Dambusters failed

With regard to your article, “The true impact of Dambusters revealed after 70 years” (16 May), it is perhaps worth noting that, despite the damage done to the Eder and Möhne dams and the railway bridges, farmland, power stations, etc, by the Dambusters, the raid did not actually achieve its objective, which was to destroy the armaments industry in the Ruhr area.

The electricity supply was quickly restored, and the damage done to the Möhne dam was repaired by the late summer.

Had the Sorpe dam been destroyed – it was hit by a conventional bomb, which did little damage – the water supply for the whole of the Ruhr would have been cut off for the rest of the summer.

Most importantly, production in the key factories of Krupp and Hoesch was not affected.

Douglas Bonnyman

Craiglockhart Terrace

Edinburgh