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Aerial Bombing Damage Assessments

Photos provide aerial views of bomb damage to strategic locations during wartime, showing destruction in various regions across Europe and Asia.

The Volcania munitions...
The Volcania munitions...
263 assets in this story
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Heavy bombers of the Fifth Air force smash at Takao City largest industrial center of formosa, and hub of formosa defenses. Bombs are pictured exploding in an area which houses factories turning out precision equipment for the Japanese war machine.
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Above: Cabanatuan before strike by 7th AAF Consolidated B-24 Liberators. Canatuan is an important Jap base with vast military storage facilities located about fifty miles northeast of Manila. It is near the northern terminus of the 1942 March of
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At the peak of the attack, the bomb-pattern blankets the hangars and administration buildings of the Istres Le Tube Airdrome in Southern France, base for long-range Nazi planes. The date: the day before the Allied landings south of Rome on Jan 22.
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Smoke Rises From Exploding Bombs Which Have Hit Their Targets On An Enemy Airdrome In Avord, France, During A Bombing Raid By Usaf Bombers On 5 Feb 1944.
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COVER MISSION, AFTER: Dropping 339 three hundred pound GP bombs, 34 Martin B-26s hit dispersal areas (A) bomb plot and fuel (B) Sept; 15 at Merville.
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Photo 2 of 2: Oct. 10, 1943. Munster, garrison city and railroad center, between Ruhr and Baltic ports.
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Mushrooming up from the Nazi heavy bomber base at Bricy, near Orleans in occupied France are bombs from Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the 8th USAAF during the 29 May 44 attack. Hits were scored on the hangar area, workshops and landing area.
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Okayama-(photo taken on 25 August 44) This covers a major formosa target hit later by 20th Bomber Command B-29s. On first mission, on 14 October 1944, B-29s hit Okayama A/C plant with tons of bombs. All air strips in area were inoperable due
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Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,
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Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,
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This Low-Level Aerial Photo Shows The Destruction On A Refinery In The Tokyo Area As A Result Of B-29 Raids During The Five Months Of Concentrated Attacks On Key Cities Prior To Japan's Capitulation.
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Bombing Of Railroad Bridge At Imperia, Italy, Only Thirty Miles From France On The Reviere Line, By Martin B-26 Marauders Of The 12Th Air Force.
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Violent eruption obscures the Target . . . Clusters of bomb bursts are shown on the P-plane launching site at Bertreville in the Pas de Calais area on July 6th., as U.S. Eight A.A.F., heavy bombers attacked B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators hit 18 German flying bomb sites in this attack, it was the 14th., sharp assault on the Pas de Calais area since D-Day and the sixth Allied blow against the buzz-bomb nests in less than 48 hours. July 09, 1944. (Photo by U.S. Official Photograph)
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A Cloud Of Smoke Towers High In Ther Sky Over The Oil Refinery At Budapest, Hungary After Planes Of The 465Th Bombardment Group, 15Th Air Force Dropped Their Bombs There On September 17, 1944.
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DUREN, GERMANY DESTROYED-This is the before and after of the city of Duren, Germany. Above, Duren is seen before bombardment by Allied Air Forces and American Artillery in support of the advance of Infantry and Tanks of the U.S. First Army.
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Concentration of over 50 craters in sidings have cut several tracks and damaged rolling stock at the rail marshalling yards in Melun about 30 miles southeast of Paris, during the attack by 8th USAAF heavy bombers on 22 June 44. Two medium-sized
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Bombing Of Enemy Airfield Installations At Paderborn, Germany, On 19 April 1944 By 2nd Bomb Division, 8Th Air force.
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Kuma class cruiser taking...
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Bombs from the Forts of the 15th AAF plough up the airdromes and the administration buildings and hangars of Ciampino North and South, just below Rome, three days before the Allied landings. Object was to keep the Huns from using any dromes near the
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'Athenes vue en avion; vue general d'Athenes, prise en avion a une altitude de 1,800 metres; au centre, l'Acropole; a droite, le Zappelon et le Palais royal', 1916. From "Collection de la Guerre IV. L'Illustration Tome CXLVIII. La Guerre Juillet, Aout, Septembre, Octobre, Novembre, Decembre 1916". (Athens seen from a plane; general view at an altitude of 1,800 meters; in the center, the Acropolis; on the right, the Zappeion and Royal Palace).
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Marauder' medium bombers dropped a blanketing pattern of bombs on their target--supply ships, and port facilities, rendering another shipping point useless to the retreating German army.
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BOMBING
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Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,
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A Douglas A-20 Of The 410Th Bomb Group Leaves A Smoking Target Somewhere In Europe.
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Smoke shrouds the Signa Bridge. Another target for 'Operation Strangle,' the Signa Bridge, west of Florence, was smashed by direct hits from Mediterranean Allied Air Force bombers.
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FLAK TARGET is showered with 216 five hundred-pound bombs that begin to explode on a corner of the "field" (right). A faded out runway, lack of detail in the installations and lack of activity are clues that give away the dummy.
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Elsevier photo collection. Aerial recording. Dutch paratroopers Djokja. minutes landing transport aircraft Magoewa airport, 8 km east Djokjakarta. 8 roofotas unload. runway devices, front start rear lands. third Dakota ready minute later. bottom left Republican DH "Super Dragon", four-engine airliner. fall screens paratroen runway. December 27, 1948. Indonesia, Indonesia, Dutch East Indies, Yogyakarta
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7th AAF Liberators, escorted by Lockheed P-38 fighters, pound Jap plane dispersal areas and warehouses around Clark Field at Manila in the Philippines. Dropping 100,000 pounds of fragmentation bombs 7th AAF heavies above, shows a warehouses around
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Bombing of installations in the Brest/Kervinian area. 11 Aug 44.
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At the time of the attack on 17 August 1943, more than 40 of all Me 109G's were being turned out in the great Messerschmitt plant lying in a bend of the Danube near the Austrian border.
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Bomb Damage Of Tours, France, 2 May 1944.
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A vital target on the alternate Central Italy line South to Rome is the railroad yard at Poggibonsi, Southeast of Florence. The Air Plan called for the cutting of all North-South rail lines before D-day, 22 January, day of the Allied landings south
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87a - Pilotless Plane, Robot Bomb, Doodle Bug, V2 Bomb. May 28, 1946. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).
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Original text: "German combat aircraft on the way to the front. Photography taken by another German flyer almost vertical over the machine."Original text: "German combat aircraft on the way to the front. Photography taken by another German flyer almost vertical over the machine.
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Washington - Aberdeen through Chinook, Aerial Photograph.
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Bombing of the submarine pens at Salamis, Greece, by Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" of the 483rd Bomb Group, 15th Air Force. (Altitude 23,200 feet).
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Area Near Hingham, Massachusetts. 1939 - 1947.
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Bomb Bursts Cover The Target Area As Planes Of The 455Th Bomb Group, 741St Bomb Squadron, 15Th Air Force, Bring The Attack Home To The North Refinery At Trieste, Italy On July 6, 1944.
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Formation Of Douglas A-20'S Of The 410Th Bomb Group Leave A Smoking Target Somewhere In Europe.
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Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 15th Air Force left the Kalamaki airdrome near Athens, Greece covered with smoke when they attacked it on 15 Sep 44. At least 10 aircraft were destroyed. The weight of the attack fell on the northern end of the
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The Pola Docks/South, Italy Are Hit With Cmpact Clusters Of Bombs, Which Were Dropped By Planes Of The 97Th Bomb Group, 341St Bomb Squadron, 9 January 1944.
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Aerial View of St. Vith, Belgium Bombing on Christmas Day. Aerial View of St. Vith, Belgium Bombing on Christmas Day. More than 100 9th Air Force Martin B-26 Marauders, Christmas afternoon, dropped their bomb loads on the heart of St. Vith, Belgium, the important road junction and communications center captured by the Germans in their counter-offensive. Marauders, Havocs and Invaders bombed bridges, roads, towns, and strong-points. Christmas day in a part of a systematic plan to isolate German troops from their supply sources.”.
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German incendiary bombs being dropped over a Yugoslavian town. Taken during the occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941.
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Aerial view of the port of Corinto, Nicaragua, where Soviet shipments of military equipment are received. From Soviet Military Power 1985. Country: Unknown
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U.S. Naval Air Station, So. Weymouth, MA from NE , Air bases. Photographs of the First Naval District
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Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Vertical night aerial photograph taken over Turin with the aid of a 4.5-inch Photoflash bomb, during a raid by aircraft of Bomber Command. The area illuminated is around the Piazza Adriano (right of centre), crossed by Corso Francesco Ferrucci and Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.
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Army bombers fire Camouflaged Jap Transport near New Britain -- Direct hits from U.S. Army bombers set fire to this Jap Transport Camouflaged completely along its sides and even up its mast by palm trees, as it tried to sneak through Island-studded waters south of Bismark Archipelago near New Britain. Photo at left shows ship aflame with two near misses (right), while picture at right is view from higher altitude of burning ship and near misses, the Army says. February 22, 1943. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).
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Bomb Damage In Mainz, Germany, Caused By Bombing Of The 9Th Aaf Bombers.
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Daylight Photo Of Breteuil, France, Taken At 10,000 Feet By Lt. Colonel Leon Gray'S U.S. 8Th Air Force Reconnaissance Group. (For A Night Photo Comparison, See Photo Number A-7115 Ac.)
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R.A.F. Pictures Confirm Widespread Damage By Grenoble Patriot Saboteurs - Grenoble Barracks, almost completely destroyed by French patriots after the German authorities had refused the release of 300 hostages seized after the wrecking of the Artillery Park."Towards the close of last year, without a doubt, Grenoble won the first place in French resistance", said E. Emmanuel d'Astier de La Vigerie, Minister of the Interior in the French Committee for National Liberation, speaking to the Consultative Assembly in Algeria on 2.3.44. He told how Grenoble's patrist saboteurs blew up 30 tons of powder and 300 tons of enemy ammunition in the Artillery Park on the night of November 13, 1943. March 28, 1944. (Photo by Topical Press).
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Operation Chastise (the Dambusters' Raid) 16 - 17 May 1943 The Targets: A (vertical) reconnaissance photo of the town of Kassel, some 30 miles downstream of the Eder Dam. Large areas of water lie adjacent to the River Fulda which bisects the town. Deutsch: Luftbild der Überflutungen in Kassel nach der Bombardierung der Staumauer des Edersees im Rahmen der Operation Chastise am 17. Mai 1943
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Bombs hurtle toward a Nazi highway bridge. With their rail and shipping facilities almost completely disrupted, the Germans were forced to resort to motor transport. All roads and bridges in central Italy became targets for Allied aerial assaults, ca. 1942-1945
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Point Salines Airfield, Grenada. Courtesy of Soviet Military Power, 1984. PHOTO No. 140, page 129. Country: Unknown
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An aerial view showing the rugged country over which Australian troops have advanced along the north coast of New Guinea. A.I.F. patrols have now reached Kemlagidu Point 12 miles beyond Finschhafen, shown at lower right.
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Hong Kong's Massive Kowloon Dockyard and Adjoining Port Installations above largest on the South China sea coast, suffered heavy damage in the first mass daylight raid by our planes when fifth air force B-24 liberator bombers dumped 140 tons of thousand pounders on the target area. April 2nd. Administrative buildings, warehouses, barracks, a machine shop and foundry, and more than 12,000 tons of shipping docked for repairs or under construction were destroyed. The docks are equipped to handle all types of repair, refitting, reconditioning and construction of ships up to 10,000 tons. April 6, 1945. (Photo by Far East Air Forces).
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BOMBING
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A huge cloud of black smoke rises from the marshalling yards at Ploesti, Rumania, as bombs dropped by planes of the 98th Bomb Group explode on the target, 24 April 1944.
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Coasters Harbor Island-view from south 10000 ft. , Islands. Photographs of the First Naval District
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A high-altitude view and map of the Soviet base at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. Country: Unknown
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Area Near Hingham, MA ,. Photographs of the First Naval District
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Raids of German submarines on United States shipping on the Atlantic Coast.
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A bomb damage assessment photograph of the Baghdad Baath Party Headquarters in Iraq used by Pentagon officials to brief the press during DESERT FOX. Subject Operation/Series: DESERT FOX Base: Pentagon State: District Of Columbia (DC) Country: United States Of America (USA)