Sandbags Collection

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

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

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

First line Gurkhas storming and capturing a German trench, World War I, 1914-1918. Artist: Crown
First line Gurkhas storming and capturing a German trench, World War I, 1914-1918. Stereoscopic card. Detail

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

Fire alam post, Cooks Road, Vauxhall, WW2
Fire alarm post (FA41) protected by sandbags outside the AFS station in Cooks Road, Vauxhall, with an LFB fire engine on the left, around the start of the Second World War

Dahab Island, Cairo, Egypt
Mohamed Kazzaz

Inside a Russian fort during the siege - shell marks around a dummy gun - Port Arthur, c1905

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

Air raid shelter at West Ealing Goods Yard, 1940
A rather intriguing photo here of West Ealing Goods Yard, taken in 1940. The strange molehill shaped mounds dotted along the track are air raid shelters

Abandoned Building in No Mans Land, North Nicosia, Cyprus, Eastern Mediterranean Sea

British Embassy during the Siege of Peking, 1900 (b/w photo)
NUL204362 British Embassy during the Siege of Peking, 1900 (b/w photo) by French Photographer, (20th century); Private Collection

A communication trench somewhere in North Africa during Second World War. Circa 1940s

Checkpoint Charlie crossing point in the Berlin Wall located at the junction of Friedrichstrae with Zimmerstrae and Mauerstrae

Germany, Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie, US Army checkpoint and guardhouse reconstruction at the former crossing point between East and West Berlin

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

French soldiers raiding a German trench, First World War, 1914-1918, (1933). Creator: Unknown
French soldiers raiding a German trench, First World War, 1914-1918, (1933). French troops making a daylight raid on the German trenches in search of prisoners for information purposes

Australian troops in Turkey, First World War, 1915, (c1920). Creator: Unknown
Australian troops in Turkey, First World War, 1915, (c1920). Behind the Firing Line at Anzac Cove: " Splinter Villa", one of the Australian dug-outs

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

Sandbag protection at Birmingham Snow Hill Station
Railway stations were on high alert during the war years. The principal stations on the GWR network were used by hundreds of people each day

Professor Huntingdon, Mr. Frank Hedges Butler, and the Hon. C. S. Rolls, 1906. The British crew who competed in the 1906 Gordon Bennett Cup

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

Lunchtime brings a few minutes of rest... Douglas Aircraft Companys plant, Long Beach, Calif
Lunchtime brings a few minutes of rest for these women workers of the assembly line at Douglas Aircraft Companys plant, Long Beach, Calif

Pull Against Us! (colour litho)
2808723 Pull Against Us! (colour litho) by Beltrame, Achille (1871-1945); Private Collection; (add.info.: Pull Against Us)

On Mount Lemerle, the Forli Brigade fights back and pursues the enemy with the kidney bayonet (colour litho)
2777557 On Mount Lemerle, the Forli Brigade fights back and pursues the enemy with the kidney bayonet (colour litho) by Beltrame

The Bessie Levee, along a subsidiary... Mississippi River, near Tiptonville, Tennessee, 1937. Creator: Walker Evans
The Bessie Levee, along a subsidiary of the Mississippi River, near Tiptonville, Tennessee. The levee has been augmented with sand bags during the 1937 flood

The Bessis Levee, along a subsidiary of the Mississippi River, near Tiptonville, Tennessee, 1937. Creator: Walker Evans
The Bessie Levee, along a subsidiary of the Mississippi River, near Tiptonville, Tennessee. The levee has been augmented with sand bags during the 1937 flood

The Bessie Levee augmented with sand bags during the 1937 flood, Near Tiptonville, Tennessee, 1937
The Bessie Levee augmented with sand bags during the 1937 flood. Near Tiptonville, Tennessee

The Bessie Levee augmented with sand bags during the 1937 flood near Tiptonville, Tennessee, 1937
The Bessie Levee augmented with sand bags during the 1937 flood near Tiptonville, Tennessee

The Bessie Levee, along a subsid... Mississippi River, near Tiptonville, Tennessee, 1937. Creator: Walker Evans
The Bessie Levee, along a subsidiary of the Mississippi River, near Tiptonville, Tennessee. The levee has been augmented with sand bags during the 1937 flood

The Bessie Levee augmented with sand bags, near Tiptonville, Tennessee, 1937. Creator: Walker Evans
The Bessie Levee augmented with sand bags during the 1937 flood near Tiptonville, Tennessee

The Siege of Suakin (north eastern Sudan) Fort Gemaizeh in Action; from sketches by the late Mr. Richard Wake, shot while sketching at the fort December 6. 1888, 1888. From, The Graphic

The Conquest of Lorette, man by man in a small fort, 1915 (litho)
STC407190 The Conquest of Lorette, man by man in a small fort, 1915 (litho) by Jonas, Lucien Hector (1880-1947); Private Collection; (add.info)

Lieutenant Dimmer repairing a machine-gun while exposed to the fire of the advancing Prussian Guard (colour litho)
STC413372 Lieutenant Dimmer repairing a machine-gun while exposed to the fire of the advancing Prussian Guard (colour litho) by Stewart

Lieutenant Dimmer repairing a machine-gun while exposed to the fire of the advancing Prussian Guard
IL352831 Lieutenant Dimmer repairing a machine-gun while exposed to the fire of the advancing Prussian Guard, illustration from Deeds that Thrill the Empire, published by Hutchinson & Co

French soldier using a specially adapted snipers rifle with periscope in the trenches, World War I, 1916 (colour litho)
5228782 French soldier using a specially adapted snipers rifle with periscope in the trenches, World War I, 1916 (colour litho) by Jonas

General Nivelles Offensive during the Battle of Verdun, April 1916 (colour woodcut)
698802 General Nivelles Offensive during the Battle of Verdun, April 1916 (colour woodcut) by Hermann, Paul (1864-1940); Private Collection; (add.info)

Rebel Works in Front of Atlanta, GA, No. 1, 1864. Creator: George N. Barnard
Rebel Works in Front of Atlanta, GA, No. 1, 1864. Albumen print, plate 39 from the album " Photographic Views of the Sherman Campaign" (1866)

View of the Interior of Fort Steadman, May 1865. Creator: Alexander Gardner
View of the Interior of Fort Steadman, May 1865. A work made of albumen print, pl. 84 from the album " gardners photographic sketch book of the war, volume ii" (1866)

The Pulpit, Fort Fisher, N. C. January 1865. Creator: Alexander Gardner
The Pulpit, Fort Fisher, N.C. January 1865. Union troops at Fort Fisher not long after it had been recaptured from the Confederate army. Albumen print, pl

Allatoona from the Etawah, 1866. Creator: George N. Barnard
Allatoona from the Etawah, 1866. Albumen print, plate 24 from the album " Photographic Views of the Sherman Campaign" (1866)

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"From Blitz to Battlefields: The Resilience of Sandbags" During the Blitz in London, the Whitechapel Fire Station stood strong behind a wall of sandbags, protecting its brave firefighters. Meanwhile, on the Western Front during World War I, members of the Rifle Brigade took their positions amidst sandbags as they faced the horrors of war. In World War II, sandbags became essential for protection and communication. AFS despatch riders and messengers maneuvered through dangerous territories with sandbag-laden motorcycles. At Lambeth fire station, an enclosed pump fortified by sandbags ensured that firefighters could combat blazes even under intense bombing raids. They have witnessed historic moments beyond wars too. In 1969, at the Monaco Grand Prix, drivers raced past barriers made from these humble bags filled with earth. Back in World War I's trenches, Gurkhas stormed German fortifications and captured them while surrounded by towering piles of sandbags. Laundry hanging on the Siegfried Line was a sign that life continued amidst conflict during WWII. Air Raid patrols in London relied on strategically placed sandbag barricades to protect civilians from enemy attacks. Cooks Road's fire alarm post in Vauxhall served as a beacon amid chaos thanks to its sturdy foundation built upon countless sandbags. The Somme saw British and French soldiers united against adversity during WWI - their shared defense lines reinforced by rows upon rows of trusty sandbags. Even royalty sought refuge behind this protective barrier; Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II found herself amongst stacks of resilient bags during her reign. Amidst it all were two nurses dressed in uniform atop thousands of carefully arranged sandbags - symbols not only of safety but also compassion and care for those affected by war. Through history's trials and triumphs, one constant remains: Sandbags stand tall as silent sentinels guarding lives and preserving hope against all odds.