Krupp plant destroyed by Allied bombing.

Krupp plant destroyed by Allied bombing. The devastation wrought to the Krupp arms works in Essen by Allied bombs is shown in this aerial photo made from an artillery observation plane of the 79th Division, Ninth U.S. Army. Troops of the 17th U.S. Airborne Division occupied Essen April 10, 1945, against little enemy resistance. The largest steel work of Europe, the Krupp plant was vital to the enemy war machine since it supplied parts to other German assembly plants. Essen, which had a peacetime population of 670,000, is located in the midst of one of the world's richest hard soal districts and was called the arsenal of Germany.