Water seems powerless when faced with a mighty dam!
The ‘dam’ of great potential
I must briefly recapitulate some scenes from the movie. Set during the world war II, the movie, based on an Alistair MAcLean novel of the same name is all about ultimately destroying a very important bridge. This concrete arch bridge is vital for the transport of the German troops and a bomb expert, Miller, has been enlisted in the team to demolish the bridge.
The bridge is found to be impregnable and so, the situation seems hopeless. Suddenly, one member of the team comes up with an idea - Why not destroy the dam upstream? Then, the force of the gushing waters will surely down the bridge.
With this plan, the team sets out to the dam. They encounter many difficulties but the greatest problem they face when they get there is, a realization that the dam is too huge and their explosives too few. This is when Miller displays his brilliance in choosing spots to place the explosives. Having done so, the team retreats to a safe distance and detonates the explosives.
Once the detonation is done, Miller walks away and begins to lounge on a tree in complete relaxation.
The other team members watch in horror as the dam stands without any semblance of having been hit! All that the explosives manage is to open a few cracks through which water starts shooting out - sufficient to water crops maybe but definitely not enough to make any impact on the bridge! They are worried. They tell Miller that everything had gone wrong and wonder how he is so relaxed.
The other team members watch in horror as the dam stands without any semblance of having been hit! All that the explosives manage is to open a few cracks through which water starts shooting out - sufficient to water crops maybe but definitely not enough to make any impact on the bridge! They are worried. They tell Miller that everything had gone wrong and wonder how he is so relaxed.
Over time, the water jets gushing from the little cracks slowly start eating away the dam from the insides. Though nothing seems to be happening on the outside, the dam is getting inundated on the inside. A critical mass is reached and suddenly after an hour, for no apparent reason, the whole dam crumbles down releasing a deluge of water. The water gushes forth and destroys the bridge as Miller flashes a knowing smile.
