Strategic Bombing Missions

Historic aerial views of bombing raids targeting military infrastructure during WWII, showcasing smoke and destruction over various landscapes.

Balikpapan was surrounded by fires June 22, 1945 after a heavy strike on the big Borneo refinery district by Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the 13th AAF's Long Rangers (correct) group. Storage tanks and warehouses were the principal targets

Bombing Of Marshalling Yards At Larissa, Italy, By Consolidated B-24 Liberators Of The 415Th Bomb Sq., 98Th Bomb Group, 15Th Air Force, On 21 September 1944.

A-20 Bostons blast the railroads yards, a highway overpass and part of a freight train at Ferentino, Southeast of Rome, in a raid on 28 December.

LANDING STRIPS COVERED--Continuing their process of disrupting Nazi airfields behind the enemy's lines, U.S. Eighth AAF heavy bombers dropped this heavy concentration on the German airdrome at Evreux/Fauville June 13, 1944. 303rd Bomb Group.

Bombing of Showa Steel...

Concentrations of bombs cover the dispersal area at the Landes de Bussac airfield about 20 miles east of Bordeaux, France, as 8th USAAF heavies attacked on 19 June 44.

After bombing of the famous Abbey at Monte Cassino, Italy-As shown in this photo the record bomb load dropped by the AAF resulted in 35 direct hits on the monastery building and inner courtyard. They sufficed to demolish the objective. The line on

Balikpapan was surrounded by fires June 22, 1945 after a heavy strike on the big Borneo refinery district by Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the 13th AAF's Long Rangers (correct) group. Storage tanks and warehouses were the principal targets

The Dubova Oil Refinery In Czechoslovakia Is Completely Hidden By Smoke From Bomb Bursts After Planes Of The 455Th Bomb Group, 740Th Bomb Squadron, 15Th Air Force, Have Dropped Their Destructive Missiles, August 20, 1944.

Bombs, dropped by planes of 98th Bomb Group, burst on Eleusis Airdrome, Athens, Greece. September 1944.

This reconnaissance photo attests the good job done by the Consolidated B-24 Liberators and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses. Severed tracks, choke points hit and damaged rolling stock were prevalent the following day, at Massey-Palaiseau, France.

Twenty-three tons of fragmentation bombs covered this Albanian airfield & many of its installations. The attack was made from 9000 feet by 36 North American B-25's on 10/24/43. 13 of 33 aircraft on the field were destroyed.

A pattern of bomb bursts in the dispersal areas of Nazi fighter airdrome at Triqueville, France raided by Martin B-26 Marauders on Nov. 3. Smoke from workshops and barracks set alight by planes which bombed earlier blanket the target areas.

Bombs From Boeing B-29 Superfortresses Burst On The Singapore Naval Base. The Floating Drydock (Upper Center) Is Visible As Several Bombs Hit Close.

Bombing of enemy...

German Land, Allied Air -- The Land Below Is Germany, Part Of The Enemy Territory Still In Nazi Hands, But The Sky In Which These 8Th Af Bombers Are Flying Undisturbed Is Indisputably Held By Allied Air Supremacy. These Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses Are

Results of bombing of defense position east of Frejus on 11 August 1944. FRANCE.

Bombing Of An Airfield At Florennes, Belgium, 9 May 1944. 2Nd Bomb Division, 8Th Air Force.

Bombs from a Flying Fortress of the Northwest African Air Forces fall on the Tatoi airfield, near Athens, Greece. The raid was October 10.

Air Aspects of Campaign For Sicily. Gerbini, 9 June: Part of invasion prelude--21 9th AF Consolidated B-24 airplanes attack from 20,000-23,000 feet with 82,400 lbs. of bombs. Smoke is from burning planes.

Airfield at Cognac, France-All large hangars and at least 9 bombers destroyed or damaged (Dec. 31, 43) by attack of Boeing B-17 "Flying Fortresses" of the 91st Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. (Altitude 18,000 feet).

Junkers engine factory at Dessau, Germany under attack 16 Aug 44.

HITTING THE JAP IN BORNEO--This plowed-up patch of ground was one of the biggest Japaneseanese airdromes in the Southwest Pacific. It's the strip at Jesselton, Borneo, after eight U.S. Army 13th Air Force Liberator missions. Long-range B-24s of the

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

GERMANY-The Steam and Power Plant at Peenemunde, G.A.F. Experimental Station is hit again 4 Aug 44.

Under This Blanket Of Smoke And Dust Lies The Pont St. Espirit Railroad Bridge As It Was Attacked On Aug 8 1944 By Consolidated B-24 Liberators Of The 15Th Aaf. Heavy Mediterranean Based Bombers Have Been Smashing At Hun Rail And Communication Facilities

One of the 1250 heavy bombers sent over Germany 12/12/44 by the U.S. 8th Air Force, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress soars over the heavily bombed Darmstadt marshalling yards during a U.S. 8th Air Force attack on Nazi traffic centers supplying the

Rabaul--before and after. We are inclosing (in the roll) two photographs of the October 25th attack on Lakunai Airdrome at Rabaul which have just been received from Fifth Air Force in New Guinea. We are sending the photographs on the radio photo

At (A) are bursts on north & west dispersal & landing area; at (B) bursts in the SW corner. Approaching from the SW, the 64 Martin B-26's dropped 209 five-hundred-pound GP bombs.

Seppingang airstrip and all surrounding gun positions were were methodically blasted as the date of the invasion approached. Efforts by Nips to rebuild were futile. Whenever they filled craters, "Jungle Air Force" bombers made new ones.

Scattered Bomb Bursts Destroy Installations And Runways At Frejorges Airdrome, Montpellier, France On Jan 27 1944 During An Attack By Planes Of The 97Th Bomb Group, 342Nd Bomb Squadron, 15Th Air Force.

Bombing Of Enemy Harbor Installations At Dunkirk, France, On 15 February 1943. 2Nd Bomb Division, 8Th Air Force.

Bombs falling on the harbor at Naples during a raid by about 100 Flying Fortresses of the U.S.A.A.F. (April 4). Below them other bombs are to be seen falling in the water while smoke from fires & explosions drifts across the harbor. In this attack 10

A crippled Flying Fortress silhouetted over the target at the Reims Champagne Airfield, France which the 8th AF "heavies" smashed yesterday 28 March 44. The Fortress, piloted by 1st Lt. Daniel C. Henry, of 191-35 116th Ave., St. Albans, Long Island

Bombs from American raiders start their descent toward an industrial target in Berlin during a repeat performance by the 8th Air Force.

Every Major building of the Brandenburg Arado plant suffered damage 6 Aug 44. (Berlin Area) GERMANY.

Falling debris landing in the water as exploding bombs do their damage.

Orly Airfield near Paris, France is shown under attack on 20 May 1944 by 8th Air Force heavies. 306th Bombardment Group.

This Reconnaissance Photograph Taken On May 16, 1945 Shows Camouflage Painted On The Runway At Linfen Airfield, China.

Bombs burst on the shipping yards at Trieste, Italy on 20 February 1945 after planes of the 456th Bomb Group, 744th Bomb Squadron dropped their bombs.

Four large hangars and a workshop, all neatly aligned at the Avord airfield near Bourges in occupied France were damaged by dired hits from heavy bombers of the U.S. Army 8th Air Force. Note bomb craters dotting the area.

Yokahama, May 29, 1945, After 21St Bomber Command Mission. Smoke And Flames Pour Out Of The Great Japanese City.

Bombing of Littorio Railroad Yards

Nova Schwecat Plant Near Vienna, Austria, Was Hit By 15Th Air Force Bombers And Seriously Damaged In March 1944. After The Attack On June 16 On Five Oil Refineries Near Vienna All Of Them Were Made Inactive, And Smoke Rose More Than Three Miles Over Vien

Bombs From Planes Of The 2Nd Bomb Division, 8Th Air force, Fall On Enemy Installations At Hamm, Germany, 22 April 1944.

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

Low level oblique photographs showing the dropping of supplies to French resistance groups. During the period 16 thru 60 June 44, a total of 318 heavy bombers carried out 8 missions of this kind. People seen near smoke signal and shadows of

Bombs Have Found Their Target At North Marseille, France On 12 February 1943 During A Mission By Planes Of The 97Th Bomb Group, 341St Bomb Squadron.

Continuing the "Operation Strangle" of supply routes from industrial centers in Northern Italy to the Gothic Lines, a formation of Martin B-26 Marauders of the 12th Air Force attacked the railroad bridge over the Nure River, near Piacenza, Italy, on

German rail yard and supply depot at Lebach, 12 miles north of Saarbrucken, Germany during bombing by First Tactical AF Martin B-26 Marauders. In the supply depot, marked out on top, three warehouses were hit and two others damaged by near misses. In

A bridge linking the peninsula with the mainland at Brest, France, was rendered useless by Martin B-26 Marauders and Douglas A-20 Havocs of the 9th AF which attacked the port 3 Sep 44. In an example of precision bombing, the 9th medium and light

A large explosion erupts in the rail marshalling yards at Biziers, France 100 miles west of Marseilles on the Mediterranean, 5 July 44. 8th USAAF heavies attacked it from Italy on the second leg of their return shuttle trip from Russia.

Bombs burst on the marshalling yard at Brasov, Rumania, 6 May 1944. The attack was made by Consolidated B-24 "Liberators" of the 15th Air Force.

Second Concentration Of Bombs From 8Th Air force Planes Churns The Railyards At Wittenberg, Germany On 22 Feb. 1945.

The Volcania munitions...

This photo taken a few hours after the attack by U.S. 8th AF bombers on the rail marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany, 2 Oct 44, reveal the target still burning. Adjacent steel mills and rail repair shops also burn fiercely. Direct hits have damaged

The Volcania munitions...

Bombing of Rapope, Rabaul, New Britain on 28 Feb 1944.

ST DIZIER, FRANCE-MOUNTING PILLARS OF SMOKE, is all that remains visible of the buildings at the end of the Nazi airdrome, at St. Dizier, France. Rising smoke and dust completely obliterates the buildings buzzing and humming with activity only a few

The entire landing area and runways are pitted with bomb craters at the Chateaudun airdrome in France. The most recent attack on this German drome 14 June 44 by U.S. 8th AAF heavies was designed to make the field proper unservicable. Two two-bay

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

American bombs hit the outlying factory area southwest of Berlin, dropped by raiders of the U.S. Army 8th Air Force bombers.

Attacked previously on 15 June 44, this is how the German airdrome at Bordeaux, France appeared to crews of an 8th USAAF heavy bomber on 19 June 44 as they returned to attack again.

The Messerschmitt factory at Klagenfurt in the Austrian Alps was bombed by Flying ofrtresses of the 15th AAF on 16 Jan. This photo shows bomb bursts covering the factory and railway yards. (AAF Photo).

Seconds before Marauder bombs fell on the important railway marshalling yards at Hasselt, 40 miles east of Brussels, April 8, 1944. Nazi war goods were still flowing through this main junction on the Antwerp-Maastricht-Anchen line. Then bombs

Bare walls and rubble was all that was left of the Benedictine monastery on Monte Cassino after the B-17's of the 15th AF hit this German stronghold.

Sau Watten Germany. None Entered

Fires Started By Boeing B-29 Superfortresses Burn Fiercely At The Empire Docks, Sinapore.

Opel P-Plane factory near the Arado plant receives tight concentration 6 Aug 44. (Berlin area).

RAIL "HOT SPOT" GET HOTTER---Over the smoking railway center at Valenciennes, filled with burning goods wagons, fly a flight of 7 U.S. 9th Air Force B-26 Marauder medium bombers that have just released bomb loads on the important rail target in

The Marshalling Yards At Gia Lam, French Indo-China Were The Objective Of The China Liberators, In A Raid That Blanketed The Target With A Very High Percentage Of Hits.

Bursting bombs send up sprays of debris as they take toll on the rail marshalling yards at Munich, Germany, 25 Feb 45. The occasion was the large scale daylight attack by U.S. 8th AF heavy bombers on rail installations, airbases, and oil targets.

The track-marked terrain (left center) in this aerial photograph taken from a 1st Tac. Air Force Martin B-26 Marauder reveals the site of a 7th Army tank battle with the enemy somewhere on the 6th Army Group front driving toward the Saar Palatinate.

Maisoncelle, France-During bombing by Flying Fortresses and Liberators, 24 December 1943.

During the Wiener Neustadt bombing attack of 8/13/43, (9th U.S. AAF) bomb bursts are seen on the Henschel and Sohn Werks, left center, and on the Steyr-Daimler Puch A.G. The latter is now reported to be engaged in the manufacture of parts used

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

The Tokol Airdrome At Budapest Was Badly Pitted By Bomb Craters And Hangars Were Damaged By Hits When American Heavy Bombers Of The Mediterranean Allied Air Force Struck At Targets In The Hungarian Capital For The First Time.

Fighter strip in Normandy, France was being used for scheduled operations on 13 June 1944. Photo shows it going full blast, with invasion flotsam still littering the beach at right. Annotated are: damaged Spitfire (1), still littering the beach at

These Japaneseanese ships at Manokwari, Dutch New Guinea are the target of planes of the 5th Air Force's 3rd Bombardment Group, 90th Bombardment Squadron as they flew mast-high to carry out a mission on June 9, 1944.

Bari, Italy

Railroad marshalling yards at Reutlingen, Germany under attack by the 9th AF on 1 March 1945.

Doughboys Take Jagged Cliffs - Infantrymen Of The 382Nd Regiment, 96Th Division, Inched Up This Escarpment Against Heavy Japanese Resistance During The Final Days Of The Battle For Okinawa Shima. These Rocks Show The Effect Of Artillery Fire Which Blasted Out

During bombing raid on Brussels/Evere Airfield, Belgium 9/7/43. (3 1/2 miles N.E. of Brussels).

CRIPPLING NAZI RAILROAD COMMUNICATIONS-The marshalling yard at Criel, France, controls traffic for the channel port of Dieppe, along with ports to the north via Amiens to Paris and to part of Belgium. B-26 Marauders of the USAAF attacked

Aircraft, Burma, India & Bombing,

Japanesean. Pw Supplies Are Dropped By 20Th Air Force Superforts After The War Ends. (Camp Unidentified).

A Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress of the U.S. Eighth Air Force passes over the heart of Berlin as smoke from fires started in the Tempelhof area blanket part of the capital, Feb. 3, 1945. This was one of a force of 1,000 planes which unloaded 2,500 tons

Republic P-47 Thunderbolts Of A Fighter Group Set Fire To Houses Of A Reported German Division Command Post At Calderara Di Reno, Near Bologna, Italy, While Supporting The In Conjunction With The American 5Th Army In Its Drive Northward. At Least Four

The Marifu Rail Yards, 2 Miles East Of Iwakuni, And 2 Miles South Of Otaka, Japan, After The Bombing Raid Of 14 August 1945 By B-29 Superforts Of The 21St Bomber Command.

Beneath this cloud of smoke lies the bridge at Le Port Boulet in France, attacked by Consolidated B-24 Liberators of the U.S. 8th AAF on 15 June 1944.

Europe - During One Heavy Attack Against The Wobbly Enemy, One Consolidated B-24 Of The 15Th Af Accidentally Dropped Its Bombs On The Tail Of Its Sister Ship Below It. Consolidated B-24 Going Down After Hit.Ail Of The Sister Ship.

Flying Fortresses of the N.W. African Air Forces do some precision bombing on the German-held Sedes airfield, near Salonika, Greece. Note the extremely wide dispersal of planes over almost the entire area of this photo. Some of these planes may be

Another rail and road junction is smashed as part of the Air Plan, supporting the Allied landings below Rome on 22 Jan 44. Prior to D-day, the Strategic Air Forces smashed rial centers in Northern Italy; but on D-day the heavies moved in close and

JOLLY ROGERS OVER THE PHILIPPINES. A Consolidated B-24 Liberator of the U.S. Army 5th Air Force, Far East Air Forces, speeds over Davao during an attack on that Japanese held port of Mindanao, in the Philippines. In this return-by-air the

Bomb damage to shipping in Manila Bay, Philippine Islands. 15 February 1945.

For the sixth consecutive day, U.S. 8th Air Force heavy bombers struck at Nazi supply lines feeding Rundstedt's divisions just behind the battle lines. Here smoke from heavy concentrations of bombs cover the rail marshalling yards at Euskirchen

As the first wave of U.S. 8th Air Force heavies fight their way over the key rail marshalling yards at Kaiserlautern, Germany, the initial bursts from the direct hits are seen about to surge skyward. This was part of the 25 Dec 44 attack which was a

Area 19 - New Guinea--R--Bentoe Bay--Babo I.--Babo Airport--Airdrome, Military Inst., River, Road--*--8 0235 E 13324--*--Restricted. 1509.549 - Babo Airdrome, Babo Island, Bentoe Bay, Dutch New Guinea. U.S. Air Force Photo.

Aerial view of a part of the area affected during the flood disaster of 1953. Note: The description of this photo is not yet complete and will be supplemented on the basis of the data available at a later stage. However, of many photos of the flood disaster 1953, the location is unknown.

Chaos best describes the results of the 22 February 1945 attack by Flying Fortresses on the Villingen Marshalling yards, Germany. Rolling stock was scattered over the entire yard, every line was cut and repair facilities were badly damaged. At least

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