cheltonian lifestyle The History Hour byHannahWright Arthur
It’s 75 years since one of themost famous RAF raids of the Second WorldWar.OperationChastise, better known as theDamBusters raid,was carried out under the authorisation ofCheltenham- bornman,BomberHarris. Arthur TraversHarriswas born
13April 1892 at 3Queen’s Parade. His parents,Caroline andGeorge Steele TraversHarriswere visiting England, on leave fromthe Indian Civil ServicewhereGeorgewas employed as an engineer and architect. Arthurwas educated atAllhallows
School inDevon, a less prestigious school than Eton and Sherborne which his brothers attended, but the funds had dwindled
slightly.One summer,Arthur received free tickets froma former student to see a play about a Rhodesian farmerwho returned to England tomarry, but ended up falling in lovewith and marrying themaid instead. This appears to have inspiredArthur, and a fewmonths later at the age of 17 he dropped out of school and sailed to Rhodesia. For the next fewyears he earned a livingmining, coach-driving and farming, eventuallyworking up to the position of farmmanager for an Irishmigrant
employer.After this, he decided to set up his own farm. In 1914, news of the outbreak of
war reachedArthur. Feeling a sense of duty, he immediatelywent to join the 1st Rhodesia Regiment, initially as a bugler.Once in theUK,He progressed into the Royal Flying Corps, finishing in the rank ofMajor,
28 MARCH/APRIL 2018 THECHELTONIAN
Travers Harris
was considered a triumph for the Allied Forces, and 617 Squadron became a specialist precision bombing unit, which experimented with new techniques and inventions. The area
andmeeting andmarrying his firstwifeBarbara. After thewar,Arthur andBarbara
stayed in theUK andArthur continued his progression in the RAF. During the SecondWorldWar he becameCommander-in-Chief of BomberCommand, and implemented a new,more efficient bombing strategywhich focused on ‘area bombing’, rather than trying to hit precise targets. InMay 1942,Harris ordered the first ‘thousand bomber raid’, onCologne. OperationChastise took place 16-
17May 1943. The planwas to hit the three dams in the RuhrValleywhich were vital toGermany’s Industry. Theywere heavily protected by torpedo nets and anti-aircraft guns, but the RAF had a secretweapon. The ‘bouncing bomb’,whichwould skip across the surface of thewater, had been in development for several
years.Aftermonths of training, 617 Squadron, led byWingCommander GuyGibson, set out for the challenging operation in specially modified LancasterBombers. The EderDamcollapsed. The operation
bombing plan continued. Sadly,
600,000German civilianswere killed in these raids, including 42,000killed in firestorms in the bombing of Hamburg, and 25,000in one of the most controversial raids onDresden. Allied Forces’ losseswere heavy also, almost 56,000of the 125,000crew in bomber commandwere killed during thewar. On 1 January 1946,Arthurwas
promoted toMarshall of the RoyalAir Force.He retired in September, and sought to return to Rhodesia in a government or political position. Sadly forArthur, therewere no suitable appointments available, and by the time hewould have satisfied immigration requirements and launched a political career, itwas deemed that hewould have been too old. Instead, hemoved to South Africa andmanaged the South AfricanMarineCorporation. In 1953, Churchillmade hima baronet, and he returned to England and lived in Goring on Thames inOxfordshire, until his death in 1984 at the age of 91.
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