Destruction and War Damages

Photos illustrating the aftermath of significant destruction caused by earthquakes and war, depicting ruined buildings and devastation.

Vintage photograph. Ruins of an ammunition train, which exploded after being stretched by North Korean planes, at take railway station

The Great Kantō earthquake (東大震災 Kantō daishinsai) struck the Kantō Plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58 in the morning on Saturday, September 1, 1923. Varied accounts indicate the duration of the earthquake was between four and 10 minutes. The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake later surpassed that record, at magnitude 9.0. The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.9 on the Moment magnitude scale (Mw), with its focus deep beneath Izu Ōshima Island in the Sagami Bay. The cause was a rupture of part of the convergent boundary where the Philippine Sea Plate is subducting beneath the Okhotsk Plate along the line of the Sagami Trough. This earthquake devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, and the surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kantō region. The power was so great in Kamakura, over 60 km (37 mi) from the epicenter, it moved the Great Buddha statue, which weighs about 93 short tons (84,000 kg), almost two feet. Estim

Axis Wheels Stop Rolling - Bomb-torn wreckage litters the ground after an Allied air raid on a railway siding at Matruh, Egypt. December 09, 1942. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).

Haifa Police Building Wrecked By Terrorist Explosion -- A General view of the Haifa Police canteen which was wrecked by the blast.Haifa district police quarters were wrecked and at least six adjoining building including the Post Office were severely damaged January 12 when a car load of explosives was detonated against the wall. Four police officers - two British and two Arab - were killed and some 150 persons were injured by the explosion. January 15 1947. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).

Today's pictures from Normandy of the new British advance. Bulldozers clearing Debris after entering Faubourg De Vaucelles from Caen. September 11, 1944. (Photo by Sports & General Press Agency Ltd.).

Nazis Inspect Stalingrad Damage -- German soldiers examine wrecked German made generators in a damaged Stalingrad power plant according to the German captions accompanying this picture which arrived here today from Lisbon. January 9, 1943. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).

Vintage photograph. Ruins of an ammunition train, which exploded after being stretched by North Korean planes, at take railway station

09/30/1936. House Destroyed by National Aviation.

Anefo photo collection. Destructions Rotterdam bombing 14 1940. Hoogstraat. 1940. Rotterdam, South Holland

The caption accompanying this picture, transmitted from Moscow today, said that this wreckage, caused by German air raiders was all that was left of a school, after the attack. The Russians asserted that the Luftwaffe in its fourth mass assault, had failed to penetrate the city's defenses. Damage was confined to non-military objectives, it was said. July 25, 1941. (Photo by ACME Radiophoto).

05/31/1915. The War in Eastern Europe. State in which the Przemysl Forts are Found, after the last siege it has suffered. Photo: "I'Illustration" -Approximate date.

The effects of the 305 bombings on a village, Italian soldiers at the front, World War I, from L'Illustrazione Italiana, Year XLII, No 33, August 15, 1915.

Anefo photo collection. Report Putten. Second World War, Ruins. October 29, 1945. Gelderland, Putten

The remains of one of the six large aircraft which included two flying Fortresses and two Liberators, destroyed on the aerodrome in the Japanese air raid on Broome, on March 3, 1942. (Photo by Australian War Memorial).

Anefo photo collection. Explosion in Krimpen to the IJssel. Overview of the ravage. May 8, 1968. Krimpen aan den IJssel

U.S. infantrymen of the 255th Infantry Regiment moving down street to hunt out Hun after recent raid by U.S. 63rd Division, Waldenburg, Germany, U.S. Army Signal Corps, April 16, 1945

General Bomb, Fires etc. November 20, 1944.

Don River Battle - War File. December 2, 1941.

'Du tardenois a la Picardie; en Picardie: le passage de l'Avre, entre Morisel et Moreuil, le 8 aout 1918, au matin; construction d'une passerelie par le genie et les chasseurs', 1918. From "L'Album de la Guerre 1914-1919, Volume 2" L'Illustration, Paris, 1924.

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Photo reportage Palembang. Canal in Alembang. In the foreground debris, distorted metal and an open suitcase. January 1947. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies, Palembang, Sumatra

A brigade command on the Karst, World War I, from L'Illustrazione Italiana, Year XLIII, No 43, October 22, 1916.

First pictures of Fall of Canton -- Guns Abandoned By Fleeing Chinese -- Scene near Wongsha station, showing destruction caused by the fires started by the Chinese. Note the abandoned gun.First pictures reached London on November 3 of the capture of Canton by the Japanese on October 21 after a rapid ten day advance in which the Chinese were taken by surprise. Before they abandoned the city the Chinese started fires at several strategic points, and as the water supply had been cut the Japanese were forced to use dynamite to stop some of the fires. Military equipment, rolling stock, guns etc were either destroyed or abandoned by the Chinese. January 09, 1939. (Photo by The Associated Press Of Great Britain Ltd.)

Sebastopol Stormed In 72 Hour Offensive - South Bay in Liberated Sebastopol.72 hours after the red army had opened its "Al Out" offensive on Sebastopol, Soviet troops were in possession of the key town of the Crimea. In an Order of the day on 9.5 44. ***** announced: "Troops of the Fourth ***** front, with the support of massed blow by the Air Force and the artillery, in three days offensive battles, broke through heavily fortified and long established German Defences and ... took by storm the fortress and most important Naval base on the black Sea, the city of Sebastopol...."The ***** is now completely free of German forces. May 13, 1944. (Photo by U.S.S.R. Official Photo).

A short circuit triggered a violent fire on 05/26/1967 in the ABC Machinery warehouse. The photograph shows the appearance of the ship with the Destroyed Stereotypes.

Salvage! -- Grief-stricken Londoners mad homeless by Axis bombs in the night raid on May 17 search among the wreckage for what they can retrieve of their possessions. Note the laden barrow Civilians suffered casualties. July 12, 1943.

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Medan, Malang, Linggadjati. Malang. The European district of Malang, as it was left by the TNI. August 1948. Indonesia, Java, Malang, Dutch East Indies

Fourteen persons were buried on Sept. 15 when this house in novo Brodno, a suburb of Warsaw, collapsed as a result of its undermining by bomb damage, the German "front line" being less than a mile away at the time. Residents are shown attempting to dig out picture was made by Mr. Julien Bryan, the American traveller and Lecturer after his arrival in Warsaw on Sept. 7, when the polish Government, Correspondents, and photographers had left the city. The Stayed. on for two weeks after that, taking pictures under extremely difficult conditions. October 17, 1939. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).

Photograph showing Canadian soldiers inside a captured German U-boat pen at Boulogne, France, 1944. On either side of the dock are lifts, which had been used for raising U-boats (submarines) out of the water. Boulogne was captured from Nazi forces on 22nd September 1944 after a siege lasting several weeks. Date: 1944

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Medan, Malang, Linggadjati. Malang. The European district of Malang, as it was left by the TNI. August 1948. Indonesia, Java, Malang, Dutch East Indies

A photograph showing the damage caused to the stands at Wimbledon after an air raid by German bombers. Date: 6th November 1940, p181

War Destruction in France. Photographs of Marshall Plan Programs, Exhibits, and Personnel

05/31/1937. National Redoubt, blown up by Republican Troops, on the Front.

Street Fighting In German Silesia -- The Russian caption accompanying this photo, which was received in New York by Radio from Moscow on Feb. 5, describes it as Russian troops engaged in street fighting in Gleiwitz, in German Silesia, on the First Ukrainian Front. February 05, 1945. (Photo by Associated Press Radiophoto).

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Fire at the workshop of the Army Technical Service in Solo. the fire. 1949. Indonesia, Java, Dutch East Indies, Solo

Desolation In Stalingrad -- Except for two German ***** beside a wrecked tank at left, this section of Stalingrad scene of desolation when a German photographers made this picture October. Since that time, the Russians have ***** Ensive. Photo reached New York neutral *****. December 9, 1942. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).

A relief worker walks through the rubble of a building destroyed by the July 16, 1990 earthquake. Country: Philippines (PHL)

Anefo photo collection. British troops Surabaya. November 1945. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies, Surabaya

Wrecked Axis Tank And Soldier's Grave In Desert - The grave of an Axis soldier in the Western Desert is shadowed by the wreckage of a tank which bears a painted "E". The caption which accompanied this Official British picture said the letter meant the tank had been "Eliminated". Today El Agheila fell to the advancing British Eighth Army and Marshal Rommel and his Axis forces were fleeing westward. December 13, 1942. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).

Picture of the havoc caused in Yokohama by heavy incendiary bombing. Great areas were burnt out, and inhabitants were forced to live in tin shanties constructed from the wreckage. Only buildings left intact were those built to withstand earthquakes. September 06, 1945. (Photo by Australian Official Picture).

Richmond, Virginia, after Evacuation 1865 Alexander Gardner American, Scottish. Richmond, Virginia, after Evacuation 268015

The Royal Navy during the Second World War Firefighters busy on board HMS FORMIDABLE after a Japanese suicide plane had crashed on the flight deck whilst she was operating off the Sakishima Islands in support of the Okinawa landings. The flight deck is strewn with wreckage and black smoke is pouring from the still burning fires at the far end of the flight deck.

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Garoet. Surfision actions around Tjibatoe and Wanaradja. Population drows around the military car success together. In the foreground debris of a destroyed building. October 15, 1947. Indonesia, Java, Dutch East Indies

German soldiers with mines going to an area that has to be mined.

Winston Churchill inspecting air raid damage in the dockyard area of Valletta, Malta, 19 November 1943. The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill inspects air raid damage during a visit to the dockyard at Valletta on the island of Malta.

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Garut Tasikmalaja. Mountain potrouille and tea firm Soemadra. Destruction of tea company?. November 23, 1947. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies

Desborough Mort Pty. Ltd. Fire - September-1935. September 30, 1935.

Where a V-2 Rocket Fell in England -- Rescue workers search through the debris of buildings wrecked by the explosion of German V-2 rocket bomb which fell in Southern England. November 16, 1944. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).

The town of Maldon, England after it was visited by a German Zeppelin in World War I, circa 1916

Aftermath of Black Tom Explosion on Black Tom Island, July 30, 1916, Jersey City, NJ

***** motor wagons, and other equipment littered the roads westwards along which the enemy forces retreated before the 8th Army in North Africa. Some had been left undamaged at the side of the roads, others burned out or blown to pieces. An Ammunition train wrecked on the railway near Daba in a daylight raid by R.A.F. fighters. One of the trucks has its side blown out and its roof riddled with holes from the exploding ammunition. April 21, 1943.

09/30/1936. View of the Guard House in the Casa de Campo.

England & London - General Scenes - War File. August 1, 1945. (Photo by U.S. Official of War Information Picture).

Flight crash at Boden 15/6-1944. The SE-AFM aircraft was a Waco made by Weaver Aircraft in Ohio. It was owned by Svensk Aviation Service when it crashed in 1944 06 15.

Sabotage in Marseilles Gas Works. General view of the wrecked gas works in Marseilles. A terrific explosion took place recently in the Marseilles gas works. As is usual, the Vichy press accused De Gaullists and Communists as responsible for the damage. August 27, 1942. (Photo by Keystone).

Hurricane Wrecked Car -- A Puzzled Policeman views the Little he can see of a Fellow officer's car under a Pile of Cement Blocks. The wall of Ray's Boatyard collapsed during the storm.Hurricane Dam - Age. Policeman surveys what little can be seen of a police car after a hurricane had passed over Miami, Florida. October 23, 1950. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).

Photograph showing one of the main streets of Coventry, still burning after a German air-raid, 1940. In the background a group of fire-fighters pump water onto one of the blazes. 1940

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Photo reportage Palembang. Destroyed bank building. Including a destroyed building is being searched for the debris to the presence of coins or banknotes. January 1947. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies, Palembang, Sumatra

Anefo photo collection. Bombardment Rotterdam. Post office. 1940. Rotterdam, South Holland

March 1916. In the north of France. Medical Ambulance among the Ruins of a town located on the front line.

Shattered Berlin Working District -- Wreckage and debris fill Frankfurter Allee, near Lasdehner Strasse, in a working district in the eastern section of Berlin, following an allied aerial attack on February 26, 1945, prior to the fall of the city. July 31, 1945. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).

Air raid damage, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, World War II, April 1940. Artist: Unknown

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Action Tegal. A thoroughly destroyed by the TNI in Poerwokerto. 24 July 1948. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies, Purwokerto, Tegal

Palestine Post Bombed -- A daylight view, taken Feb 2, is seen of the wrecked buildings after the explosion and fire. in foreground a burned out ambulance is seen.***** The only English language newspaper in the country, and a bomb thrown into the ground floor printing press, in a moment the whole building was ablaze along with a paper store on the opposite side of the street.There were about fifty people in the building at the time of the explosion. most of whom are safe, though many are injured. February 05, 1948. (Photo by Associated Press Photo).

Atomic & Hydrogen Bomb Possible Attacks - War General. January 21, 1955.

After an air road in Madrid. December 18, 1936. (Photo by The Associated Press of Great Britain Ltd.).

Destruction of El Adem, South of TobrukThe results of royal air force bombing on one of the workshops at El Adem.El Adem was the largest Italian Aerodrome in Libya. Thanks to the bombing by the Royal Air Force the remains of more than 87 Italian aeroplanes were found lying unserviceable when the British took the place. The Italians evacuated the aerodrome leaving masses of provisions. Aircraft fuel and equipment behind them. They set fire to the remaining hangars and workshops, but the large electric power station was left unsabotaged by the Italians in their hasty retreat. April 16, 1941. (Photo by British Official Photo).

Tremendous Destruction During Great Don Battle - New Picture -- Masses of wrecked army lorries and other war materials photographed on the don front after the tide of war had passed and left this tremendous destruction in its wake. Picture just received in London today, July 31. October 5, 1942.

Explosions are shown in Jaffa's slums where British soldiers used dynamite to destroy munitions depots the Arabs were using.

In the front line. Destroyed factories in Russia during world war one

Telefon-patrol J.R.64 Valdol. .

04/30/1956. Damage caused by the earthquake in Albolote.

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Action Tegal. The Dilarang Masoek sign - prohibited access - has not been able to keep the TNI outside the door from this factory in Poerwokerto. 24 July 1948. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies, Purwokerto, Tegal

08/11/1937. Madrid Front. House occupied by Italian Troops, which was Evicted in a violent counterattack by Republican Troops.

The Bomb Outrage In Jerusalem - These pictures, just received by air from Palestine, show scenes at King David Hotel in Jerusalem after the bomb explosion which wrecked the British H.Q.British troops carrying a casualty out from the debris of the hotel. July 26, 1946. (Photo by Sport & General Press Agency Ltd.).

Photo collection Service for army contacts Indonesia. DLC Environment Brastagi Braspoe Not Correct. The remainder remains of a burned out building with corrugated iron. November 24, 1947. Indonesia, Dutch East Indies

Handley Page Halifaxes of No. 35 Squadron RAF bombing the German battlecruisers SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU in dry-dock at Brest, 18 December 1941. Vertical aerial photograph taken during a daylight attack on German warships docked at Brest, France. Two Handley Page Halifaxes of No. 35 Squadron RAF fly towards the dry docks in which the battlecruisers SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU are berthed (right), and over which a smoke screen is rapidly spreading.

Royal Palace In Berlin Damaged -- A gapping hole is visible in front of the royal palace in Berlin as military vehicles move through the nearly deserted square on May 4, according to Signal Corps caption on this photo made by a U.S. 9th Army photographer, one of first American cameramen to reach city. Picture was released in Washington on June 4. June 4, 1945. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).

September 1944-Livorno, Italy in ruins after the retreat of German troops as the Allies advance in Italy.

After Axis Ammunition Train Blew Up ,, Allied bombers hit Axis Ammunition train at Simla in the Western Desert. It blew up, attering sections far and wide and destroying a section of track. Is scene faced the advancing British engineers, whose job it was to ***** the line quickly servicable. December 09, 1942. (Photo by AP Wirephoto).

Accurate Allied bombing laid waste to this section of a French city which the Germans defended vigorously but in vain. October 2, 1944. (Canadian Army - W.I.B.).

Elsevier photo collection. Princess Juliana Koningin Wilhelmina visit Lievelde windhoos. queen consequence leaving heaviest strolled farms Lievelde .. June 3, 1927. Lievelde

07/31/1913. Terrible fire in Melilla. Appearance of the market square during the fire that destroyed many stalls in a few moments, leaving hundreds of families in misery.

Anefo photo collection. Airplane of American Air Force crashed in Maurik at Tiel. Social workers at the wreckage of the cracked phantom jet hunter. June 21, 1971. Gelderland, Maurik

Bomb wrecked houses, Yarmouth

. 1944 Niksic bombing.

Graveyard Of A Greek City -- Not a living thing is visible amid the rubbled buildings of Zakinthos,one of the Greek island communities destroyed in last week's series of earthquakes. Smoke still rises from a-burning building in this low-level air view by Associated Press staff photographer Eddie Worth. Naval ships of five nations were pouring in tons of emergency supplies for hungry and homeless survivors today as new tremors shook the devastated islands of Kefallinia, Ithaca and Zakinthos. August 17, 1953. (Photo by Eddie Worth, AP Wirephoto).

Cigarette Kills TenThe wrecked house. One remaining wall is being demolished.A man living in the via Chiasserini, Milan, Italy, could not sleep one night recently, so at 3 A.M. He got up and lit a cigarette. Instantly there was a violent explosion, and the house, except for one wall, was demolished. Mystery surrounds the cause of the explosion, but it is thought that there may have been a leaking gas-pipe or an escape of subterranean methane gas. June 17, 1952. (Photo by Paul Popper).

The Russians Come Back Home: What They Find - The Vyazma Power Station. The Germans have blown up the vital buildings fired the rest. But the turbines survive and can be salvaged. First to get to work on the tangled wreckage are the women, who must start rebuilding while their men fight. February 1, 1944. (Photo by Pictorial Press).

Ministry of Information Second World War Press Agency Print Collection

U.S. Tanks Complete Mopping Up Operations In Cherbourg -- American tanks plough the rubble in the streets of Cherbourg to complete mopping up operations against the Germans after the Nazis surrendered the city June 27, 1944. Twenty-thousand Nazi soldiers were taken prisoner at Cherbourg by U.S. troops. August 21, 1944. (Photo by U.S. Office of War Information Picture).

EDITORIAL Winston Churchill inspects the ruins of part of the Houses of Parliament after London's severest air raid by German bombers, 10-11 May, 1941. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, 1874 -

News photographer (lower left) documenting ruins in Hiroshima in 1947. It is possibly Stanley Troutman, returning to the ruins he photographed as a combat photographer in Sept. 7, 1945. World War 2. (BSLOC_2014_10_126)

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