PR SQD 627 Over Kembs

October 08, 2018

627th Recon Sqd Woodhall Spa

KB 215 "H" FL/Lt Jan Hanlon & FL/Lt. K.J.Tice (PR/OBS)
Mosquito MK IV

No less dangerous was the task of the 617 Sqd Mosquito's crew . Flt.Lt.I.Hanlon and F/Lt Kenneth George Tice Tice made two runs over the target 17:40 at 3000 ft and then 6000 ft eleven minutes after the last Lancaster and fighter left the target .One the first run they saw one bomb burst 200 yards South of the West end of the barrage ,soon followed by an other burst which appeared to blow out the westerly span. Water started to pour through gap and there were ripples extending 200 - 250 yards upstream.

KEMBS BARRAGE BUSTING

LONDON, Monday. - The dramatic story of the smashing of the Kembs

Dam on the Rhine, near the Swiss frontier, has been told by a Mosquito

bomber reconnaissance pilot F/Lt.Hanlon (RNZAF) who watched the "factory-busters" blast

the dam walls, and saw the torrent of water surge through the breach.

Here is his story:

"I was disappointed at first as there was nothing to see-- the waters were

placid, and the dam unbroken. Then one of the 12,000-lb. 'babies' - of the delayed

action type --- exploded, and then another.The surface of the dam broke into rip-

ples, then into little waves, then into huge waves. The dam broke wide open,

and the huge expanse of water began to spew through the rapidly widening

gap."

The raid which was made by 13 Lancasters manned by crack RAF bomber

crews, was completely successful. A Swiss report claims that the water

in the dam has dropped more than 10 feet already, and a big power plant put

out of action.Ships have been left stranded, and the whole transport system

disorganised. German troops battling their way back to the Reich in the face of

incessant.

Allied attacks in the Belfort sector, now find themselves with the surging flood

waters of the Rhine between them and safety. LONDON, Monday, AAP

The waters of the Rhine have sunk nearly 14ft, and the Kembs power

station is entirely paralysed as a result of the attack by Lancasters

on the Kembs Dam on Saturday, reports the Swiss Radio. It states that

the attack was made by a force of 13 Lancasters. One Mosquito pilot flew

over the area and saw the dam being breached.

He was at first disappointed when he could see no obvious signs of damage
and the water remainedcalm. The calm did not last long. Some of the 12,0001b
bombs dropped by the Lancasters had delayed action, and one exploded
as the pilot flew over the dam for the second time. There was still no sign
of any breach,but 10 minutes later another delayed action bomb burst, and
instantly the whole scene changed. The surface of the water broke into ripples,
the ripples became small waves, ever growing, and soon a torrent poured fourth
through the gap where a sluice gate had been destroyed by the explosions.

Reuter's correspondent at Basle states that 31,000 kilowatt power

station at Kembs Dam, on' the Rhone and Rhine Canal, in Upper

Alsace, was completely destroyed •by a direct hit in the attack yesterday.

The Rhine level has fallen seven feet. This dam maintained

the level in the Rhone-Rhine Canal.