Clearing bomb-damaged houses, London, 1940

Photograph, World War Two, Home Front, (1939-1945) 1940.

During the Blitz around 5,000 members of the Pioneer Corps, armed with picks and shovels, helped clear the rubble and debris caused by the German bombing of London. The Blitz was the name given to the constant bombing of London between September 1940 and May 1941. During this period more than 20,000 Londoners were killed and 1.4 million were bombed out of their homes. That meant that one in every six people in the capital had no place to live.

One of 58 British official photographs.