WELCOME TO
LUFTWAFFE TARGET RECONNAISSANCE PHOTOGRAPHY
OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
THE SITE OF
LUFTWAFFE AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS OF WW2 BRITAIN
-----------------------
The Luftwaffe Aerial Pictures of the UK in WW2
Britain's towns, cities and landscapes have changed greatly since the Second World War. Through the destruction of war, the Luftwaffe opened a window on a United Kingdom never to be the same again. The great ports of the west were blighted by bombs and the centres of our industrial cities were ripped apart.
In the post war reconstruction of Britain huge changes have occurred.
The population has increased, motorways have been built, industry has migrated from the centre of town and cities, farms have and field size have grown.
The Luftwaffe archive of reconnaissance photography provides a unique record of the landscape of the past.
The aircraft are flying due west - the two docks are the Royal Albert Docks - the one to the right is the Victoria Dock . Blitz raid on Silvertown, London.7th September 1940
A Brief History of the Reconnaissance Photographs of the Luftwaffe
In the first years of the Second World War, and the years leading up to it, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to undertake a secret aerial reconnaissance of the United Kingdom (and all of Europe) in preparation for an invasion. After the collapse of the Third Reich, the race to salvage the secrets of Hitler’s huge intelligence gathering operation began. The Luftwaffe archive was of extreme value both to the west and the Soviet Union and competing Soviet and Allied intelligence operatives searched desperately in the debris of the Third Reich for archive of the Luftwaffe.
In June 1945, British intelligence Unit stumbled upon 16 tons of reconnaissance pictures in a barn at Bad Reichenall, deep in the forests of Bavaria. The entire cache was transported and flown back to Britain. There were no announcements and few people were aware of this major discovery. The archive was classified as top secret and disappeared into the vaults of CIA and the British secret service.
Fragments of this unique record did leach out and in 1974 the entire Luftwaffe archive was declassified and free for public access. There is no complete archive and many of the records are missing yet to be discovered.
22.Firth of Forth Bridge.
16th October, 1939
The aerial photograph of the attack on the
Forth Bridge. The ships in the picture are
the cruisers HMS Southampton and
HMS Edinburgh with the destroyer HMS
Mohawk. The Mohawk sustained bomb
damage in the attack. The Luftwaffe's main
target was the Forth Bridge, that the ships
were there was a coincidence.
ADOLF’S BRITISH HOLIDAY SNAPS.
I recently published this new hard back book about the images which is now available & signed from me.
There are many images of the United Kingdom with background information to the Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance photographs.
I am also available to give talks on this subject.
Nigel J.Clarke
Published: 2013
Hardback: 224 pages
Cover Price: £18.99 (includes UK postage)
Author: Nigel J. Clarke ISBN: 978 1 78155 105 9
IDENTIFICATION COMPETITION.
Competition Details: In the past I ran a competition to identify a
Luftwaffe image which I could not locate. I had a great response.
I have decided to put a prize of an A4 printed copy of any of the
images to the first person to email the place and name.
nigel@njcpublications.co.uk
