On the night of May 16–17, under the code name Operation Chastise, nineteen Lancasters were dispatched, of which twelve attacked the three dams, breaching the Möhne and the Eder, but doing only superficial damage to the Sorpe. Two-thirds of the water escaped from the reservoirs and 1,294 people were drowned in the inundation, including 493 foreign workers. The destroyed dams lost an estimated 25,000–30,000 tons of masonry, but both were repaired by October, while the long-term damage to the industrial water supply was less than had been hoped.91 Further attacks were ruled out, partly because
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