Allied forces bomb Steinway & Sons’ recently built Rondenbarg factory in Hamburg. The walls collapse in many places, and all 800 windows are blown out by bomb blasts. The pianos are damaged. Immediately after the bombing, approximately fifty Steinway & Sons employees return to the factory to put out the fires and salvage supplies, hardware, mechanical parts, metal fittings, felts and lumber. They move the pianos, which were covered with glass slivers, away from the broken windows, but that doesn’t protect the instruments. The roof and the heating system are in disrepair, and the pianos are exposed to rain and wind of the cold Hamburg fall and winter.