Aerial Bombing Operations in WWII

Historical aerial photographs showcase significant bombings during World War II, targeting industrial sites across Europe and demonstrating wartime devastation.

Bombs burst on two hydrogen plants at the Peenemunde experimental plant on the Baltic Sea, about 60 miles north west of Stettin, during the attack by U.S. 8th AF heavy bombers on 18 July 44. This is reported to be the center for experiments on flying

Large explosion in workshop area at Schwerin F.W. 190 plant. (N.E. Germany) 25 Aug 44. 44th Bomb Group.

Bombs burst on two hydrogen plants at the Peenemunde experimental plant on the Baltic Sea, about 60 miles north west of Stettin, during the attack by U.S. 8th AF heavy bombers on 18 July 44. This is reported to be the center for experiments on flying

Bombing Of Enemy Installations At Oschersleben, Germany On 11 April 1944. 2nd Bomb Division, 8Th Air force.

Bombs Burst On The Marshalling Yards At Milan, Italy On 30 April 1944, During A Mission By Planes Of The 456Th Bomb Group, 15Th Air Force.

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

Photograph taken during the attack by USAAF Bostons of the Tactical Bomber Force on Sibenik, German held port on the coast of Yugoslavia. The Bostons hit harbor installations and obtained good results. The picture shows hits on warehouses and quays

This main line railroad bridge at Konz-Karthaus, Germany, was an important funnel for supply and troop movements to Von Rundstedt's counter attacking army until 9th Air Force B-26 Marauders bombed the key structure, 12/24/44. A few moments after the

ON THE RIGHT BEARINGS-These photos released by Eighth Air Force Bomber Command headquarters today show the huge Schweinfurt Ball and Roller Bearings factory area blanketed by bombs from Flying Fortresses in their great attack of October 14th in

Turbulent columns-Murky smoke spouts up from the Bettenhousen Focke-Wulf plant at Kassel as bombs register on the target area. The work of B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 8th AF on 19 April.. Many important installations were hit and numerous fires

France - Fresh Blows To Germany'S Serious Supply Shortage Were Dealt By 9Th Air Force Martin B-26 Marauders Whose Bombs Destroyed Heavily-Stocked Warehouses Near Euskirchen, 20 Miles Southwest Of Cologne. Considered One Of The Principal Supply Depots For

Messerschmitt plant at Prufening is damaged in every building. 2/25/44.

With Installations Burning Fiercely, This Is The Picture Presented By The Nazi Airfield At Bordeaux, France, During The Attack On 27 March 1944, By Boeing B-17 'Flying Fortresses' Of The 452Nd Bomb Group (8Th Air Force). Taken By S/Sgt. Lou Elias.

Bombing of Hollandia.

Railroad marshalling yards at Salzwedel, Germany under attack by the 8th AF on 23 Feb. 1945.

A Direct Hit On The Stern Of A Japanese Battlehip Of The Kongo Class Was Made, As Other Bombs Burst On Japanese Naval Installations At Kure, Japan, During The Strike Of June 22, 1945, By B-29 Superfortresses Of Major General Curtis E. Lemay's 21St Bomber Comma

Location: North Edge Of Cecina, On West Coast Route; Mr Point Q 1730. Attacks: (Note: Although Original Attack Was Made By Martin B-26 Marauders On 24 December 1943 With 500 Lb Bombs, The Bridge Has Been Unserviceable By Repeated Attacks. The First O

The Le Pontent Oil Storage Facilities In Southeastern France, Were The Target For Today' As These Consolidated B-24 Liberators Of The 15Th Aaf Continued To Pound At The Hun'S Dwindling Oil Supply On Aug 6, 1944. Smoke And Dust Rise From The Target Area A

FORTS BLAST JU 88 BASE--Four bay hangars, workshops barracks and one large hangar were hard hit by Boeing B-17s of the 8th AAF on 28 March 44 at the Ju 88 repair base and airfield at Rheims in occupied France. Bombs are seen heading down to

A Nazi FW-190 wings over the Misburg area as U.S. 8th Air Force heavies, high overhead drop their lethal load on the oil refinery there 26 Nov 44.

The Dornier Werke final assembly and repair plant located at Oberpfaffenhofen was heavily blasted Saturday March 18th by Fortresses of the U.S. 8th AF during their large-scale daylight attack. Two assembly shops were left burning, a repair shop and

Strike Attack Kobe, Japan, June 5, 1945.

The white crosses mark the graves of German fighter planes, hit by fragmentation bombs from B-26 Marauders of the U.S.A.A.F. during their attack on the 2 Ciampino airfields in Rome on Jan. 13. Reports estimate that more than 30 German planes were

Smoke from bombs dropped by B-24 Liberators of the U.S. Army 15th Air Force, in a raid Jan. 18, on the Italian City of Pisa. It lies a few miles inland from the Ligurian Sea, is situated on the Arno River 165 aircraft factory. The marshalling yards

Bombs from the first wave of heavies partially cover the Klockner aero engine works at Hamburg, Germany, and a nearby chemical plant.

Reconnaissance view of the important plant soon after the raid reveals that it has been entirely devastated Assembly shops, hangars, and more than a score of smaller structures have been destroyed.

LIBERATORS HIT A TRIPLE--In a three pronged attack on Friendrichshafen, U.S. 8th AF Liberators blasted the Maybach Engine works during Saturday's March 18 operations. In this picture the Maybach engine works receives a heavy concentration of

Bomb Bursts Destroy Docks And Shipping At Genoa, Italy On May 12, 1944, During A Bombing Raid By Planes Of The 97Th Bombardment Group, 340Th Bombardment Squadron, 15Th Air Force.

A Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortress" Of 303Rd Bombardment Group, 8Th Air force, Leaves Its Target, The Bettenhausen Focke Wulf Works At Kassel, Germany, As Smoke From Bomb Bursts Billows High. 19 April 1944.

Here is the same house after being hit by bombs from A-20 Boston bombers of the 12th Air Force. The whole house, which must have been filled, erupted and the explosion flung smoke several hundred feet into the air.

American Flying Fortresses scored hits on eight medium sized hangars, two smaller ones, a workshop and dispersal areas when they attacked the German airfield at Chartres in occupied France on March 2. Picture shows two heavy concentrations on the

A burst of high explosives leaves another bridge destroyed in the relentless attacks against enemy communications north of Rome, by AAF B-26 Marauders of the 12th AAF. Here, the railroad bridge four miles north of Civita Castellana, between Viterbo

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Vertical aerial photograph showing six Handley Page Halifaxes flying over the blazing target area during a daylight attack on a rail centre north of the River Rhine.

Martin B-26 "Marauders" of XII AAF blast railway yards at Arezzo, Italy.

Two And A Half Hours After An Attack By Desert Air Force Spitfires, Flame Is Still Consuming Cars Of A German Supply Train At Camposampiero, North Of Padua. The Campaign Against Nazi Transportation Systems In Italy Is A Major Assignment Of The Desert Air

U.S. Army 12th Air Force medium bombers attack the Piacenza rail bridge in Northern Italy. Clouds of billowing smoke cover the target.

Palazzola Barracks, 10 July: on D-day 36 NASAF B-25 airplanes hit 15 out of 40 barracks used by Axis soldiers. Load was 124,000 pounds of bombs, (GP).

RAIL LINK AT ULM POUNDED-Bombing German communications and air-fields on the seventh consecutive day of large scale attacks, U.S. Army 8th AF heavy bombers include the railyards at Ulm in their targets. Here incendiaries and high explosives in a

Almost every bomb can be seen erupting in the heart of the target at the Reims marshalling yards as 8th USAAF heavy bombers attacked on 30 May 44. Tracks, repair shops, and adajacent industrial buildings were under heavy concentration.

Lethal Bursts -- Heavy concentrations of bombs blossom on or near the marshalling yards at Belfort as American heavy bombers of the U.S. Eighth A.A.F. pressed home their attack on May 25th. Many hits were made on repair shops and fires started in rolling stock. May 31, 1944. (Photo by Fox Photos).

Huge Clouds Of Smoke Rise From The Shipbuilding Yards At Hamburg, Germany During A Bombing Mission On 20 June 1944 By Planes Of The 305Th Bombardment Group, 8Th Air force.

Heavy Clouds Of Smoke Rise Upward Bomb Hits On Fuel And Storage Dumps Near Cellecchio, Italy, After An Attack By Martin B-26 Marauders Of The 12Th Af On 7 July 1944.

High explosive bombs blanket the center of the Dreux airdrome in northern France on 13 June 1944, as U.S. 8th AAF heavy bombers kept up their work of making German airfields behind the lines unservicable.

Ploesti , Rumnia-Smoke screen is shown developing on 17 Aug 44. Romana Americana Oil Refinery is at center right. White dots are bomb craters.

Koriyama Chemical Company, Koriyama, Japan After Attack By B-29's On 12 April 1945.

Bomb bursts cover the railway bridge at Orvieto, Italy, which was blasted by Martin B-26 (Marauders) of the Northwest African Air Forces. Orvieto is about 45 miles northwest of Rome.

Showing signs of previous attacks, the Nazi airdrome at Conches, France sends up a shower of smoke as U.S. 8th AAF heavies laid their lethal loads on landing strips and the field proper, 12 June 1944.

FRANCE-Battle activities during battle for Falaise Gap on 20 August 44 when Argentan was taken by the British, Falaise by the Canadians and Trun by the Poles. Picture shows destruction wrought by Air support of the 2d and 9th Tactical Air Forces and

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

Martin B-26 Marauder Medium Bombers Of The 12Th Air Force Attack The Electric Power Transformer At Ala, 25 Miles North Of Verona On The Main Brenner Pass Rail Line To Trento. The Transformer, Which Had Been Supplying Power For The Electric Rail Traffic

An idea of the destruction visited upon Gotha, Germany, by the USAAF is obtained by comparing this huge pall of smoke with the city itself as photographed from a great height. 8th AF Liberators concentrated-and the "concentration" is evident in the

Aerial View Showing Gliders Of 9Th Troop Carrier Command Somewhere In Belgium.

Bombing on May 11, 1943.

Bombs from 8th AF bombers burst on 4 gun emplacements and light coastal batteries situated on the shore of a small peninsula off the coast of Brest, France, 11 Aug 44. This attack was launched to support American troops fighting in the Brest area.

SHATTERED CHATEAROUX---Typical extensive damage inflicted upon nine Nazi airfields in Northwestern France early in Feb 4 by 8th AF heavy bombers is revealed in these striking reconnaissance pictures of the shattered fighter training base at

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

RIGHT ON THE BUTTON: In Sunday's attack by a record force of 8th AAF Heavy bombers on enemy aircraft factories at Leipzig Brunswick and Bernburg, and military targets at Gotha, Tutow, Oschersleben and other points in Central and Northern Germany

May 1945 -- Bombed Out Section Of Elienberg, Germany, Made From A 9Th Af Photo Plane.

ATTACK ON POIX RAILROAD VIADUCT-An Army Air Forces officer tells the story of this photo with a sad ballad of an Axis "Casey Jones": We're a-goin' to tell you, in explosive tones, An Axis version of "Casey Jones," On the fourteenth of January, '44,

We are inclosing an aerial view of the Kumusi River area, made by the Air Corps, U.S. Army, which we have just released to newspapers in Australia. No negative is available but it is a good print and would make a good copy if it is desired to release

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

An important rail center in Debreczen, Hungary, used by the Germans to supply their Eastern front in Rumania, receives a heavy concentration of bombs from U.S. Bombers which then flew on to new bases in Russia for the first time.

Mushrooms On Schweinfurt: Heaviest enemy opposition in days was met over the Schweinfurt area as Flying Fortresses of the 8th AAF dealt another blow at the huge ball bearings resources there April 13th. Hard hit in Feb., the American heavies returned

Railroad Diversion At Ponte De Piave, Italy, Atacked By Eight Republic P-47 Thunderbolts Of The 12Th A.F. 13 February 1945.

Ammunition Stores Explode Sky High -- Martin B-26 Marauders Of The 1St Tac A.F. Leave Nazi Ammunition Stores Exploding In Smoke At Klein Engstingen, 28 Miles Sourtheast Of Stuttgart, Following An Attack In Cooperation With The Advancing Allied Armies In S

Bombing Of Gun Position At Arezzo, Italy, By North American B-25 Mitchells Of The 12Th Air Force, Sometime In 1944.

Mainz M/Y bombed 21 Sept 44. Germany.

Konigsborn Tank Depot after bombing.

While B-24 Liberator Was Returning From Linz, March 2, A 15Th Air Force Photographer Snapped This Visual Evidence Of Effective Strafing By 15Th Aaf Lightnings In The Graz Area. The Fighters, Which Had Just Escorted The Heavy Bombers, Found And Destroyed

Heavy Black Smoke Rises From The German Strongpoint At Cassino, Italy, After Bombing Raid.

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

Bombs Destroyed 390 Freight Cars And Six Vessels At Leghorn Harbor, Italy.

Hitler's North Italy communications system is fast crumbling under the onslaught of American bombardment, as illustrated by this photograph. USAAF Martin B-26 (Marauders) are seen speeding away after smashing the railroad bridge at Montalto Di Castro

Concentration falls on hangars 15 Aug 44. Zwischenahn A/F, used by the ME 163 rocket propelled fights. Area between Ems and Weser Rivers.

Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. Vertical aerial photograph showing bombs exploding on a flying-bomb launch site in a wood in northern France, during a daylight attack.

Superfortress Target - B-29's Of The 20Th Air Force Are Pacing The Mounting Air Assaults Against Japan. Burned-Out Areas Now Total More Than 126 Square Miles. Here Is Nagoya In Flames During A Recent Superfortress Raid. More Bombs May Be Seen Falling O

A towering column of smoke marks the site of new oil refinery at Dortmund, Germany which was attack for the frist time on Feb. 16 1945, by the U.S. 8th AF. Against the shadow of the smoke column many be seen other bombs falling directly toward it.

Smoke Rises From The Harbor At Toulon, France, As Bombs Dropped By Consolidated B-24 Liberators Of The 98Th Bomb Group, 15Th Af, Hit The Mark During Attack On Submarine Pens At This Famous French Port On 6 August 1944. A Good Concentration Of Bombs Cover

Bombs continue to burst on the rail marshalling yards at Thionville in occupied France 25 May 44 as smoke from previous hits obscures the target during the attack by 8th USAAF heavies. Locomotive sheds and rolling stock bore the brunt of the attack.

NAZI HELD GREEK AIRFIELD RAIDED. ADMINISTRATIONS BUILDINGS, HANGARS, AND REVETMENTS ARE COVERED BY BOMB BURSTS DURING THE RAID ON THE ELEUSIS AIRFIELD. TWENTY KILO METERS NORTH OF ATHENS, GREECE BY B-17 FLYING FORTRESSES OF THE UNITED STATES AIR

Four days before the Allied landings on 22 Jan, Fortresses of the 15th USAAF smashed the railroad yards at Poggibonsi, nerve center of the alternate North-South route to Rome. Twenty-four hours after the landings, the Forts hit the Poggibonsi yards

Smoke and flame erupt from the Taucha aero engine plant at Leipzig, about 100 miles southeast of Berlin, during the attack by U. S. 8th AAF heavy bombers on 7 July 44.

Bombing of defense position east of Frejus, France on 11 August 1944.

Japanese Plane Makes Futile Attempt to Halt Hong Kong Attack - Banking sharply over Hong Kong, a Japanese plane begins a futile attack on bombers if the U.S. 14th air Force, which were dealing a surprise blow to the enemy-held port on the Chinese coast. Smoke is already rising from burning cocks and railroads yards (at right) and the harbor is littered with blazing ships. Three of a group of six to eight Japanese planes which tried to interfere with the attack were destroyed or damaged and at least 32,000 tons of shipping were sunk and another 16,000 tons probably sunk. The smash, on Oct. 16, 1944, was one of a series by the China-based American flyers after the enemy moved much of its shipping to Hong Kong to escape the U.S. Navy assaults on their former bases in Formosa. November 15, 1944. (Photo by U.S. Office of War Information Picture).

Forts make Deep Penetration: Assembly and sub-assembly buildings, three main workshops a boiler house, railsidings, and smaller buildings were damaged at the Focke Wulf plant at Warnemunde, located 10 miles north of Rostock, during the 9 April

AFTER.. AT AUGSBURG.. Severe damage to important buildings is shown in this reconnaissance picture after the 8th AAF attack on the Messerschmitt works at Augsburg 13 April. Three round-roof hangars are destroyed; direct hits can be seen on large

This photograph was taken a few seconds after 48 bombs from a Martin B-26 formation detonated an ammunition dump at La Spezia, 40 miles southeast of Genoa, Italy. Marauders of the U.S. Army 12th Air Force did the job. The streamer effects emanating

U.S. Bombers Blast Italian Port Of Reggio Bombs from planes of the U.S. Army air forces in the harbor and dock area and set fires in the port of Reggio, Italy. This raid was part of the United Nations aerial offensive against the Axis. Reggio is a key port at the tip of the Italian boot facing Sicily. December 20, 1943. (Photo by U.S. Office of War Information Picture).

In a rare accident, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress in a lower group of a U.S. 8th Air Force formation attacking Berlin, Germany, swung under an upper group just as the bombs were released. The stricken B-17, knocked out of control, loses altitude

Sangley Point looking west. Cebu, Philippine Islands, 1945.

Railroad marshalling yards at Lichtenfels, Germany under attack by the 8th AF on 23 February 1945.

Oil pipe lines as well as refineries are being bombed. MAAF bombers score direct hits on pipe line at Torrito, 25 miles north of Rome, Italy.

Fire Bombs Were Effectively Applied By Thunderbolts Of Xxii Tac To Enemy Troops Billeted Near Modena, Italy.

This picture was made during the evacuation of Sicily by Axis forces. The Italian mainland is at the lower right, and the beaches at Messina, Sicily, on the upper left. The small white streaks on the surface of the sea are the wakes of vessels which

Damage was heavy at the circular Peroxide Unit. GERMANY.

Smoke Billows Up As Bombs Burst In A Combat Cluster On Marienburg Airdrome, Germany After Planes Of The 95Th Bomb Group Have Empited Their Bomb-Bays.

Bombs Dropped By Planes Of The 456Th Bomb Group, 15Th Air Force, Cover The Marshalling Yards At Bucharest, Rumainia With Bursts On 24 April 1944.

This is a recent U.S. Army Air Forces reconnaissance photograph of Rabaul harbor, big Japaneseanese base on New Britain, above New Guinea. On October 12th, this enemy stronghold received the heaviest air blow thus far administered by Allied raiders

The Hiro Engine And Turbine Factory And Naval Aircraft Plant At Kure, Japan Were Precision Targets Of B-29 Superfortresses On 5 May 1945. Perfect Bombing Blotted Out These Two Targets, Which Were Sub-Sections Of The Kure Naval Arsenal.

For First Publication Tuesdays Evenings. R.A.F. Marauders Attack in Italy A railway bridge goes up in smoke. The railway bridge spanning the river Cessano between Ancona and Fano, on the Adriatic coast of Italy is hit by bombs of R.A.F. Marauders of the Desert Air force. July 07, 1944.

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