page_title: Edersee Dam
section_title: World War II
hierarchical_section_title: Edersee Dam / World War II
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. ADN-ZB 12.2.1964 Westdeutschland: Am 17. Mai 1943... lösten sich aus den nur 18 Meter hoch fliegenden Maschinen der Royal Air-Force vier Tonnen schwere Spezialbomben, klatschten in die Fluten und übersprangen die Sperren vor den Mauern. Es brachen der Damm der Möhnetalsperre in 77 Meter Länge und 20 Meter Tiefe und der Damm der Edertalsperre in 70 Meter Länge und 22 Meter Tiefe. Die dann zu Tal schießenden Wassermengen der insgesamt 304 Millionen Kubikmeter Wasser fassenden Talsperren richteten ungeheure Verwüstungen an und töteten im Gebiet der Möhne 1.200 Menschen, im Gebiet der Eder eine nicht mehr zu ermittelnde Zahl, aber mindestens 300. UBz.: Blick auf die zerstörte Staumauer der Edertalsperre. (16.5.1963)
context_page_description: The Edersee Dam is a hydroelectric dam spanning the Eder river in northern Hesse, Germany. Constructed between 1908 and 1914, it lies near the small town of Waldeck at the northern edge of the Kellerwald. Breached by Allied bombs during World War II, it was rebuilt during the war, and today generates hydroelectric power and regulates water levels for shipping on the Weser river.
  At low water in late summers of dry years the remnants of three villages and a bridge across the original river bed submerged when the lake was filled in 1914 can be seen. Descendants of those buried there go to visit the graves of their ancestors.
context_section_description: The dam was breached in World War II by bouncing bombs dropped by British Lancaster bombers of No. 617 Squadron RAF as part of Operation Chastise.  The early morning raid of 17 May 1943 created a massive 70 metres (230 ft) wide and 22 metres (72 ft) deep breach in the structure. Water emptied at the rate of 8,000 cubic metres per second (280,000 cu ft/s) into the narrow valley below, producing a 6–8 metres (20–26 ft) flood wave which roared as far as 30 kilometres (19 mi) downstream.  By the time it diminished in the widening floodplains of the lower Eder, into the Fulda and into the Weser, a total of about 160 cubic meters per hectare had flowed, wreaking widespread destruction and claiming the lives of some 70 people.
  (Some non-German sources erroneously cite an early total of 749 for all foreigners killed in all POW and labour camps downriver of the Möhne dam as casualties at a supposed POW or labour camp just below the Eder Dam.)
  The dam was rebuilt within months by forced labour drawn from construction of the Atlantic Wall under command of Organisation Todt. The lake today is the third largest reservoir in Germany.  Its capacity of 199,300,000 cubic metres (260,700,000 cu yd) makes it a major summertime recreational facility.
  The 1955 film, The Dam Busters chronicled the British attack on the dam.
caption: Photograph of the Eder Dam on 17 May 1943
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