Some of the Würzburg wartime industry centered on manufacture of parts for U-boot submarines. This industry was located along the Main River, and the buildings were substantially destroyed during the 1945 bombings.  (Stadtarchiv Würzburg)

On the left is an RAF reconnaissance photo, taken after the bombing on 16 March 1945. The burned-out shell of the Residenz can be seen near the lower left. Recovered phosphorus (incendiary) bombs that did not explode are displayed in the "Gedenkraum (Memorial Room) 16.März 1945" in the Rathaus.  (Royal Air Force photo / Stadtarchiv Würzburg)

Other bombs in the display include 250 to 500-pound high explosive types, and a huge British HC 4000-pound "Cookie" block-buster bomb.

These photos from the United States Strategic Bombing Survey show (left) the beginning of an 8th Air Force attack on 23 February 1945 - the bombs are not yet hitting, but the smoke markers have been dropped on the target of the rail yards (white trails). The Residenz is in the right-center of the photo, with the Main River at the bottom. On the right, Würzburg as it was seen in April 1945. The severely-damaged St. Kilian's Cathedral is in the center.  (National Archives, RG 342-FH, 3A22668, 3A22667)

The Würzburg Hauptbahnhof (main train station) burns after a February 1945 bombing attack. The train station was later rebuilt, but in a more modern style.  (Stadtarchiv Würzburg)

Soldiers of the U.S. 42nd Infantry Division cleared the rubble of Würzburg on 3-4 April 1945. These soldiers are moving out of the Dominikanerplatz on the narrow Innerer Graben street. Compare the street lamp seen in the distance in the period photo, just above the GIs' heads in the center, to those seen in the right foreground and the center distance in the modern view.  (U.S. Army photo / Stadtarchiv Würzburg)  Click here to visit a page concerning the fighting west of Würzburg, during the American advance from the Rhein.

This GI has found a disabled German Jadgpz.38 tank destroyer "Hetzer" at the corner of Sanderring and Münzstraße. (Dr. Hans Oppelt, ed., "Würzburger Chronik," Würzburg, Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, 1947 (published under American Military Government Information Control)

GIs drive their jeep down Sanderring, toward the Hetzer seen in the photo above. The original ornate building on the corner has been replaced, but the same courthouse building can still be seen in the distance.  (U.S. Army photo)

This photo, taken by U.S. Army soldier Jerry Pinkowski, shows the burned out Würzburg Residenz.  (courtesy Scott Pinkowski, Lost Images of World War II - visit Scott's page for other then-and-now views of war torn Würzburg)

Same view today. The magnificent 18th century rococo palace of the Prince-Bishops of Würzburg has been wonderfully restored. (see also below)

The Baroque mansion "Falkenhaus" is another example of the wonderful post-war rebuilding of Würzburg.  (Stadtarchiv Würzburg)

The Baroque Bishops Palace (Hof Conti) was badly damaged during the bombing, and completely restored.  (Stadtarchiv Würzburg)

The Gestapo headquarters building in Würzburg was located at Ludwigstraße 2. The building was badly damaged by bombs, and was not rebuilt in the same style.  (Stadtarchiv Würzburg)

A GI guards the famous Alte Main Brücke (Old Main River Bridge) and the rubble of the Würzburg Altstadt (old city). His guard post is at the base of the statue of Saint Colonatus, one of 12 statues on the bridge (a headless Pat. Franconia appears at the left). The domeless spire of the Neubaukirche church, nearly obscured by post-war construction in the modern view, appears in the right distance.  (U.S. Army photo)

Soldiers of the U.S. 42nd Infantry Division (the "Rainbow" Division), which had captured Würzburg on 4 April 1945, cross a temporary iron trestle erected on the Löwenbrücke bridge to span a portion that was blown up by retreating Germans. Not visible at this scale, but seen on the original photo above, is painted graffiti in white letters on the lower portion of the Marienberg Fortress, closest to the river - "Heil Hitler!"
In the second photo below, men of the 431st Anti-Aircraft Battalion guard the river crossings with quad-50 caliber machineguns. The "Heil Hitler!" on the Marienberg Fortress has been replaced with "42nd RAINBOW INFANTRY DIVISION."  (42nd "Rainbow" Infantry Division. Baton Rouge, LA, Army & Navy Publishing Co., 1946)

   The work was a gift to Würzburg from the Russian artist Vadim Sigur.

  This 1946 view of the Marktplatz shows the rebuilding in progress. The fallen rubble has been cleared from the streets, and is being hauled away by a Trommelzug (rubble train), a common sight in most German postwar cities.  (Stadtarchiv Würzburg)

Under new management - a Bundeswehr parade in the Residenzplatz in 1965. Most of the Residenz exterior had been rebuilt by that time, but a large pile of rubble can still be seen in the courtyard, behind the Franconia fountain. (Compare to the 1945 photo by Jerry Pinkowski, above.)  (Stadtarchiv Würzburg)

One of the M-47 tanks "on guard" at the Residenzplatz. The photo in the first group above was shot from the balcony of the bank building in the background of these photos.  (Stadtarchiv Würzburg)