219-606: Operation Chastise , commonly known as the Dambusters Raid , was an attack on German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command , later called the Dam Busters, using special " bouncing bombs " developed by Barnes Wallis . The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley ;
438-454: A Common Brittonic word meaning "at the promontory" or "great headland". In Old English this became corrupted to Raculf , sometimes given as Raculfceastre , giving rise to the modern "Reculver". The form "Raculfceastre" includes the Old English place-name element " ceaster ", which frequently relates to "a [Roman] city or walled town". Stone Age flint tools have been washed out from
657-475: A Ramsar site, including most of Reculver Country Park, which itself includes much of Bishopstone Cliffs local nature reserve . While nationally scarce plants and insects are found there, the location is also important for migrating birds and is of significant geological interest. The earliest recorded form of the name, Regulbium , is in Latin and dates from the early 5th century or before, but it had its origin in
876-471: A pervasive cult of personality around Adolf Hitler to influence public opinion. The government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Genocide , mass murder , and large-scale forced labour became hallmarks of the regime; the implementation of the regime's racial policies culminated in the Holocaust . After the initial success of German invasion of
1095-435: A "rich invertebrate and vertebrate fossil fauna ... and the section has been extensively studied over many years." The park first won a Green Flag Award in 2005, and it is estimated that over 200,000 people visit it each year, including up to 3,500 students for educational trips. Canterbury City Council's Reculver Masterplan envisages purchasing farmland to the south of the country park to replace land lost to
1314-577: A Roman administrative document from the early 5th century, also records the presence of the Cohors I Baetasiorum at Reculver, then known as Regulbium . There must also have been a harbour nearby in Roman times, and, though this has not yet been found, it was probably near to the fort's southern or eastern side. The walls of the fort originally stood about 14.8 feet (4.5 m) high and were 10 feet (3 m) thick at their base, reducing to 8 feet (2.4 m) at
1533-434: A backspin of 500 rpm . Dropped at 60 ft (18 m) and 240 mph (390 km/h) from the release point, the mine would skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall as its forward speed ceased. Initially the backspin was intended to increase the range of the mine but it was later realized that it would cause the mine, after submerging, to run down the side of the dam towards its base, thus maximising
1752-407: A bath house, had been found in a similar cistern at Reculver; he also observed that "such a multitude [of cisterns] has been discovered, almost in our memory, as proves that the ancient inhabitants of the place were very numerous." In the 20th century twelve wells of the Roman period were identified to the west of the fort, ten of which were square; all were cut into the hard layer of sandstone below
1971-410: A civilian settlement, or vicus : at Reculver this lay outside the north and west sides of the fort, much of it in areas now lost to the sea, and was extensive, perhaps covering "some ten hectares [25 acres] in all." In 1936 R.F. Jessup noted that "a Roman building with a hypocaust and tesselated [floor once] stood considerably to the northward of the fort": this structure had been observed by
2190-485: A communist uprising. The Reichstag Fire Decree , imposed on 28 February 1933, rescinded most civil liberties, including rights of assembly and freedom of the press. The decree also allowed the police to detain people indefinitely without charges. The legislation was accompanied by a propaganda campaign that led to public support for the measure. Violent suppression of communists by the SA was undertaken nationwide and 4,000 members of
2409-523: A full-size dam; crucially this weight would be within the carrying capacity of an Avro Lancaster . The first air drop trials were at Chesil Beach in December 1942; these used a spinning 4 ft 6 in sphere dropped from a modified Vickers Wellington, serial BJ895/G; the same aircraft was used until April 1943 when the first modified Lancasters became available. The tests continued at Chesil Beach and Reculver , often unsuccessfully, using revised designs of
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#17328548571542628-573: A large explosion and a great pillar of flame. In the book The Dambusters' Raid , author John Sweetman suggests Townsend's report of the moon's reflecting on the mist and water is consistent with an attack that was heading to the Bever Dam rather than to the Ennepe Dam, given the moon's azimuth and altitude during the bombing attacks. Sweetman also points out that the Ennepe-Wasserverband authority
2847-423: A length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point, in the manner of a catapult.) The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as barometric altimeters lacked accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage , so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at
3066-430: A much smaller explosive charge would suffice if it exploded against the dam wall under the water but German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets to prevent an explosive device from travelling through the water. Wallis devised a 9,000 lb (4,100 kg) bomb (more accurately, a mine) in the shape of a cylinder, equivalent to a very large depth charge armed with a hydrostatic fuse, designed to be given
3285-701: A narrow strip of protected, cliff-top land about 1.5 miles (2 km) long, running from the remaining enclosure of the Roman fort west to Bishopstone Glen. Most of the cliff-top and all of the foreshore in this area are included in the Thanet Coast SSSI , the Thanet Coast and Sandwich Bay SPA and the similarly named Ramsar site; most of the Country Park is also part of the Bishopstone Cliffs local nature reserve , which covers 166.5 acres (67.4 ha) of
3504-640: A non-aggression pact with Poland. In March 1939, Hitler demanded the return of the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor , a strip of land that separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. The British announced they would come to the aid of Poland if it was attacked. Hitler, believing the British would not take action, ordered an invasion plan should be readied for September 1939. On 23 May, Hitler described to his generals his overall plan of not only seizing
3723-469: A protectorate of France under the condition that its residents would later decide by referendum which country to join, and Poland became a separate nation and was given access to the sea by the creation of the Polish Corridor , which separated Prussia from the rest of Germany, while Danzig was made a free city . Germany regained control of the Saarland through a referendum held in 1935 and annexed Austria in
3942-609: A re-invention of the story in which two brothers, Robert and Richard de Birchington, are substituted for the two sisters. Clive Aslet used the byname in noting that, in Ian Fleming 's James Bond novel Goldfinger , the villain Auric Goldfinger "lived at Reculver". Reculver Country Park is a nature reserve managed by Canterbury City Council and the Kent Wildlife Trust . It covers 64 acres (26 ha) and comprises
4161-436: A ruinated town, and the household furniture, dress, and equipment of the horses belonging to the inhabitants of it, [were] continually found among the sands ... In September 1804 a high tide and strong winds led to the destruction of five houses, one of which was "an ancient building, immediately opposite the public house, and had the appearance of having been part of some monastic erection". The following year, according to
4380-460: A run but the bomb struck the top of the dam and the aircraft was severely damaged in the blast. Shannon made another run and successfully dropped his bomb. The final bomb of the formation, from Knight's aircraft (N for Nut), breached the dam. The Sorpe dam was the one least likely to be breached. It was a huge earthen dam, unlike the two concrete-and-steel gravity dams that were attacked successfully. Due to various problems, only two Lancasters reached
4599-501: A sandstone platform [10–13 feet (3–4 m)] wide and at least [11 inches (30 cm)] deep." In 1817 the nearest access to transport by coach was at Upstreet , about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Reculver, which lay on a route that ran between London, Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet. In 1839 coaches and vans ran daily from Herne Bay to Canterbury and on to destinations on the southern and eastern coasts of Kent, with access to
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#17328548571544818-459: A second national anthem. Germany was still in a dire economic situation, as six million people were unemployed and the balance of trade deficit was daunting. Using deficit spending , public works projects were undertaken beginning in 1934, creating 1.7 million new jobs by the end of that year alone. Average wages began to rise. The SA leadership continued to apply pressure for greater political and military power. In response, Hitler used
5037-431: A set of notes written by the parish clerk John Brett, "Reculver Church and willage stood in safety", but in 1806 the sea began to encroach on the village, and in 1807 the local farmers dismantled the sea defences, after which "the village became a total [wreck] to the mercy of the sea." A further scheme to protect the cliff and church was proposed by John Rennie , but a decision was taken on 12 January 1808 to demolish
5256-605: A strategic location at the north-western end of the Wantsum Channel , a sea lane that separated the Isle of Thanet and the Kent mainland until the late Middle Ages . This led the Romans to build a small fort there at the time of their conquest of Britain in 43 AD, and, starting late in the 2nd century, they built a larger fort, or castrum , called Regulbium , which later became one of
5475-741: A substantial minority of Germans, who lived mostly in the Sudetenland . Under pressure from separatist groups within the Sudeten German Party , the Czechoslovak government offered economic concessions to the region. Hitler decided not just to incorporate the Sudetenland into the Reich, but to destroy the country of Czechoslovakia entirely. The Nazis undertook a propaganda campaign to try to generate support for an invasion. Top German military leaders opposed
5694-617: A thousand people (out of a population of around 16,000) committed suicide in Demmin around 1 May 1945 as the 65th Army of 2nd Belorussian Front first broke into a distillery and then rampaged through the town, committing mass rapes, arbitrarily executing civilians, and setting fire to buildings. High numbers of suicides took place in many other locations, including Neubrandenburg (600 dead), Stolp in Pommern (1,000 dead), and Berlin, where at least 7,057 people committed suicide in 1945. Estimates of
5913-446: A uniquely detailed plaque, fragments of which were found by archaeologists in the 1960s. The plaque effectively records the establishment of the fort, since it commemorates the construction of two of its principal features, the basilica and the sacellum , or shrine , both being parts of the headquarters building, or principia : this [was] the first time the inscribed phrase aedes principiorum [could] be ... identified with
6132-821: A war fought on two fronts. The invasion conquered a huge area, including the Baltic states, Belarus , and west Ukraine . After the successful Battle of Smolensk in September 1941, Hitler ordered Army Group Centre to halt its advance to Moscow and temporarily divert its Panzer groups to aid in the encirclement of Leningrad and Kyiv . This pause provided the Red Army with an opportunity to mobilise fresh reserves. The Moscow offensive, which resumed in October 1941, ended disastrously in December . On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor , Hawaii. Four days later, Germany declared war on
6351-504: A war of conquest to obtain more territory. The Saarland , which had been placed under League of Nations supervision for 15 years at the end of World War I, voted in January 1935 to become part of Germany. In March 1935, Hitler announced the creation of an air force, and that the Reichswehr would be increased to 550,000 men. Britain agreed to Germany building a naval fleet with the signing of
6570-614: A well-defended target. A one-off surprise attack might succeed but the RAF lacked a weapon suitable for the task. The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes Wallis , assistant chief designer at Vickers . Wallis had worked on the Vickers Wellesley and Vickers Wellington bombers and while working on the Vickers Windsor , he had also begun work, with Admiralty support, on an anti-shipping bomb, although dam destruction
6789-565: Is Herne Bay High School. The nearest post office is in Beltinge, about 1.9 miles (3.1 km) to the west-southwest. The nearest general practitioner (GP) surgery is about 1.4 miles (2.3 km) to the south-west, between Bishopstone and Hillborough, with others in Beltinge, Herne Bay, Broomfield and St Nicholas-at-Wade. While the nearest general hospital is the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, about 2.5 miles (4 km) to
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7008-413: Is about 728 millimetres (28.7 in), with the highest rainfall from October to January. This is lower than the national average annual rainfall of 838 millimetres (33 in). Occasional drought conditions can lead to the imposition of Temporary Use Bans to conserve water supplies, and it was announced in 2013 that a water desalination plant was to be built at Reculver to increase supplies. In
7227-442: Is managed by English Heritage , and the village has all but disappeared. The present appearance of the cliff below the church, a grassy slope above a large stone apron, was the work of central government and was in place by April 1867. In 2000 the surviving fragments of an early medieval cross that once stood inside the old church were used to design a Millennium Cross to commemorate two thousand years of Christianity. This stands at
7446-418: Is only about 5 mi (8 km) southwest of the Ennepe Dam. With the early-morning fog that filled the valleys, it would be understandable for him to have mistaken the two reservoirs. On the way back, flying again at treetop level, two more Lancasters were lost. The damaged aircraft of Maudslay was struck by flak near Netterden , and Young's (A for Apple) was hit by flak north of IJmuiden and crashed into
7665-599: Is the "last seaward extension of the Blean Hills." Sediments laid down around 55 million years ago are particularly well displayed in the cliffs to the west. Nearby Herne Bay is the type section for the upper part of the Thanet Formation , previously known as the Thanet Beds, consisting of a fine-grained sand that can be clayey and glauconitic and is of Thanetian (late Paleocene ) age. It rests unconformably on
7884-459: The Schutzstaffel (SS) and Gestapo to purge the entire SA leadership. Hitler targeted SA Stabschef (Chief of Staff) Ernst Röhm and other SA leaders who—along with a number of Hitler's political adversaries (such as Gregor Strasser and former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher )—were arrested and shot. Up to 200 people were killed from 30 June to 2 July 1934 in an event that became known as
8103-569: The Völkisch movement . The party, especially its paramilitary organisation Sturmabteilung (SA; Storm Detachment), or Brownshirts, used physical violence to advance their political position, disrupting the meetings of rival organisations and attacking their members as well as Jewish people on the streets. Such far-right armed groups were common in Bavaria , and were tolerated by the sympathetic far-right state government of Gustav Ritter von Kahr . When
8322-447: The 17th- to 18th-century antiquarian John Battely , and was probably "an external bath house ... relating to [an early phase of] the fort." In the same area Battely described "several cisterns " between 10 and 12 feet (3–3.7 m) square, lined with oak planks and sealed at the bottom with puddled clay . He believed that these were for storing rainwater, and noted that a Roman strigil , which would have been used in
8541-451: The 1st–2nd-century Roman poet Juvenal , and in 1576 oysters from Reculver itself were "reputed as farre to passe those of Whitstaple, as Whitstaple doe surmount the rest of this shyre [of Kent] in savorie saltnesse." An enclosed area of salt water known as the Dene was leased for the breeding of oysters and lobsters in 1867; as of 2014 there is a hatchery for oysters in saltwater ponds on
8760-535: The 6th Army could be supplied by air, but this turned out to be infeasible. Hitler's refusal to allow a retreat led to the deaths of 200,000 German and Romanian soldiers; of the 91,000 men who surrendered in the city on 31 January 1943, only 6,000 survivors returned to Germany after the war. Losses continued to mount after Stalingrad, leading to a sharp reduction in the popularity of the Nazi Party and deteriorating morale. Soviet forces continued to push westward after
8979-706: The Anglo-German Naval Agreement on 18 June 1935. When the Italian invasion of Ethiopia led to only mild protests by the British and French governments, on 7 March 1936 Hitler used the Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance as a pretext to order the army to march 3,000 troops into the demilitarised zone in the Rhineland in violation of the Versailles Treaty. As the territory was part of Germany,
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9198-615: The Anschluss of 1938. The Munich Agreement of 1938 gave Germany control of the Sudetenland, and they seized the remainder of Czechoslovakia six months later. Under threat of invasion by sea, Lithuania surrendered the Memel district in March 1939. Between 1939 and 1941, German forces invaded Poland , Denmark , Norway , France , Luxembourg , the Netherlands , Belgium , Yugoslavia , Greece , and
9417-558: The Battle of Berlin (16 April – 2 May 1945), Hitler and his staff lived in the underground Führerbunker while the Red Army approached. On 30 April, when Soviet troops were within two blocks of the Reich Chancellery , Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide . On 2 May, General Helmuth Weidling unconditionally surrendered Berlin to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov . Hitler
9636-493: The Blean woodland , solar and photovoltaic panels provide electrical power, and there are displays describing the history, geography and wildlife of the area. Reculver is at the end of an unclassified road , Reculver Lane, and is about 2 miles (3.2 km) by road from the nearest major junction of the A299 , or Thanet Way. From Roman times there was a connection to Canterbury by road,
9855-909: The Chalk Group , and forms the base of the cliffs in the Reculver and Herne Bay area. Above the Thanet Sand are the Upnor Formation , a medium sandstone, and the sandy clays of the Harwich Formation at the Paleocene– Eocene boundary. The highest cliffs, rising to a maximum height of about 115 feet (35 m) to the west of Reculver, have a cap of London Clay , a fine silty clay of Eocene age. The surface consists mainly of flint gravel with some areas of brickearth , both of which are glacial deposits . Rocks such as these are easily washed away by
10074-583: The Chief of the Air Staff , Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal , heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced. On 26 February 1943, Portal over-ruled Harris and ordered that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage. With eight weeks to go,
10293-707: The Communist Party of Germany were arrested. On 23 March 1933, the Enabling Act , an amendment to the Weimar Constitution , passed in the Reichstag by a vote of 444 to 94. This amendment allowed Hitler and his cabinet to pass laws—even laws that violated the constitution—without the consent of the president or the Reichstag. As the bill required a two-thirds majority to pass, the Nazis used intimidation tactics as well as
10512-671: The Eyebrook Reservoir , near Uppingham , Rutland; Abberton Reservoir near Colchester; Derwent Reservoir in the Derbyshire Peak District; and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach . Wallis's bomb was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs . Gibson also had VHF radios (normally reserved for fighters) fitted to the Lancasters so that he could control the operation while over the target, an early example of what became
10731-622: The German Empire (1871–1918) as the second. Severe setbacks to the German economy began after World War I ended, partly because of reparations payments required under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles . The government printed money to make the payments and to repay the country's war debt, but the resulting hyperinflation led to inflated prices, economic chaos, and food riots. When the government defaulted on their reparations payments in January 1923, French troops occupied German industrial areas along
10950-714: The German Reich and later the Greater German Reich , was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship . The Third Reich , meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800/962–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which
11169-599: The Gilze-Rijen airfield. Brown (F for Freddie) reached the Sorpe Dam: in the increasingly dense fog, after 7 runs, Brown conferred with his bomb aimer and dropped incendiary devices on either side of the valley, which ignited a fire which subsequently lifted the fog enough to drop a direct hit on the eighth run. The bomb cracked but failed to breach the dam. Anderson (Y for York) never arrived having been delayed by damage to his rear turret and dense fog which made his attempts to find
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#173285485715411388-553: The Hague Convention , industrial firms in the Netherlands, France, and Belgium were put to work producing war materiel for Germany. The Nazis seized from the French thousands of locomotives and rolling stock, stockpiles of weapons, and raw materials such as copper, tin, oil, and nickel. Payments for occupation costs were levied upon France, Belgium, and Norway. Barriers to trade led to hoarding, black markets , and uncertainty about
11607-502: The League of Nations in October, claiming its disarmament clauses were unfair if they applied only to Germany. In a referendum held in November , 95 per cent of voters supported Germany's withdrawal. In 1934, Hitler told his military leaders that rearmament needed to be complete by 1942, as by then the German people would require more living space and resources, so Germany would have to start
11826-402: The Low Countries . They quickly conquered Luxembourg and the Netherlands and outmanoeuvred the Allies in Belgium , forcing the evacuation of many British and French troops at Dunkirk . France fell as well, surrendering to Germany on 22 June . The victory in France resulted in an upswing in Hitler's popularity and an upsurge in war fever in Germany. In violation of the provisions of
12045-420: The Nazi euthanasia program . Political courts called Sondergerichte sentenced some 12,000 members of the German resistance to death, and civil courts sentenced an additional 40,000 Germans. Mass rapes of German women also took place. As a result of their defeat in World War I and the resulting Treaty of Versailles, Germany lost Alsace-Lorraine , Northern Schleswig , and Memel . The Saarland became
12264-499: The Night of the Long Knives . On 2 August 1934, Hindenburg died. The previous day, the cabinet had enacted the " Law Concerning the Head of State of the German Reich ", which stated that upon Hindenburg's death the office of Reich President would be abolished and its powers merged with those of Reich Chancellor. Hitler thus became head of state as well as head of government and was formally named as Führer und Reichskanzler ("Leader and Chancellor"), although eventually Reichskanzler
12483-436: The North Sea just off the coast of the Netherlands. On the return flight over the Dutch coast, some German flak aimed at the aircraft was aimed so low that shells were seen to bounce off the sea. Eleven bombers began landing at Scampton at 03:11 hours, with Gibson returning at 04:15. The last of the survivors, Townsend's bomber, landed at 06:15. It was the last to land because one of its engines had been shut down after passing
12702-442: The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). The squadron was based at RAF Scampton , about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln . The targets selected were the Möhne Dam and the Sorpe Dam , upstream from the Ruhr industrial area , with the Eder Dam on the Eder River, which feeds into the Weser , as a secondary target. The loss of hydroelectric power
12921-409: The Ruhr and widespread civil unrest followed. The National Socialist German Workers' Party ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ), commonly known as the Nazi Party, was founded in 1920. It was the renamed successor of the German Workers' Party (DAP) formed one year earlier, and one of several far-right political parties then active. The Nazi Party platform included destruction of
13140-456: The Second World War , the British Air Ministry had identified the industrialised Ruhr Valley , especially its dams, as important strategic targets. The dams provided hydroelectric power and pure water for steel-making, drinking water and water for the canal transport system. Calculations indicated that attacks with large bombs could be effective but required a degree of accuracy which RAF Bomber Command had been unable to attain when attacking
13359-478: The Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and several more damaged. Factories and mines were also damaged and destroyed. An estimated 1,600 civilians – about 600 Germans and 1,000 enslaved labourers , mainly Soviet – were killed by the flooding. Despite rapid repairs by the Germans, production did not return to normal until September. The RAF lost 56 aircrew, with 53 dead and 3 captured, amid losses of 8 aircraft. Before
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#173285485715413578-417: The Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia. Germany signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, launching World War II in Europe . In alliance with Italy and other Axis powers , Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940 and threatened Great Britain. Racism , Nazi eugenics , anti-Slavism , and especially antisemitism were central ideological features of
13797-440: The astrodome and was astonished to see that his pilot was flying towards the target along a forest's firebreak , below treetop level. The first casualties were suffered soon after reaching the Dutch coast. Formation No. 2 did not fare well: Munro's aircraft lost its radio to flak and turned back over the IJsselmeer , while Rice flew too low and struck the sea, losing his bomb in the water; he recovered and returned to base. After
14016-431: The census of 1801 the number of people present in the parish of Reculver, enclosing an area of about 2 square miles (5 km ) and including the settlements of Hillborough, Bishopstone and part of Broomfield, was given as 252, and this figure remained roughly stable until the 20th century when a dramatic increase was recorded: in the census of 1931, the number was given as 829. But this included holidaymakers, and in 2005
14235-414: The federal election of 1932 , the party was the largest in the Reichstag , holding 230 seats with 37.4 per cent of the popular vote. Although the Nazis won the greatest share of the popular vote in the two Reichstag general elections of 1932, they did not have a majority. Hitler refused to participate in a coalition government unless he was its leader. Under pressure from politicians, industrialists, and
14454-412: The local elections of 2019 , the seat was won by Rachel Lois Carnac, Conservative . At the national level Reculver is in the English parliamentary constituency of North Thanet , for which Roger Gale (Conservative) has been MP since 1983. The ruins of the Roman fort and medieval church at Reculver stand on the remnant of a promontory, a low hill with a maximum height of 50 feet (15 m), which
14673-447: The master bomber role. The squadron took delivery of the bombs on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 18:00 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader Henry Eric Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young , Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Flt Lt John V. Hopgood and the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay. The rest of
14892-399: The sea lane later known as the Wantsum Channel , which lay between it and the Isle of Thanet . It was probably built by soldiers of the Cohors I Baetasiorum , originally from Lower Germany , who had previously served at the Roman fort of Alauna at Maryport in Cumbria at least until the early 180s, since tiles recovered from the fort are stamped "CIB". The Notitia Dignitatum ,
15111-427: The 10th century the monastery at Reculver and its estate were both royal property: they were given back to the archbishops of Canterbury in 949 by King Eadred of England, at which time the estate included Hoath and Herne , and land at Chilmington , about 23.5 miles (37.8 km) to the south-west, and in the west of the Isle of Thanet. By 1066 the monastery had become a parish church . However, in 1086 Reculver
15330-520: The 133 aircrew who participated in the attack were killed , a casualty rate of almost 40 percent. Thirteen of those killed were members of the RCAF and two belonged to the RAAF. Of the survivors, 34 were decorated at Buckingham Palace on 22 June, with Gibson awarded the Victoria Cross . There were five Distinguished Service Orders , 10 Distinguished Flying Crosses and four bars , two Conspicuous Gallantry Medals , eleven Distinguished Flying Medals and one bar. Initial German casualty estimates from
15549-476: The 1660s points clearly to a declining population, and the village was mostly abandoned around the end of the 18th century, its residents moving to Hillborough , about 1.25 miles (2 km) south-west of Reculver but within the same parish. Concern about erosion of the cliff on which the church stood, and the possible inundation of the village, had led the commissioners of sewers to install costly sea defences consisting of planking and piling before 1783, when it
15768-602: The Allied bombing campaign became even more devastating. By targeting oil refineries and factories, they crippled the German war effort by late 1944. On 6 June 1944, American, British, and Canadian forces established a front in France with the D-Day landings in Normandy . On 20 July 1944 , Hitler survived an assassination attempt. He ordered brutal reprisals, resulting in 7,000 arrests and
15987-452: The British and French governments did not feel that attempting to enforce the treaty was worth the risk of war. In the one-party election held on 29 March, the Nazis received 98.9 per cent support. In 1936, Hitler signed an Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan and a non-aggression agreement with Mussolini, who was soon referring to a "Rome-Berlin Axis". Hitler sent military supplies and assistance to
16206-587: The Dutch coast. Air Chief Marshal Harris was among those who came out to greet the last crew to land. 11 attacked; 1 shot down over target; 2 shot down homebound; 8 attacked target and returned. Bomber Command wanted a bomb damage assessment as soon as possible and the CO of 542 Squadron was informed of the estimated time of the attacks. A photo-reconnaissance Spitfire , piloted by Flying Officer Frank 'Jerry' Fray, took off from RAF Benson at 07:30 hours and arrived over
16425-722: The Eder Valley, and at least 1,579 bodies were found along the Möhne and Ruhr rivers, with hundreds missing. Of the bodies found downriver of the Möhne Dam, 1,026 were foreign prisoners of war and forced labourers in different camps, mainly from the Soviet Union. Worst hit was the city of Neheim (now part of Neheim-Hüsten ) at the confluence of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers, where over 800 people perished, among them at least 493 female forced labourers from
16644-491: The Eder was breached. Nigger was the name of Gibson's dog, a black labrador retriever that had been run over and killed on the morning of the attack. Dinghy was Young's nickname, a reference to the fact that he had twice survived crash landings at sea where he and his crew were rescued from the aircraft's inflatable rubber dinghy . The aircraft used two routes, carefully avoiding known concentrations of flak , and were timed to cross
16863-793: The German National People's Party – their former coalition partners – which then disbanded on 29 June. The remaining major political parties followed suit. On 14 July 1933 Germany became a one-party state with the passage of the Law Against the Formation of Parties , decreeing the Nazi Party to be the sole legal party in Germany. The founding of new parties was also made illegal, and all remaining political parties which had not already been dissolved were banned. Further elections in November 1933 , 1936 , and 1938 were Nazi-controlled, with only members of
17082-579: The German Naval Staff reported that the Bever Dam was attacked at nearly the same time that the Sorpe Dam was. In addition, the Wupperverband authority responsible for the Bever Dam is said to have recovered the remains of a "mine"; and Paul Keiser, a 19-year-old soldier on leave at his home close to the Bever Dam, reported a bomber making several approaches to the dam and then dropping a bomb that caused
17301-527: The German state in the Nazi era are "Nazi Germany" and the "Third Reich", which Hitler and the Nazis also referred to as the "Thousand-Year Reich" ( Tausendjähriges Reich ). The latter, a translation of the Nazi propaganda term Drittes Reich , was first used in Das Dritte Reich , a 1923 book by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck . The book counted the Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) as the first Reich and
17520-472: The Möhne and Ruhr rivers. A few mines were flooded; 11 small factories and 92 houses were destroyed and 114 factories and 971 houses were damaged. The floods washed away about 25 roads, railways and bridges as the flood waters spread for around 50 miles (80 km) from the source. Estimates show that before 15 May 1943 steel production on the Ruhr was 1 million tonnes; this dropped to a quarter of that level after
17739-654: The Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War , which began in July 1936. The German Condor Legion included a range of aircraft and their crews, as well as a tank contingent. The aircraft of the Legion destroyed the city of Guernica in 1937. The Nationalists were victorious in 1939 and became an informal ally of Nazi Germany. In February 1938, Hitler emphasised to Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg
17958-800: The Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich , ended in May 1945, after only 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin , ending World War II in Europe . After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933, the Nazi Party began to eliminate political opposition and consolidate power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator by merging
18177-725: The Netherlands, skirted the airbases at Gilze-Rijen and Eindhoven , curved around the Ruhr defences, and turned north to avoid Hamm before turning south to head for the Möhne River. Formation No. 2 flew further north, cutting over Vlieland and crossing the IJsselmeer before joining the first route near Wesel and then flying south beyond the Möhne to the Sorpe River. The bombers flew low, at about 100 ft (30 m) altitude, to avoid radar detection. Flight Sergeant George Chalmers, radio operator on "O for Orange" , looked out through
18396-453: The North Mouth [adjacent to Reculver]." In 1220 King Henry III granted the archbishop of Canterbury a market to be held weekly at Reculver on Thursdays, and an annual fair was held there on Saint Giles 's Day, 1 September. Oysters from the "Rutupian shore" – the shoreline around Richborough , a little over 8 miles (13 km) to the south-east – were noted as a delicacy by
18615-513: The Operation, Johnny Johnson , died in 2022. The two direct mine hits on the Möhnesee dam resulted in a breach around 250 feet (76 m) wide and 292 feet (89 m) deep. The destroyed dam poured around 330 million tons of water into the western Ruhr region. A torrent of water around 33 feet (10 m) high and travelling at around 15 miles per hour (24 km/h) swept through the valleys of
18834-469: The Party and a small number of independents elected. All civilian organisations had their leadership replaced with Nazi sympathisers or party members, and either merged with the Nazi Party or faced dissolution. The Nazi government declared a "Day of National Labor" for May Day 1933, and invited many trade union delegates to Berlin for celebrations. The day after, SA stormtroopers demolished union offices around
19053-461: The Polish Corridor but greatly expanding German territory eastward at the expense of Poland. He expected this time they would be met by force. The Germans reaffirmed their alliance with Italy and signed non-aggression pacts with Denmark, Estonia, and Latvia whilst trade links were formalised with Romania, Norway, and Sweden. Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop arranged in negotiations with
19272-402: The RAF in what became known as the Battle of Britain , and by the end of October, Hitler realised that air superiority would not be achieved. He permanently postponed the invasion, a plan which the commanders of the German army had never taken entirely seriously. Several historians, including Andrew Gordon , believe the primary reason for the failure of the invasion plan was the superiority of
19491-630: The Reculver testing site to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the exploit. Two prototype bouncing bombs, about 6 feet (2 m) long and 3 feet (1 m) wide, lay in marshland behind the sea wall until about 1977, when they were removed by the Army . Other prototypes were recovered from the shoreline in 1997, one of which is in Herne Bay Museum and Gallery , a little over 3 miles (5 km) west of Reculver. Others are on display in Dover Castle and in
19710-799: The Royal Navy, not the actions of the RAF. In February 1941, the German Afrika Korps arrived in Libya to aid the Italians in the North African Campaign . On 6 April, Germany launched an invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece . All of Yugoslavia and parts of Greece were subsequently divided between Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Bulgaria. On 22 June 1941, contravening the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, about 3.8 million Axis troops attacked
19929-474: The Ruhr River some hours after first light. Photos were taken of the breached dams and the huge floods. The pilot later described the experience: When I was about 150 miles [240 km] from the Möhne Dam, I could see the industrial haze over the Ruhr area and what appeared to be a cloud to the east. On flying closer, I saw that what had seemed to be cloud was the sun shining on the floodwaters. I looked down into
20148-548: The Ruhr armaments production was the loss of hydroelectric power. Two power stations (producing 5,100 kilowatts) associated with the dam were destroyed and seven others were damaged. This resulted in a loss of electrical power in the factories and many households in the region for two weeks. In May 1943 coal production dropped by 400,000 tons which German sources attribute to the effects of the raid. According to an article by German historian Ralf Blank [ de ] , at least 1,650 people were killed: around 70 of these were in
20367-478: The Sorpe Dam at 00:15 hours, and realised the approach was even more difficult than expected: the flight path led over a church steeple in the village of Langscheid , located on the hillcrest overlooking the dam. With only seconds to go before the bomber had to pull up, to avoid hitting the hillside at the other end of the dam, the bomb aimer George Johnson had no time to correct the bomber's height and heading. McCarthy made nine attempted bombing runs before Johnson
20586-484: The Sorpe Dam: Joe McCarthy (in T for Tommy, a delayed aircraft from the second wave) and later Brown (F for Freddie) from the third formation. This attack differed from the previous ones in two ways: the 'Upkeep' bomb was not spun, and due to the topography of the valley the approach was made along the length of the dam, not at right angles over the reservoir. McCarthy's plane was on its own when it arrived over
20805-532: The Soviet Union . Germany annexed parts of northern Yugoslavia in April 1941, while Mussolini ceded Trieste , South Tyrol , and Istria to Germany in 1943. Reculver Reculver is a village and coastal resort about 3 miles (5 km) east of Herne Bay on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. It is in the ward of the same name, in the City of Canterbury district of Kent . Reculver once occupied
21024-656: The Soviet Union a non-aggression pact, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , signed in August 1939. The treaty also contained secret protocols dividing Poland and the Baltic states into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Germany's wartime foreign policy involved the creation of allied governments controlled directly or indirectly from Berlin. They intended to obtain soldiers from allies such as Italy and Hungary and workers and food supplies from allies such as Vichy France . Hungary
21243-565: The Soviet Union attacked from the east on 17 September. Reinhard Heydrich , chief of the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo; Security Police) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD; Security Service), ordered on 21 September that Polish Jews should be rounded up and concentrated into cities with good rail links. Initially the intention was to deport them further east, or possibly to Madagascar . Using lists prepared in advance , some 65,000 Polish intelligentsia, noblemen, clergy, and teachers were murdered by
21462-649: The Soviet Union in 1941, Nazi Germany attempted to implement the Generalplan Ost and Hunger Plan , as part of its war of extermination in Eastern Europe. The Soviet resurgence and entry of the US into the war meant Germany lost the initiative in 1943 and by late 1944 had been pushed back to the 1939 border. Large-scale aerial bombing of Germany escalated and the Axis powers were driven back in Eastern and Southern Europe. Germany
21681-493: The Soviet Union. In addition to Hitler's stated purpose of acquiring Lebensraum , this large-scale offensive—codenamed Operation Barbarossa —was intended to destroy the Soviet Union and seize its natural resources for subsequent aggression against the Western powers. The reaction among Germans was one of surprise and trepidation as many were concerned about how much longer the war would continue or suspected that Germany could not win
21900-484: The Soviet Union. Some non-German sources cite an earlier total of 749 for all foreigners in all camps in the Möhne and Ruhr valleys as the casualty count at a camp just below the Eder Dam.) One source states that the raid was no more than a minor inconvenience to the Ruhr's industrial output, although that is contradicted by others. The bombing boosted British morale. Nazi Germany Nazi Germany , officially known as
22119-534: The Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum at the former RAF Manston , on the Isle of Thanet. Part of an inert Upkeep bomb, consisting mostly of a circular end with some of its filling still adhering, was uncovered during beach maintenance work undertaken at Reculver by the Environment Agency on 29 March 2017. In the 10th-century charter by which King Eadred gave Reculver to the archbishops of Canterbury,
22338-562: The US, on boat hulls, fishing equipment and floating seaweed. Carpet sea squirt can overgrow other, sessile species, "potentially smothering species living in gravel and affecting fisheries." A visitor centre in Reculver Country Park re-opened in 2009 as the Reculver Renewable Energy and Interpretation Centre, "marking 200 years of the moving of Reculver village". The centre features a log burner fuelled by logs from
22557-536: The United Kingdom except for three individuals from the Republic of Ireland and three from South Africa. Gender was given as 69 female and 66 male, and the age distribution was 12 individuals aged 0–5 years (8.8%), 16 aged 6–16 years (14%), 30 aged 17–35 years (22.2%), 14 aged 36–45 years (10.3%), 44 aged 46–64 years (32.5%) and 21 aged 65 years and over (15.5%). Half (67) of all
22776-531: The United States. Food was in short supply in the conquered areas of the Soviet Union and Poland, as the retreating armies had burned the crops in some areas, and much of the remainder was sent back to the Reich. In Germany, rations were cut in 1942. In his role as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan , Hermann Göring demanded increased shipments of grain from France and fish from Norway. The 1942 harvest
22995-677: The Wantsum Channel, already present in Anglo-Saxon times and exemplified by Reculver's membership of the Cinque Port of Sandwich later in the Middle Ages. The importance of the Wantsum Channel was such that, when the River Thames froze in 1269, trade between Sandwich and London had to be carried out overland. Historical records for the channel are sparse after 1269, perhaps "because the route
23214-551: The Weimar Republic, rejection of the Treaty of Versailles, radical antisemitism , and anti- Bolshevism . They promised a strong central government, increased Lebensraum ("living space") for Germanic peoples, formation of a national community based on race, and racial cleansing via the active suppression of Jews , who would be stripped of their citizenship and civil rights. The Nazis proposed national and cultural renewal based upon
23433-504: The archbishop of Canterbury in both 1066 and 1086, in reality it must again have been lost to him, since William the Conqueror is recorded as having returned it, among other churches and properties, to the archbishop at his death. In the 13th century Reculver was a parish of "exceptional wealth", and the considerable enlargement of the church building during the Middle Ages indicates that
23652-532: The area as a whole. Therefore, while the total resident population of the ward at the 2011 census numbered 8,845, detailed information comparable to that of the 2001 census is unavailable. In the Middle Ages Reculver was one of several members, or "limbs", of the Cinque Port of Sandwich : possibly originating in a loose association in the 11th century, this status was first recorded in about 1300. Like other limbs at Fordwich , Deal , Sarre and Stonar, it
23871-492: The blackest records of the nineteenth century". Archaeological excavations in the 19th and 20th centuries established the building sequence of the church, and areas of missing wall are marked on the ground by concrete edged with flint. The ruins are now in the care of English Heritage . The sea defences protecting them were installed by Trinity House in 1810, but are now maintained by the Environment Agency . Fragments of
24090-451: The blockade, imports into Germany declined by 80 per cent. To safeguard Swedish iron ore shipments to Germany, Hitler ordered the invasion of Denmark and Norway , which began on 9 April. Denmark fell after less than a day , while most of Norway followed by the end of the month. By early June, Germany occupied all of Norway . Against the advice of many of his senior military officers, in May 1940 Hitler ordered an attack on France and
24309-564: The bomb were tested at Reculver, leading to the development of the operational version known as " Upkeep ". This bomb was used by the RAF 's 617 Squadron in Operation Chastise , otherwise known as the Dambuster raids, in which dams in the Ruhr district of Germany were attacked on the night of 16–17 May 1943 by formations of Lancaster bombers . On 17 May 2003 a Lancaster bomber overflew
24528-405: The boundary of the mainland part of the estate was about the same as those for the adjoining parishes of Reculver, Hoath and Herne in the 20th century, and the estate included part of the Isle of Thanet. In 1086, Domesday Book named Reculver as a hundred, meaning that it was probably the meeting-place for the local hundred court . The hundred included Hoath and Herne, and it may also have included
24747-489: The buildings as ritual sacrifices , but it is unknown whether they were selected for burial because they were already dead, perhaps stillborn, or if they were buried alive or killed for the purpose. A local tale subsequently developed that the grounds of the fort were haunted by the sound of a crying baby. Towards the end of the 3rd century a Roman naval commander named Carausius , who later declared himself emperor in Britain,
24966-508: The business community, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933. This event is known as the Machtergreifung ("seizure of power"). On the night of 27 February 1933, the Reichstag building was set afire . Marinus van der Lubbe , a Dutch communist, was found guilty of starting the blaze. Hitler proclaimed that the arson marked the start of
25185-608: The chain of Saxon Shore forts. Following the withdrawal of the Western Roman Empire in ca. early C4th, the Brythons again took control of the lands until Anglo-Saxon invasions shortly afterward. By the 7th century Reculver had become a landed estate of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Kent . The site of the Roman fort was given over for the establishment of a monastery dedicated to St Mary in 669 AD, and King Eadberht II of Kent
25404-424: The church at Hoath remained a perpetual curacy belonging to Reculver parish until 1960. Records for the poll tax of 1377 show that there were then 364 individuals of 14 years and above, not including "honest beggars", in the reduced parish of Reculver, who paid a total of £6.1s.4d. (£6.07) towards the tax. The thriving medieval township depended partly on its position on a maritime trade route through
25623-421: The church in the 760s. The church building was considerably enlarged over time, the last additions being made in the 15th century. But it retained many prominent Anglo-Saxon features, including a triple chancel arch and a stone high cross , though this had been removed by 1784. The church was demolished in 1809, in what has been described as "an act of vandalism for which there can be few parallels even in
25842-475: The church – and in 1640 there were 169, but a map of about 1630 shows that the church then stood only about 500 feet (152 m) from the shore. In January 1658 the local justices of the peace were petitioned concerning "encroachments of the sea ... [which had] since Michaelmas last [29 September 1657] encroached on the land near six rods [99 feet (30 m) ], and will doubtless do more harm". The village's failure to support two "beer shops" in
26061-424: The church. By March 1809, erosion of the cliff had brought it to within 12 feet (4 m) of the church, and demolition was begun in September that year. Trinity House intervened to ensure that the towers were preserved as a navigational aid , and in 1810 it bought what was left of the structure for £100 and built the first groynes , designed to protect the cliff on which the ruined church stands. The vicarage
26280-513: The churches. The Nazi regime abolished the symbols of the Weimar Republic—including the black, red, and gold tricolour flag —and adopted reworked symbolism. The previous imperial black, white, and red tricolour was restored as one of Germany's two official flags; the second was the swastika flag of the Nazi Party, which became the sole national flag in September 1935. The Party anthem " Horst-Wessel-Lied " ("Horst Wessel Song") became
26499-446: The cliffs to the west of Reculver, and a Mesolithic tranchet axe was found near the centre of the Roman fort in 1960. This was probably an accidental loss, rather than suggesting a human settlement, evidence for which begins with late Bronze Age and Iron Age ditches. These indicate an extensive settlement, where a Bronze Age palstave and Iron Age gold coins have been found. This
26718-399: The coastline between Beltinge and Reculver. In winter brent geese and wading birds such as sanderlings and turnstones may be seen; during the summer months the largest colony of sand martins in Kent nests in the soft cliffs, on top of which fulmars were also reported to have begun nesting in 2013, and wading curlews may be seen at any time. The grasslands on the cliff top are among
26937-442: The coastline such as the country park will be allowed to continue eroding, and others – including the site of the Roman fort and the medieval church – will be protected from further erosion. New sea defences were built in the 1990s, including covering the beaches around the church with boulders . The warmest time of year in Kent is in July and August, with average maximum temperatures of around 21 °C (70 °F), and
27156-495: The completion of the raid Gibson sympathised with Rice, telling him how he had also nearly lost his bomb to the sea. Barlow and Byers crossed the coast around the island of Texel . Byers was shot down by flak shortly afterwards, crashing into the Waddenzee . Barlow's aircraft hit electricity pylons and crashed 5 km east of Rees , near Haldern. The bomb was thrown clear of the crash and was examined intact by Heinz Schweizer . Only
27375-473: The control of the archbishops of Canterbury . In 811 Archbishop Wulfred is recorded as having deprived the monastery of some of its land, and soon after it featured in a "monumental showdown" between Wulfred and King Coenwulf of Mercia over the control of monasteries. In 838 control of all monasteries under Canterbury's authority was passed to the kings of Wessex , by the agreement of Archbishop Ceolnoth in exchange for protection from Viking attacks. By
27594-464: The coolest is in January and February, with average minimum temperatures of around 1 °C (34 °F). Average maximum and minimum temperatures are about 0.5 °C (0.3 °F) higher than they are nationally. Locations on the north coast of Kent, like Reculver, are sometimes warmer than areas further inland, owing to the influence of the North Downs to the south. Average annual rainfall in Kent
27813-534: The country; all trade unions were forced to dissolve and their leaders were arrested. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service , passed in April, removed from their jobs all teachers, professors, judges, magistrates, and government officials who were Jewish or whose commitment to the party was suspect. This meant the only non-political institutions not under control of the Nazis were
28032-560: The creation of 100 touring pitches in its caravan park, south-east of the Roman fort, which was then leased to the Camping and Caravanning Club . That caravan park was closed by 2015, when Canterbury City Council undertook a consultation on its incorporation into the country park. Reculver Church of England Primary School is adjacent to the church at Hillborough. The school's site also hosts Beltinge Day Nursery and Reculver Breakfast and Afterschool Club. The nearest school for older children
28251-512: The crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb-aimers at about midday. Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups (listed by pilot): Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin (an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF); and Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Pilot Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission
28470-440: The dam was breached. Gibson, with Young accompanying, led Shannon, Maudslay and Knight to the Eder. The Eder Valley was covered by heavy fog, but the dam was not defended with anti-aircraft positions as the difficult topography of the surrounding hills was thought to make an attack virtually impossible. With approach so difficult the first aircraft, Shannon's, made six runs before taking a break. Maudslay (Z for Zebra) then attempted
28689-465: The deep valley which had seemed so peaceful three days before but now it was a wide torrent. The whole valley of the river was inundated with only patches of high ground and the tops of trees and church steeples showing above the flood. I was overcome by the immensity of it. Three aircrew from Hopgood's aircraft parachuted but one later died from wounds and the others were captured. A crewman in Ottley's aircraft survived its crash. In total, therefore, 53 of
28908-433: The delayed bomber piloted by McCarthy survived to cross the Netherlands. Formation No. 1 lost Astell's bomber near the German hamlet of Marbeck when his Lancaster hit high voltage electrical cables and crashed into a field. Formation No. 1 arrived over the Möhne lake and Gibson's aircraft (G for George) made the first run, followed by Hopgood (M for Mother). Hopgood's aircraft was hit by flak as it made its low-level run and
29127-408: The eastern side of Reculver belonging to a seafood company that is based there. In May 1914, Anglo-Westphalian Kent Coalfield Ltd drilled a borehole at Reculver in search of coal, since it had found a seam of coal 48 feet (14.6 m) thick at nearby Chislet and was developing a colliery there; possible samples of coal were retrieved from the borehole at a depth of 1,129 feet (344.1 m), but it
29346-510: The electorate in a plebiscite . Most Germans were relieved that the conflicts and street fighting of the Weimar era had ended. They were deluged with propaganda orchestrated by Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels , who promised peace and plenty for all in a united, Marxist-free country without the constraints of the Versailles Treaty. The Nazi Party obtained and legitimised power through its initial revolutionary activities, then through manipulation of legal mechanisms,
29565-471: The end of 1939 in an attempt to destroy Poland's identity as a nation. Soviet forces advanced into Finland in the Winter War , and German forces saw action at sea. But little other activity occurred until May, so the period became known as the " Phoney War ". From the start of the war, a British blockade on shipments to Germany affected its economy. Germany was particularly dependent on foreign supplies of oil, coal, and grain. Thanks to trade embargoes and
29784-499: The enemy coast simultaneously. The first aircraft, those of Formation No. 2 and heading for the longer, northern route, took off at 21:28 on 16 May. McCarthy's bomber developed a coolant leak and he took off in the reserve aircraft 34 minutes late. Formation No. 1 took off in groups of three at 10-minute intervals beginning at 21:39. The reserve formation did not begin taking off until 00:09 on 17 May. Formation No. 1 entered continental Europe between Walcheren and Schouwen , flew over
30003-421: The entrance to the car park and was commissioned by Canterbury City Council . During the Second World War , the coastline east of the village was used to test prototypes of Barnes Wallis 's bouncing bomb. This area was chosen for its seclusion, while the clear landmark of the church towers and the ease of recovering prototypes from the shallow water were probably also factors. Different, inert versions of
30222-488: The establishment of the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which stripped them of their basic rights. The Nazis would take from the Jews their wealth, their right to intermarry with non-Jews, and their right to occupy many fields of labour (such as law, medicine, or education). Eventually the Nazis declared the Jews as undesirable to remain among German citizens and society. As early as February 1933, Hitler announced that rearmament must begin, albeit clandestinely at first, as to do so
30441-473: The execution of more than 4,900 people. The failed Ardennes Offensive (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive on the western front, and Soviet forces entered Germany on 27 January. Hitler's refusal to admit defeat and his insistence that the war be fought to the last man led to unnecessary death and destruction in the war's closing months. Through his Justice Minister Otto Georg Thierack , Hitler ordered that anyone who
30660-408: The explosive effect against the dam. This weapon was code-named Upkeep . Testing of the concept included blowing up a scale model dam at the Building Research Establishment , Watford, in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July. A subsequent test suggested that a charge of 7,500 lb (3,400 kg) exploded 30 ft (9.1 m) under water would breach
30879-859: The failed German offensive at the Battle of Kursk in the summer of 1943. By the end of 1943, the Germans had lost most of their eastern territorial gains. In Egypt, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel 's Afrika Korps were defeated by British forces under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery in October 1942. The Allies landed in Sicily in July 1943 and were on the Italian peninsula by September. Meanwhile, American and British bomber fleets based in Britain began operations against Germany . Many sorties were intentionally given civilian targets in an effort to destroy German morale. The bombing of aircraft factories as well as Peenemünde Army Research Center , where V-1 and V-2 rockets were being developed and produced, were also deemed particularly important. German aircraft production could not keep pace with losses, and without air cover
31098-422: The few remaining cliff-top wildflower meadows left in Kent, and are home to butterflies and skylarks . Also present are the nationally scarce hog's fennel and two species of digger wasp , Alysson lunicornis and Ectemnius ruficornis . The coastline here forms part of the "key on-land Palaeocene site in the London Basin", and is the only location in the Woolwich Beds to contain wood. The foreshore displays
31317-496: The first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. The Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs, making the same angle as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was ultimately not used, owing to problems related to vibration, and that other methods were employed, including
31536-447: The floods were 1,294 killed, including 749 French, Belgian, Dutch and Ukrainian prisoners of war and labourers. Later estimates put the death toll in the Möhne Valley at about 1,600, including people who drowned in the flood wave downstream from the dam. After a public relations tour of North America, and time spent working in the Air Ministry in London writing the book published as Enemy Coast Ahead , Gibson returned to operations and
31755-416: The fort was probably used for drying food such as corn and fish; its main chamber measured about 16 feet (4.9 m) by 15 feet (4.8 m) overall. The fort was located on a low hill, beyond which a long promontory then projected north-eastwards into the sea and formed the north-eastern extremity of mainland Kent: thus it offered observation on all sides, including both the Thames Estuary and
31974-447: The foundations and walls of buildings, as were coins dating from 270 to 300 AD. It was suspected that more such burials might be found in the walls of a building in the south-western area of the fort if it were excavated further. A baby's feeding bottle was also found in an excavated floor within 10 feet (3 m) of one of the infant skeletons, though it may have been unconnected with the burials. The babies were probably buried in
32193-617: The future. Food supplies were precarious; production dropped in most of Europe. Famine was experienced in many occupied countries. Hitler's peace overtures to the new British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were rejected in July 1940. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder had advised Hitler in June that air superiority was a pre-condition for a successful invasion of Britain , so Hitler ordered a series of aerial attacks on Royal Air Force (RAF) airbases and radar stations, as well as nightly air raids on British cities, including London , Plymouth , and Coventry . The German Luftwaffe failed to defeat
32412-421: The hill is washed away." By 1787 Reculver had "dwindled into an insignificant village, thinly decked with the cottages of fishermen and smugglers." [At about this time,] from the present shore as far as a place called the Black Rock, seen at lowwater mark, where tradition says, a parish church once stood, there [were] found quantities of tiles, bricks, fragments of walls, tesselated pavements, and other marks of
32631-403: The hypothesis of an attack of the Ennepe Dam is Townsend's post-flight report that he attacked the Ennepe Dam on a heading of 355 degrees magnetic. Assuming that the heading was incorrect, all other evidence points toward an attack on the Bever Dam. Townsend reported difficulty in finding his dam, and in his post-raid report he complained that the map of the Ennepe Dam was incorrect. The Bever Dam
32850-498: The individuals recorded were described as economically active, with 58 of these having employers and nine being self-employed; none were recorded as full-time students or unemployed. Twenty-four people (17.7%) were described as retired. Of those aged 16–74 years, 14 (12.8%) were placed at the highest level for education or qualification. Christianity was the only religion represented, by 99 individuals, with 22 recorded as having no religion and 14 whose religion
33069-586: The larger Upkeep mine that was needed for the mission and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed. The operation was given to No. 5 Group RAF , which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron X, as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons. Led by 24-year-old Wing Commander Guy Gibson , a veteran of more than 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, twenty-one bomber crews were selected from 5 Group squadrons. The crews included RAF personnel of several nationalities, members of
33288-403: The late 12th century to a church founded in 669, when King Ecgberht of Kent granted land to Bassa the priest for the foundation of a monastery. The church was sited near the centre of the Roman fort, and was built "almost completely from demolished Roman structures". In 692 the monastery's abbot Berhtwald was elected archbishop of Canterbury, and King Eadberht II of Kent was buried inside
33507-425: The latter was finally deemed acceptable. The squadron went on to drop the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs and attacked the German battleship Tirpitz , using an advanced bomb sight, which enabled the bombing of small targets with far greater accuracy than conventional bomb aiming techniques. In 1977, Article 56 of the Protocol I amendment to the Geneva Conventions outlawed attacks on dams "if such attack may cause
33726-437: The main dams or to attack three smaller secondary target dams: the Lister, the Ennepe and the Diemel. Two crews were unable to make the mission owing to illness. The Operations Room for the mission was at 5 Group Headquarters in St Vincents Hall , Grantham , Lincolnshire. The mission codes (transmitted in morse ) were: Goner , meaning "bomb dropped"; Nigger , meaning that the Möhne was breached; and Dinghy , meaning that
33945-513: The manorial and hundredal administration of a county, rather than to the ecclesiastical parishes in which they lay. The parishes of Herne and, on the Isle of Thanet, St Nicholas-at-Wade were created from parts of Reculver parish in 1310, although they continued to have a subordinate relationship with their original parish into the 19th century, while Hoath remained a perpetual curacy into the 20th. Thereafter Reculver's parish boundary, enclosing an area of about 2 square miles (5 km ), remained
34164-417: The members of the northern half-hundred, or "Bleangate Upper", were listed as Herne, Reculver, Stourmouth and Hoath. The constable for the northern half-hundred was chosen at the court leet of the manor of Reculver, which by 1800 was usually held at Herne. The parish was represented by two tithings – known in Kent as "borghs" – in the Hundred Rolls of 1274–75 and, 400 years later, for
34383-421: The mine and variations of speed and height. Avro Chief Designer Roy Chadwick adapted the Lancaster to carry the mine. To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper (dorsal) gun turret. The dimensions of the mine and its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed and the mine hung partly below the fuselage. It was mounted on two crutches and before dropping it
34602-407: The need for Germany to secure its frontiers. Schuschnigg scheduled a plebiscite regarding Austrian independence for 13 March, but Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg on 11 March demanding that he hand over all power to the Austrian Nazi Party or face an invasion. German troops entered Austria the next day, to be greeted with enthusiasm by the populace. The Republic of Czechoslovakia was home to
34821-541: The neighbouring area of Thanet. In 1274–75 the local hundred was much larger: it was then named after Bleangate, in a detached part of Chislet parish, and was divided into northern and southern halves; it also included part of Thanet. By 1540 Bleangate hundred no longer included land on Thanet, its members being listed then as Sturry , Chislet, Reculver and Herne for the archaic taxes known as "fifteenths and tenths", and in 1659 they were listed as Chislet, Herne, Hoath, Reculver, Stourmouth , Sturry and Westbere . In 1808
35040-401: The number of people at Reculver was estimated to increase to "over 1,000 at the height of the [summer] holiday season". In the 2001 census , conducted on 29 April, the relevant census area covered 2.79 square miles (7 km ) and included only Reculver and outlying farms and houses, in which 135 people were found, almost a quarter of whom were in caravans. All were born in
35259-400: The official shrine of [a Roman military] headquarters building, hitherto unmentioned in any inscription ... [It was] also the first certain ... application of the name basilica to [this element of the building]. These structures were found by archaeologists, together with probable officers' quarters, barracks and a bath house . A Roman oven found 200 feet (61 m) south-east of
35478-422: The parish of Chislet. On 1 April 1934 the civil parish was abolished and merged with of Herne Bay. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 829. Reculver is in an electoral ward of the same name that includes Beltinge, Bishopstone, Brook Farm, Boyden Gate , Chislet, Hillborough, Hoath and Maypole . The ward is in the local government district of Canterbury and has one seat on Canterbury City Council; in
35697-431: The plan, as Germany was not yet ready for war. The crisis led to war preparations by Britain, Czechoslovakia, and France (Czechoslovakia's ally). Attempting to avoid war, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain arranged a series of meetings, the result of which was the Munich Agreement , signed on 29 September 1938. The Czechoslovak government was forced to accept the Sudetenland's annexation into Germany. Chamberlain
35916-485: The powers of the chancellery and presidency. A 1934 German referendum confirmed Hitler as sole Führer (leader). Power was centralised in Hitler's person, and his word became the highest law. The government was not a coordinated, cooperating body, but rather a collection of factions struggling to amass power. In the midst of the Great Depression , the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending. Financed by deficit spending ,
36135-442: The presence of which is reflected in parish boundaries for much of its length. An estate map of 1685 shows the Reculver end of this road as "The King's highe Way", which may have been in use until 1875, when it was reported that a public road had been diverted because of a cliff fall near Love Street Farm. Remains of a Roman road leading to the east gate of the fort have also been found, which were "substantial ... consisting of
36354-407: The provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree to keep several Social Democratic deputies from attending, and the Communists had already been banned. The Enabling Act would subsequently serve as the legal foundation for the dictatorship the Nazis established. On 10 May, the government seized the assets of the Social Democrats, and they were banned on 22 June. On 21 June, the SA raided the offices of
36573-494: The purposes of the Hearth Tax , levied between 1662 and 1689. In 1274–75 they appear as Reculver borgh and Brookgate borgh; in 1663 they appear as Reculver Street borgh and Brookgate borgh, which were recorded under a parish heading for Reculver, together with Hoath borgh; and in 1673 Reculver borgh and Brookgate borgh were recorded under a heading for Herne parish, while Hoath was recorded under its own parish heading. However, borghs in Kent, and tithings generally, were related to
36792-444: The raid. The Eder drains towards the east into the Fulda which runs into the Weser to the North Sea. The main purpose of the Edersee was then, as it is now, to act as a reservoir to keep the Weser and the Mittellandkanal navigable during the summer months. The wave from the breach was not strong enough to result in significant damage by the time it hit Kassel , approximately 22 miles (35 km) downstream. The greatest impact on
37011-422: The regime undertook extensive public works projects, including the Autobahnen (motorways) and a massive secret rearmament program , forming the Wehrmacht (armed forces). The return to economic stability boosted the regime's popularity. Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands, threatening war if they were not met. Germany seized Austria in the Anschluss of 1938, and demanded and received
37230-741: The regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the " master race ", the purest branch of the Aryan race. Jews , Romani people , Slavs , homosexuals , liberals , socialists , communists , other political opponents, Jehovah's Witnesses , Freemasons , those who refused to work , and other "undesirables" were imprisoned, deported , or murdered. Christian churches and citizens that opposed Hitler's rule were oppressed and leaders imprisoned. Education focused on racial biology , population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed . Nazi Propaganda Ministry disseminated films, antisemitic canards , and organized mass rallies; fostering
37449-427: The release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population". There is however an exception if "it is used for other than its normal function and in regular, significant and direct support of military operations and if such attack is the only feasible way to terminate such support". The last surviving member of the 617 Squadron (aka Dambusters) responsible for
37668-414: The same for both ecclesiastical and civil purposes until 1934, and included the settlements of Hillborough, Bishopstone and Brook, now Brook Farm. The parish extended west almost to Beltinge , in Herne parish, and to Broomfield in the south-west, where the boundary with Herne parish ran along the centre of the main thoroughfare, now Margate Road; it was bounded in open country on the south-east and east by
37887-425: The sea through coastal erosion. In 2011 it was found that the shoreline in the Herne Bay area, including Reculver, had come under threat from an invasive species , the carpet sea squirt ( Didemnum vexillum ), also known as "marine vomit". First recorded in UK waters in 2008, the carpet sea squirt is indigenous to the sea around Japan, but it has been carried to other parts of the world, including New Zealand and
38106-412: The sea. It has been estimated that the Roman fort was originally about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the sea to the north, but the cliffs are eroding at a rate of approximately 3.3 feet (1 m) per year. Coastal erosion had washed away most of Reculver village by 1800, leading residents to re-locate to Hillborough, within Reculver parish. A plan is in place to manage this erosion whereby some parts of
38325-466: The settlement had become a "thriving township", with "dozens of houses". In 1310 Archbishop Robert Winchelsey of Canterbury noted that the population of the whole parish in the time of his predecessor John Peckham ( c. 1230–1292) had numbered more than 3,000. For this reason, and because the parish was also large geographically, he converted chapelries at Herne and, on the Isle of Thanet, St Nicholas-at-Wade and Shuart into parishes, though
38544-481: The soft sandstone of the Thanet Beds , thus tapping into the water table . These and other 20th-century finds from the Roman period extend to 1,120 feet (341.4 m) west of the fort, and date to a period between 170 and 360, roughly coinciding with the period of occupation at the fort itself. At least 10 infant burials have been found within the fort, all of babies, of which six were associated with Roman buildings: five sets of infant remains were found within
38763-460: The stock market in the United States crashed in 1929 , the effect in Germany was dire. Millions were thrown out of work and several major banks collapsed. Hitler and the Nazis prepared to take advantage of the emergency to gain support for their party. They promised to strengthen the economy and provide jobs. Many voters decided the Nazi Party was capable of restoring order, quelling civil unrest, and improving Germany's international reputation. After
38982-489: The stone cross, and two stone columns that had been part of the church's triple chancel arch, are on display in Canterbury Cathedral . A byname for the towers is the "Twin Sisters", and an account of how this first arose was current about a hundred years after its supposed happening in the late 15th century, but in its usual form, for example in a 19th-century travel guide, it is mostly an invention created around "pseudo-historical detail". The Ingoldsby Legends includes
39201-409: The story has been described as probably a "pious legend". A church was built on the site of the Roman fort in about 669, when King Ecgberht of Kent granted land for the foundation of a monastery, which was dedicated to St Mary . The monastery developed as the centre of a "large estate, a manor and a parish", and, by the early 9th century, it had become "extremely wealthy", but it then fell under
39420-432: The surviving walls are all that remains of the fort above ground, and all have suffered from stone-robbing, especially near the south-western corner. The walls were originally faced with ragstone , but very little of this remains: otherwise only the cores of the walls are visible, consisting mostly of flint and concrete and standing only 8.6 feet (2.6 m) high at their highest. Roman forts were normally accompanied by
39639-439: The system [of Saxon Shore forts]". Archaeological evidence indicates that it was abandoned in the 370s. By the 7th century Reculver was part of a landed estate of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Kent , possibly with a royal toll-station or a "significant coastal trading settlement," given the types and large quantity of coins found there. Other early Anglo-Saxon finds include a fragment of a gilt bronze brooch, or fibula , which
39858-400: The target impossible. The remaining two bombers were then sent to secondary targets, with Ottley (C for Charlie) being shot down en route to the Lister Dam. Townsend (O for Orange) eventually dropped his bomb at the Ennepe Dam without harming it. There is some evidence that Townsend might have attacked the Bever Dam [ de ] by mistake rather than the Ennepe Dam. The War Diary of
40077-442: The top; they were reinforced internally by an earthen bank. The entrance to the fort's headquarters building faced north, indicating that the main gate was on the north side, facing the eponymous promontory and the sea. The north wall has been lost to the sea, along with the adjoining part of the east wall and most of the west wall; the east wall is most complete and includes the remains of the eastern gateway and guard post. Parts of
40296-529: The total German war dead range from 5.5 to 6.9 million persons. A study by German historian Rüdiger Overmans puts the number of German military dead and missing at 5.3 million, including 900,000 men conscripted from outside of Germany's 1937 borders. Richard Overy estimated in 2014 that about 353,000 civilians were killed in Allied air raids. Other civilian deaths include 300,000 Germans (including Jews) who were victims of Nazi political, racial, and religious persecution and 200,000 who were murdered in
40515-421: The use of police powers, and by taking control of the state and federal institutions. The first major Nazi concentration camp , initially for political prisoners, was opened at Dachau in 1933. Hundreds of camps of varying size and function were created by the end of the war. Beginning in April 1933, scores of measures defining the status of Jews and their rights were instituted. These measures culminated in
40734-400: The village, a new Hoy and Anchor Inn was built by 1809, and this was renamed as the King Ethelbert Inn by 1838. Further construction work is indicated by a stone over the doorway to the inn bearing a date of 1843, and it was later extended into the form in which it stands today, "probably ... in 1883". Today the site of the church, including the upper part of the sea defences there,
40953-431: The war drew to a close. Suicide rates in Germany increased, particularly in areas where the Red Army was advancing. Among soldiers and party personnel, suicide was often deemed an honourable and heroic alternative to surrender. First-hand accounts and propaganda about the uncivilised behaviour of the advancing Soviet troops caused panic among civilians on the Eastern Front, especially women, who feared being raped. More than
41172-442: The west in Herne Bay, the closest hospital with an Accident and Emergency (A&E) department is the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital, about 8.2 miles (13.2 km) to the east in Margate . The nearest community centre is Reculver and Beltinge Memorial Hall, about 1.9 miles (3.1 km) to the west-southwest. The medieval towers of the ruined church of St Mary are Reculver's "most dominant features". They were added in
41391-437: Was a powerful ally, the relationship was distant, with little co-ordination or co-operation. For example, Germany refused to share their formula for synthetic oil from coal until late in the war. Germany invaded Poland and captured the Free City of Danzig on 1 September 1939, beginning World War II in Europe. Honouring their treaty obligations, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. Poland fell quickly, as
41610-440: Was abandoned at the same time as the church, or a little later, and a replacement parish church was built at Hillborough, opening in 1813. After the sea undermined the foundations of the Hoy and Anchor Inn at Reculver in January 1808, the building was taken down and the redundant vicarage was used as a temporary replacement under the same name. Although it was reported in 1800 that there were then only five or six houses left in
41829-497: Was abandoned, no workable seam having been found. Today Reculver is dominated by static caravan parks , the first of which appeared after the Second World War. Also present are a country park, the King Ethelbert public house, which is a free house , and a nearby shop and cafe. Reculver was defined as a "key heritage area" in 2008, and there are plans for its development as a destination for green tourism . Canterbury City Council's Reculver Masterplan , adopted in 2009, envisaged
42048-402: Was adamant that only a single bomb was dropped near the Ennepe Dam during the entire war, and that this bomb fell into the woods by the side of the dam, not in the water, as in Townsend's report. Finally, members of Townsend's crew independently reported seeing a manor house and attacking an earthen dam, which is consistent with the Bever Dam rather than the Ennepe Dam. The main evidence supporting
42267-443: Was also diminished by coastal erosion . By 1540, when John Leland recorded a visit there, the coastline to the north had receded to within little more than a quarter of a mile (400 m) of the "Towne [which] at this tyme [was] but Village lyke". Soon afterwards, in 1576, William Lambarde described Reculver as "poore and simple". In 1588 there were 165 communicants – people taking part in services of holy communion at
42486-407: Was buried there in the 760s. During the Middle Ages Reculver was a thriving township with a weekly market and a yearly fair , and it was a member of the Cinque Port of Sandwich . The settlement declined as the Wantsum Channel silted up, and coastal erosion claimed many buildings constructed on the soft sandy cliffs. The village was largely abandoned in the late 18th century, and most of the church
42705-460: Was caught in the blast of its own bomb, crashing shortly afterwards when a wing disintegrated. Three crew members successfully abandoned the aircraft, but only two survived. Subsequently, Gibson flew his aircraft across the dam to draw the flak away from Martin's run. Martin (P for Popsie) bombed third; his aircraft was damaged, but made a successful attack. Next, Young (A for Apple) made a successful run, and after him Maltby (J for Johnny), when finally
42924-445: Was conquered by the Soviet Union from the east and the other Allies from the west, and capitulated on 8 May 1945. Hitler's refusal to admit defeat led to massive destruction of German infrastructure and additional war-related deaths in the closing months of the war. The Allies initiated a policy of denazification and put many of the surviving Nazi leadership on trial for war crimes at the Nuremberg trials . Common English terms for
43143-421: Was demolished in the early 19th century. Protecting the ruins and the rest of Reculver from erosion is an ongoing challenge. The 20th century saw a revival as local tourism developed and there are now two caravan parks . The 2021 census recorded 4,400 people (rounded to the nearest 100) in the Reculver area. The Reculver coastline is within a Site of Special Scientific Interest , a Special Protection Area and
43362-575: Was diverting Wallis from the development of the Vickers Windsor bomber (which did not become operational). Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to offer to resign. Sir Arthur Harris , head of Bomber Command, after a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers; Harris was about to start the strategic bombing campaign against Germany and Lancasters were just entering service. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham , who ensured that
43581-417: Was dropped. Germany was now a totalitarian state with Hitler at its head. As head of state, Hitler became Supreme Commander of the armed forces. The new law provided an altered loyalty oath for servicemen so that they affirmed loyalty to Hitler personally rather than the office of supreme commander or the state. On 19 August, the merger of the presidency with the chancellorship was approved by 90 per cent of
43800-404: Was followed by a "fortlet" built by the Romans during their conquest of Britain , which began in 43 AD, and the existence of a Roman road leading to Canterbury, about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) to the south-west, indicates a Roman presence at Reculver from then onwards. A full-size fort, or castrum , was started late in the 2nd century. This date is derived in part from a reconstruction of
44019-399: Was given the task of clearing pirates from the sea between Britain and the European mainland. In so doing he established a new chain of command, the British part of which was later to pass under the control of a Count of the Saxon Shore . The Notitia Dignitatum shows that the fort at Reculver became part of this arrangement, and its location meant that it lay at the "main point of contact in
44238-462: Was good, and food supplies remained adequate in Western Europe. Germany and Europe as a whole were almost totally dependent on foreign oil imports. In an attempt to resolve the shortage, in June 1942 Germany launched Fall Blau ("Case Blue"), an offensive against the Caucasian oilfields. The Red Army launched a counter-offensive on 19 November and encircled the Axis forces, who were trapped in Stalingrad on 23 November. Göring assured Hitler that
44457-473: Was greeted with cheers when he landed in London, saying the agreement brought "peace for our time". Austrian and Czech foreign exchange reserves were seized by the Nazis, as were stockpiles of raw materials such as metals and completed goods such as weaponry and aircraft, which were shipped to Germany. The Reichswerke Hermann Göring industrial conglomerate took control of steel and coal production facilities in both countries. In January 1934, Germany signed
44676-422: Was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect and there was potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke. Bombing from an altitude of 60 ft (18 m), at an air speed of 240 mph (390 km/h) and at set distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude training began. There were also technical problems to solve,
44895-415: Was in violation of the Versailles Treaty. On 17 May 1933, Hitler gave a speech before the Reichstag outlining his desire for world peace and accepted an offer from American President Franklin D. Roosevelt for military disarmament, provided the other nations of Europe did the same. When the other European powers failed to accept this offer, Hitler pulled Germany out of the World Disarmament Conference and
45114-631: Was killed on a Mosquito operation in 1944. Following the Dams Raid, 617 Squadron was kept together as a specialist unit. A motto, Après moi le déluge ("After me the flood"), and a squadron badge were chosen. According to Paul Brickhill there was some controversy over the motto, with the original version Après nous le déluge ("After us the flood") being rejected by the Heralds as having inappropriate provenance (having been coined, reportedly, by Madame de Pompadour ) and après moi le déluge having been said by Louis XV in an "irresponsible" context. The motto having been chosen by King George VI ,
45333-474: Was named in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a hundred , and the manor was valued at £42.7s. (£42.35). Included in the Domesday account for the manor, as well as the church, farmland, a mill, salt pans and a fishery, are 90 villeins and 25 bordars : these numbers can be multiplied four or five times to account for dependents, as they only represent "adult male heads of households". At that time, although Domesday Book records that Reculver belonged to
45552-432: Was not prepared to fight should be court-martialed, and thousands of people were executed. In many areas, people surrendered to the approaching Allies in spite of exhortations of local leaders to continue to fight. Hitler ordered the destruction of transport, bridges, industries, and other infrastructure—a scorched earth decree—but Armaments Minister Albert Speer prevented this order from being fully carried out. During
45771-470: Was not stated. From April 2001 to March 2002 the average gross weekly income of households in the electoral ward of Reculver was estimated by the Office for National Statistics as £560, or £29,120 per year; this was below the average for the south-east of England, excluding London, which was £660, or £34,320. In the 2011 census the relevant census area was identical to the electoral ward, an area of 3.55 square miles (9 km ), and produced information for
45990-429: Was originally circular and set with coloured stones or glass, a claw beaker and pottery. Antiquarians such as the 18th-century clergyman John Duncombe believed that King Æthelberht of Kent moved his royal court there from Canterbury in about 597, and built a palace on the site of the Roman ruins. However, archaeological excavation has shown no evidence of this; Æthelberht's household would have been peripatetic, and
46209-429: Was reported that the commissioners had adopted a scheme proposed by Sir Thomas Page to protect the church: the sea defences had proven counter-productive, since sea water collected behind them and continued to undermine the cliff. Before this, according to John Duncombe, "the commissioners of sewers, and the occupiers who pay scots, [had] no view nor interest but to secure the level [ground], which must be overflowed when
46428-429: Was satisfied. The 'Upkeep' bomb was dropped on the tenth run. The bomb exploded but when he turned his Lancaster to assess the damage, it turned out that only a section of the crest of the dam had been blown off; the main body of the dam remained. Three of the reserve aircraft had been directed to the Sorpe Dam. Burpee (S for Sugar) never arrived, and it was later determined that the plane had been shot down while skirting
46647-400: Was so well known as to be taken for granted [in the Middle Ages], the whole waterway from London to Sandwich being occasionally spoken of as the 'Thames'". But silting and inning had closed the channel to trading vessels sailing along it by about 1460 or soon after, and the first bridge was built over it at Sarre in 1485, since ferries could no longer operate reliably across it. Reculver
46866-414: Was soon considered. At first, Wallis wanted to drop a 10-long-ton (22,000 lb; 10,000 kg) bomb from an altitude of about 40,000 ft (12,000 m), part of the earthquake bomb concept. No bomber aircraft was capable of flying at such an altitude or of carrying such a heavy bomb and although Wallis proposed the six-engined Victory Bomber for this purpose this was rejected. Wallis realized that
47085-405: Was spun by an auxiliary motor. Chadwick also worked out the design and installation of controls and gear for the carriage and release of the mine in conjunction with Barnes Wallis. The Avro Lancaster B Mk IIIs so modified were known as Lancaster B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning) . In February 1943, Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work
47304-489: Was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as Reich President and Goebbels as Reich Chancellor. Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide the next day after murdering their six children . Between 4 and 8 May 1945, most of the remaining German armed forces unconditionally surrendered. The German Instrument of Surrender was signed 8 May, marking the end of the Nazi regime and the end of World War II in Europe . Popular support for Hitler almost completely disappeared as
47523-502: Was the fourth nation to join the Axis, signing the Tripartite Pact on 27 September 1940. Bulgaria signed the pact on 17 November. German efforts to secure oil included negotiating a supply from their new ally, Romania , who signed the Pact on 23 November, alongside the Slovak Republic. By late 1942, there were 24 divisions from Romania on the Eastern Front, 10 from Italy, and 10 from Hungary. Germany assumed full control in France in 1942, Italy in 1943, and Hungary in 1944. Although Japan
47742-421: Was then involved in maritime trade, and it shared in the Cinque Ports' duty to supply ships and men for the king's use, in return for concessions such as tax exemption. The last surviving record of Reculver as a limb of Sandwich dates from 1377, and its name is absent from Cinque Port records of 1432, probably because of "drastic coastal erosion, and the consequent silting up of the Wantsum Channel between Sarre and
47961-581: Was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder. Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), P/O Vernon Byers (RCAF), Flt Lt Norman Barlow (RAAF), P/O Geoff Rice and Flt Lt Les Munro (RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe. Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson, Flt Sgt Bill Townsend, Flt Sgt Ken Brown (RCAF), P/O Warner Ottley and P/O Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb
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