While the raids caused civilian loss of life, German civilians regarded the destruction of the hydroelectric generating dams as legitimate. German authorities accurately reported the resulting loss of civilian lives. Albert Speer wrote of the attack; "employing just a few bombers, the British came close to a success which would have been greater than anything they had achieved hitherto with a commitment of thousands of bombers. But they made a single mistake which puzzles me to this day: They divided their forces and that same night destroyed the Eder Valley dam, although it had nothing whatsoever to do with the supply of water to the Ruhr."
While enormously celebrated as a British success by the population, perhaps the reaction of Harris, who seems to have had a particularly cold view of the destruction of Germany from the air, isn't too surprising. In reality, however, the raid demonstrated a very clever deployment of British resources with a real understanding of how industrial infrastructure worked.
The raid did cause the British to switch aerial munitions, going thereafter for massive "Earthquake Bombs" which caused a seismic effect when detonated.
Eight of the British aircraft were lost in the raid.
