May 21 will mark 75 years since the end of the Blitz, nine infamous months of devastating bombing across the U.K. by Nazi Germany during World War II. But the bombardment did not stop then, particularly for London. Between 1939 and 1945, air raids and rocket attacks reduced 250 acres of buildings to dust and rubble citywide. Close to 30,000 Londoners were killed, and about five times as many were injured.
Amid it all, the London County Council—the old central administrative authority of what used to be called the County of London—diligently mapped the city’s traumatic transformation. After an air raid, rescue officers, demolition contractors, and district surveyors from the LCC tiptoed the torn-up blocks, noting human casualties and physical destruction at every lot. Workers back at the LCC offices would then transcribe this information onto a vast set of maps, charting and classifying the extent of the bomb damage in vivid color. (The key to the maps featured here is below.)
