The Möhne Dam, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, photographed on 17 May 1943, the day after the operation by No. 617 Squadron RAF which breached the dam wall. The specially developed 'bouncing bomb' dropped by the squadron's Lancasters caused a rift in the wall 76 metres wide and 89 metres deep. A 10-metre high torrent of water flowed down into the valleys of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers, causing widespread damage, loss of life, and disruption to hydro-electric power generation for the Ruhr armaments industry. The British inventor of the 'bouncing bomb', Barnes Wallis, felt Germany had been dealt a blow from which the country would not recover for years. However, the disruption was temporary and the dam was reconstructed. Wallis urged Bomber Command, in vain, to carry out conventional follow-up raids on the dam area during reconstruction, which might have considerably held up the renewal of part of the Ruhr's electricity supply. Such follow-up, he contended, would have justified the huge loss suffered by No. 617 Squadron on the original operation, in which 53 of the 133 aircrew involved were killed. [AWM 128223]
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