Destroyed Minden Aqueduct (Wasserstraßenkreuz Minden), Germany. October 1945.

The massive aqueduct over the river Wesser, destroyed by the retreating German army in 1945. A note on the reverse of this photo identifies the diggers as belonging to the 964 port construction company (US army) building a by-pass canal. This 1949 article describes the task which faced them; "the German engineers did a thorough job of useless destruction. When it fell, a giant slab of girder and concrete 164 feet long and 98 feet wide crashed down at right angles across the river". However, the entire aqueduct was rebuilt and reopened in 1949. This is it today.