Mounted in a personal photo album from the Allied Occupation of Japan, these two photographs document the staggering scale of urban destruction left in the wake of the WWII bombing campaign against Japan. The near-total leveling of structures visible here reflects the devastation experienced by Japanese cities in 1945, whether from incendiary bombing raids or, potentially, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Photographs like these, taken by American servicemembers stationed in postwar Japan, offer a sobering firsthand record of the war's human and physical toll. Project: 218582