Circus elephants to the rescue

Circuses during World War II were struggling due to a lack of money and were forced to kill or lease their animals to help with war efforts. Such is the case with these two circus elephants, Kiri and Many, which were used by local authorities in Hamburg to do the heavy lifting and clear the wreckage resulting from Allied bombing raids.

This photo of Kiri and Many clearing a car from a street in Hamburg was taken six months after Germany’s surrender.