The Edersee Dam is a

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

spanning the Eder river in northern

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Constructed between 1908 and 1914, it lies near the small town of Waldeck at the northern edge of the

Kellerwald The Kellerwald is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 675 m in the western part of northern Hesse, Germany. Its assets include Germany's largest contiguous beech woodland and it contains Hesse's only national park, the Kellerwald-Ederse ...

. Breached by

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

bombs during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, it was rebuilt during the war, and today generates hydroelectric power and regulates water levels for shipping on the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...

river. At low water in late summers of dry years the remnants of three villages (Asel, Bringhausen, and Berich) 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. Überlauf Edertalsperre III.jpg, Overflowing Edersee Dam in spring 2021 Edersee Panorama Waldeck.jpg, The Edersee today (low water level)

World War II

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-C0212-0043-012, Edertalsperre, Zerstörung

The dam was breached in

bouncing bomb A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-deter ...

s dropped by British Lancaster bombers of No. 617 Squadron RAF as part of

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise or 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 ...

. The early morning raid of 17 May 1943 created a massive wide and deep breach in the structure. Water emptied at the rate of into the narrow valley below, producing a flood wave which roared as far as downstream. By the time it diminished in the widening floodplains of the lower Eder, into the

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

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 A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

and

labour camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

s 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 The Atlantic Wall (german: link=no, Atlantikwall) was an extensive system of coastal defences and fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe and Scandinavia as a defence against an anticip ...

under command of

Organisation Todt Organisation Todt (OT; ) was a civil and military engineering organisation in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, named for its founder, Fritz Todt, an engineer and senior Nazi. The organisation was responsible for a huge range of engineering projec ...

. The lake today is the third largest reservoir in Germany. Its capacity of makes it a major summertime recreational facility. The 1955 film, '' The Dam Busters'' chronicled the British attack on the dam.

References

External links

* {{Commonscat-inline, Edersee Dam
Interactive 360° panorama of Edersee dam
Geography of Hesse Dams in Hesse Dams completed in 1914 Hydroelectric power stations in Germany Waldeck-Frankenberg Dam failures in Europe

World War II

See also

References

External links