I am just wondering, back in the 30s-40s, were the main roads (like the roads connecting towns /cities) paved with asphalt? Roads like the Malmedy crossroads and major traffic intersections.
And if that is the case, where would cobblestones be used? In the main/old cities? Small towns and villages?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Marc

Great question Petro. I've wondered about that myself. I'm currently working on a dio that will depict, during the Allies fast movement cross country after the breakout, 4 US units coming together at a crossroads and all trying to figure out just exactly where they are. Haven't figured out the road surfaces yet, but I think there has to be a mixture of some sort of paved feature in conjunction with a type of soil surface. To use the words of my 3-year old son when the christmas tree fell on him "Help".

I've done a ton of photo research on this... First, there is no "definiative answer"... you can always find exceptions to everything I will share.

Still, based on my research, you will commonly find that cobblestones, brick, and even cut rough stone was often used in larger towns and cities, especially near heavy intersections.

In the late 20's, a lot of larger towns and cities began to pave over much of the stoneworks, but very few used "asphault" as we know it until the 30's. Asphault didn't hold up well, as oil and petrol would dissolve the mix, causing it to break up and loose it's hold on the underlying stones and brick.

Concrete was an expensive option, and was used only in the more populated cities such as Paris, Lyon, London, Hamburg, Berlin, Warsaw, etc. with any great regularity. It held up far better, but was quite expensive.

During the war years, concrete was also heavily rationed as it was used in so much military construction of bridges, fortifications, bunkers, retaining walls, etc. From all my books, only two cities in all of Western Russia (Moscow and Leningrad) have photos of heavy use of concrete throughout the city. The rest were often stone, and brick rubble packed with mortar.

The best source I have found is the 26 volume "Encyclopedia of WWII"... tons of color photos from almost every pocket of conflict. I am missing Volume #7... anyone have a spare to sell?