Berlin in Trümmern - 1945 -
William Vandivert (1912 – 1989) from American LIFE Time magazine, was the first Western photojournalist to reach Berlin and to gain access to Hitler’s Führerbunker, after the fall of the Third Reich in May 1945. He took a series of photographs including these excellent aerial views showing devastation and bombed out buildings over wide area following Allied capture of the city. 33-year-old Vandivert reported to LIFE: “found almost every famous building a shambles. In the center of town GIs could walk for blocks and see no living thing, hear nothing but the stillness of death, smell nothing but the stench of death.”
On 9-10 July 1945 he took off from Tempelhof airport aboard an US liaison aircraft and overflew the Nazi capital to shot the devastation caused by Allied bombs. A handful of his pictures of the ruined city and the bunker were published in LIFE magazine on 23 July 1945.
These incredible pictures show how the combined British and American aerial bombings and the final battle with the Soviet armies had left the German capital.
In this closer view we can clearly see in the middle the courtyard in the 'Bendlerblock' where the 20 July conspirators were executed including von Stauffenberg by firing squad shortly after 'Operation Valkyrie'. The 'Shell Haus' is at the extreme right of the photo.
[Photo: Life Magazine © Time Inc.]
The damaged 'Bendlerblock', this time looking south from the Tiergarten. This view shows that the Bendlerbrücke bridge (top left) over the Landwehrkanal has been blown up. The 'Shell Haus' is next to it, note that seems to be a light Flak position atop of the building.
[Photo: Life Magazine © Time Inc.]