How long to cleanup?

[ian]

Budapest is probably one of the most battered cities ive ever been to ,,not only 1944-45 but 1956 ,i was 14 years old when i last went there and there are very few buildings that dont have bulet holes ,or some kind of damage , the Hungarians seem to not want to repair it ,,they want to remember what they went through ,, my mother god bless her was hungarian ,she came to the UK in 1946
cheers ian

[Danmark]

I remember reading in one of Ambrose's books ( or maybe a TV documentary ) that US soldiers were amazed to see as they entered the German cities how diligent the local populace was as far as cleaning up immediately after the destruction had stopped. Bricks were being stacked, areas cleared, furniture salvaged in a holistic group / community effort to get back to some semblance of 'ordinary life'. This was in stark contrast to what they had seen in other countries where the civilians almost seemed lost and unable / unwilling to recover as quickly. Teutonic efficiency I suppose?

Dan

[MetalCrue1]

I guess the only thing the pupulation had to do was cleaning up from sunrise to dawn every single human in the country.

[ObKrieger]

I remember reading in one of Ambrose's books ( or maybe a TV documentary ) that US soldiers were amazed to see as they entered the German cities how diligent the local populace was as far as cleaning up immediately after the destruction had stopped. Bricks were being stacked, areas cleared, furniture salvaged in a holistic group / community effort to get back to some semblance of 'ordinary life'. This was in stark contrast to what they had seen in other countries where the civilians almost seemed lost and unable / unwilling to recover as quickly. Teutonic efficiency I suppose?

Dan

From what I can see in photos, it looks like a lot of German towns had already made some progress by the time the Allies arrived.

[Wagriff]

Big industrial and important cities in Germany were, naturally, more heavily bombed than others. In most cities, the bombing raids were simply targeting important or vital military sites, but in others, where the city itself was the main target, the damage was beyond imagination. Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg....all were nearly obliterated along with enormous segments of their civilian populations. The rebuilding in these decimated cities continues even to this day. Not only are the rebuilding efforts aimed at buildings, but the infrastructures and the underground damages that were sustained are still being worked on. Water lines, gas mains, electric cables, subways, underground storage facilities, sewage and drainage systems-even steam pipes....in many cases at horribly deep levels, and all in need of repair and restorations. In most cases, the rubble from the streets themselves was cleared as soon as bodily possible, to allow access to heavy equipment, public transportation, fire fighting vehicles and administrative vehicles, but the actual pulling down of the still standing ruins and removal of the debris-as well as sorting, cleaning bricks, and recycling useable bits went on for Decades. The fact that the Winter of 1945 was of almost record cold and severe weather did not help much either, as the work had to go on regardless. Naturally, German cities suffered heavily, but Other countries also took massive hits. Budapest, Vienna, Leningrad, Kharkov, Stalingrad, Moscow and many many more still show the scars and signs of wounds to even today. Some Russian cities it is nearly if not totally impossible to spot Any older structures at all still standing-the entire City was virtually replaced with new construction. And, not to forget....Europe was still in the process of rebuilding the damages from World War One when the second war intervened. So, nearly 100 years have passed since it all took place and one can still see abundant evidence of the devastation and destruction that tore through all of Europe. Lots of sobering reminders....