Dnieper dam blown up by Russians: ‘To save it from Nazi bandits’
29 August 1941
The Russians have blown up the Dnieper dam at Zaporizhzhia, which feeds the Dneprostroi power plant, and have evacuated Dnepropetrovsk, the great industrial centre of Ukraine. Mr Lozovsky, the Soviet spokesman, told the press last night:
We blew up the Dnieper dam so as not to allow this first child of the Soviet five-year Plan to fall into the hands of Hitler’s bandits. All measures were taken so as not to permit the Germans to make use of the dam and machinery.
‘Nothing for Germany’ policy
29 August 1941
The destruction of the Dnieper dam, which fed the most powerful hydroelectric plant in Europe and took eight years to complete, is the most spectacular act of destruction in Russia since the burning of Moscow in 1812.
The dam supplied power to large agricultural and industrial areas on both sides of the Dnieper, and was an outstanding symbol of Soviet industrial civilisation.
The Soviet spokesman. Mr Lozovsky, announcing its destruction, said that not only the government but all Soviet citizens were determined to conduct the war in such a manner that German strength should grow weaker daily, contrary to what had happened in the west, where every new occupation had added to the German war potential. “Here the Germans will not get raw materials, food, or machinery,” he said. Crops were destroyed or harvested and hidden, and much of the farm machinery was taken away.
The dam, which stood a few miles north of the town of Zaporizhzhia, was 2,500 feet long and 159 feet high. It raised the river level by 120 feet and made the Dnieper navigable over almost 1,300 miles by eliminating the rapids.
This was the core of the electrified industrial region of the Dnieper bend and the source of power for the Dneprostroi electrical generating plant on the west bank of the river. The dam cost about $110,000,000 and, with the power station, was built under the guidance of American engineers.
Dam blown up: ‘gigantic act of sacrificial sabotage’
JL Garvin
The Observer, 31 August 1941
Moscow announced on Thursday night the unparalleled stroke of patriotic destruction. The mighty “Lenin dam” has been blown up, though at what moment is not stated. Far and wide the transmission of electric power has ceased. It is partly replaced further back by alternative generators. Last Sunday we described this stroke as the most gigantic act of sacrificial sabotage in the world’s history. The expression needs no abatement. The German advance may be hindered by the rushing currents and floods caused by the destruction of the Lenin dam.
The explosion flooded villages along the banks of the Dnieper River, killing thousands of civilians and military personnel from both sides of the conflict. After taking over the area, the Germans partially rebuilt the dam. Two years later, as Soviet forces were pushing them out of Ukraine, Nazi troops blew it up for a second time. At the end of the war, the Soviets rebuilt the dam.
