Dambusters Blog

This photograph of the Möhne Dam is currently being offered for sale on Ebay by the Louth-based dealers Military Trader UK. The auction closes on 5 August. See here.
The dealers describe the photo as:

Genuine 617 SCAMPTON memorabilia. The other was sold on Ebay last week. This genuine photo was purchased from an Antique Dealer at Hemswell, which was near the base, although it originally came from RAF Scampton when the base closed together with many other items. The photo shows the Mohne Dam, pre War or early WW2, and certainly pre the Dams Raid of May 1943, (as it has no repair marks to the centre and no gun towers or nets)
It is an extremely rare photo used by RAF Intelligence when preparing the raid and was top secret. Not a reprint and the last…Own a genuine piece of 617 Sdn Scampton Dams Raid Memorabilia.

It is, however, a fake and therefore worth almost nothing.
Let’s start with the photograph itself. It is of the downstream side of the dam. However, it was definitely taken after the war. The biggest clue that this is so is that there is no power station below the dam wall. The power station was famously damaged on the night of the raid when John Hopgood’s mine bounced over the dam and hit it. It was then swept away by the later flood when the dam was breached.
Here is a genuine picture of the downstream side of the dam taken before the war, from a different angle but which still clearly shows the size and position of the power station.

And, despite the vendor’s claim, close inspection shows that the repaired area can be seen on the fake print. It is marked in red in this picture.

As for the “Intelligence Officer” stamp and number on the back, it is a clear case of a forger over-egging their work to try to create provenance. Any genuine official print would be likely to have an Air Ministry stamp and reference to the target’s name and location.
In addition, copies of the genuine intelligence target folder material (which was prepared as routine target information a long time before the raid) and used for briefing purposes for Operation Chastise are now in both the RAF Museum and the National Archives. They contain a number of photographs. Some were taken by reconnaissance aircraft in early 1943, but those taken at ground level showing the target in closer detail were copied from pre-war publications or tourist postcards. They include similar photos to the pre-war one above – although not this particular one and certainly not the one offered for sale.
This appears to be a deliberate attempt to deceive potential buyers, and should be condemned by anyone with a genuine interest in history or militaria.

Update 4 August 2016: The dealers have now changed the description of the picture. It now reads:

We’ve been informed that this photo shows the Mohne Dam ‘Post War’ (as it shows repair marks to the centre). However; despite close examination with a powerful magnifying loupe there are no repairs to the Dam in this photo and anything marked as such, is a total fabrication. This is the last of two original photos of the MOHNE DAM on the Ruhr.
Genuine 617 SCAMPTON memorabilia. The other was sold on Ebay last week.
This genuine photo was purchased from an Antique Dealer at Hemswell, which was near the base, although it originally came from RAF Scampton when the base closed together with many other items.
It is an extremely rare & original period photo & was Top Secret at the time.
This is not a reprint and is a 70+ year old photograph. It’s a photo; in which an image is focused on to light-sensitive material and then made visible and permanent by chemical treatment, ie ….. a photograph.
There were many WW2 photographs taken which were not developed on Air Ministry paper.

Please note that our original story above never asserts that this is a modern photograph. Rather it would seem to be a photograph taken sometime after 1944, when the repairs were completed. In their explanation, the dealers do not say why the power station does not appear in the shot.
We repeat our warning. This image is not a photograph used by the RAF in the planning of the Dams Raid.

Thanks to Dr Robert Owen for help with this, and to Nigel Favill for the tip.