --> 00:01:12.001
- Oh, carry on.
- Well, just a little.
00:01:12.166 --> 00:01:13.577
Do you know, Barnes,
00:01:13.708 --> 00:01:17.622
I still don't see why you need
such a special bomb.
00:01:17.075 --> 00:01:19.999
Look.
00:01:19.708 --> 00:01:24.282
This dam is about 120 feet thick -
solid masonry all through.
00:01:24.416 --> 00:01:28.016
We've just proved that a bomb 20 times
the size of the biggest bomb now in use
00:01:28.291 --> 00:01:29.827
wouldn't even tickle it.
00:01:29.958 --> 00:01:31.087
Besides, we can't float anything
down the lake
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:35.619
because they've got these two huge booms
stretching right across it.
00:01:35.075 --> 00:01:37.286
We can't even get it in
under the water
00:01:37.416 --> 00:01:40.025
because these booms
support thick steel nets
Clip duration: 101 seconds
Views: 279
Timestamp in movie: 00h 06m 22s
Uploaded: 14 October, 2021
Genres: drama, history, war
Summary: The story of how the British attacked German dams in World War II by using an ingenious technique to drop bombs where they would be most effective.
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