Sandbags Collection

Blitz in London -- Whitechapel Fire Station
Whitechapel Fire Station in Whitechapel Road having suffered heavy blast damage following a bombing raid on 8 September 1940

Rifle Brigade in position, Western Front - WWI
The First Battalion of the British Rifle Brigade in position close to the German trenches under shell fire - WWI. Date: circa 1915

AFS despatch rider and messenger, WW2
An AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service) despatch rider and messenger on a motorbike at an LFS sub-station during the Second World War

LCC-LFB enclosed pump at Lambeth fire station
Pictured at Brigade Headquarters, Lambeth SE1, an example of an 1930 enclosed London pump with carried breathing apparatus

WW2 - Laundry - It ll soon be hanging on the Siegfried Line
WW2 humour - " Two British soldiers doing their laundry comment that " It ll soon be hanging on the Siegfried Line!". Date: circa 1944

Air Raid patrol in London, WWII
Portrait study of a man on guard to warn the city of air attacks, with rattle in his hand to announce the use of gas - his handbell to sound the All Clear

WWII September 1939 Circular sandbag redoubt
Anti-aircraft post on the East Coast constructed of sandbags, formed in the first week of the Second World War. Date: 1939

Bystander cover - Bruce Bairnsfather, Armistice Day
Front cover of The Bystander illustrated by the magazines most famous cartoonist, Captain Bruce Bairnsfather. With another world war underway

WW1 - Amiens Cathedral, France - Protection from air attack using a wall of sandbags (exterior). Date: circa 1915

Allies on the Somme, British and French soldiers, WW1
Allies on the Somme, a British and French soldier, WW1 Date: circa 1916

Her Majesty, the Queen amongst sandbags
Her Majesty, the Queen photographed amongst sandbags, in an arched doorway in South Africa House, with the King, George VI in the background

Two nurses in uniform, on thousands of sandbags
Two nurses in uniform, pictured on thousands of sandbags. Photographed from above, outside a hospital, with sandbags stored for defence

WW1 - British soldiers firing from a captured German trench
WW1 - British soldiers firing from a defensive position in a captured German trench, strewn with the bodies of their vanquished foe. Date: circa 1916

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Legionnaires in the front of the Sierra chopping pines and filling sandbags to make barricades against the enemy aviation

SPAIN. Madrid. National Library. Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Madrid National Library. Protecting with sandbags the rooms where the most valuable books and are kept. SPAIN. Barcelona

Cartoon by Bruce Bairnsfather in the style of Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Showing British soldiers making sandbags, bringing in ration supplies and ready to fight in the trenches. Date: 1916

WW1 - Attack on London - St. Batholomew the Great
circa 1910s

Sketch, Oct 1939 - WWII The Old Soldier Never Dies
Front cover of The Sketch featuring a photograph of a jolly British soldier, complete with pipe and waxed moustache. Hes even sitting on a pile of sandbags

Air raid preparations at London gas station, September 1939
An extreme example of sandbagging in anticipation of air raids at a garage in North London. The Sphere jokes that " motorists have to look twice before they recognise the petrol pumps"

Sandbags protecting statue of the Black Prince, Sept 1939
As one of the many precautionary measures taken to protect Canterbury Cathedral from bombing, the statue and grave of the Black Prince was surrounded by neatly piled sandbags. Date: 1939

Civilians filling sandbags for air raid shelters 1939
Civilians, including females in bikini tops and a man in a suit, working together to fill sandbags for use in the construction of public air raid shelters. September 1939

Construction of sandbag air raid shelter, September 1939
Construction of a large public air raid shelter from sandbags in North London, shortly after the outbreak of war. September 1939

WWII September 1939 Holiday makers filling sandbags
Holiday makers filling sandbags at a beach on the East Coast of Britain in the week following the declaration of war in September 1939. Date: 1939

WWII Jewish refugees helping with sandbags
Jewish refugees in Britain helping to place sandbags in front of a big hospital in the early days of the Second World War. Date: 1939

Outbreak of WWII - Queen visits Vincent Square hospital 1939
Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) pictured visiting the Vincent Square Infants Hospital in Victoria, London, just before the declaration of war in September 1939

Outbreak of WWII Sandbagging flat roof of an office building
Loading sandbags on the skylight apertures of a flat roof of a modern office building in London as precautions after the outbreak of hostilities in September 1939. Date: 1939

WW1 - British Marines in the Trenches - Defence of Antwerp. 1914

Road racing at Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, with Sir Malcolm Campbell at the wheel of No. 1, a Mercedes. 20th century

Achille Varzi in an Alfa-Romeo in the Biella Race
Achille Varzi driving an Alfa-Romeo in the Biella Race - seen here cornering over tramlines, near sandbags placed to protect a letterbox jutting from the wall. 20th century

Putting up flood barricades, Bermondsey, London
Putting up sandbags as flood barricades in Rotherhithe Street, Bermondsey, London. 1928

River Thames flooding at high tide, London
The River Thames in London, flooding at high tide, washing against sandbags two feet above road level

Forward Observation Dugout, Festubert, by RBT Kelly, WW1
Forward Observation Dugout, Indian Village, Festubert, June 1915, drawing by Lieutenant Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly, First World War. 1915

Calendar, April 1916, WW1
Calendar, April 1916 -- General Robert Nivelle, First World War. By Hermann-Paul. 1915-1916

The Field Survey Battallion, by Ellis Martin
The Field Survey Battallion, design for a stained glass memorial window by Ellis Martin. Depicting three Royal Engineers at work in a trench. 1921

Bundesheer - Sud Aviation SE. 3130 Alouette II F-WIEI
Bundesheer - Sud Aviation SE.3130 Alouette II F-WIEI / PE+195. Fresh off the production line this Bundesheer (West German Army)

Tragedy in the shadow of Big Ben: The breached wall in Grosvenor Road, sandbagged after the sudden floods devastated Westminster and Rotherhithe and caused fourteen deaths. January 1928

WW2 pop-up greetings card (inside), soldier in khaki -- If its OK by you, its OK by me. Date: circa 1942

Hauling Sandbags Date: 1941

WW1 - The Battlefield of Neuve Chapelle (10th - 13th March, 1915) - British trenches under shell fire. Date: 1915

Winter 1915, flooded British trench by Matania, WW1
A British trench on the Western Front during the winter of 1915 drawn by The Sphere special artist, Fortunino Matania and demonstrating the sort of flooded

German soldiers firing flares, WW1
British soldiers on the Western Front firing flares from a Very gun

WW2 Christmas card, patriotic dogs sheltering behind sandbags. Date: circa 1942

WW2 Christmas card, cat in air raid shelter
WW2 Christmas card, showing a black cat in an air raid shelter -- Christmas As Usual. Date: circa 1942

Life Amongst the Sand Bags by Hugo Morgan, WW1
Book Cover mounted on card - Life Amongst the Sand Bags by Hugo Morgan (The Soldier Books). Design by 240455 Private George Barrow, 6th Battalion, Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry (formerly 7389)

Shell hole caused by German bombing, WW1
A shell hole caused by German bombing on the Western Front in France during World War One. The type of bomb, the Minenwerfer, was nicknamed a Moaning Minnie by British troops. Date: circa 1916

British soldier in trench with periscope, WW1
A British soldier in a trench, observing the enemy through a periscope on the Western Front in France during World War One. Date: circa 1916

China - Shanghai - Second Sino-Japanese War 1937
China - Shanghai - Sino-Japanese incident 1937 (The Battle of Shanghai) - The Chinese position near a bridge over the creek on the Woosung Road in East Shanghai

Soldier sitting by a dugout, Northern France, WW1
Soldier (Albert Auerbach) sitting by a dugout in Northern France during the First World War. Date: 1918

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