I have long been looking for a meaningful book on the rebuilding of Germany. I have often wondered how those acres/sq miles of rubble were converted back to a functional city again. I've seen film clips of the women of Berlin collecting useable bricks from the debris, but there's much more to it than that. Clearing the roads, repairing/replacing all the mains services and re-establishing foundations before you can even contemplate erecting a building ... who did it? How was it done? Where did the plant and materials come from? What priorities? *
As a child I remember, as many here will do, the various "holes" in London's streets post-War, and the great wooden supports that help up the adjacent buildings. At least, in the main, we had 'adjacent' to start from. But what do you do when the starting point is a complete 'Zero"?
* Same applies to Japan, of course.