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Memorial "Passage over the Styx" at the Ohlsdorf Cemetery
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Lancaster over Hamburg, 30/31 January 1943
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The Allied Bombing of Hamburg during World War II (September 1939-April 1945) included numerous strategic bombing missions and diversion/nuisance raids. As a large port and industrial center, Hamburg's shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg[1] area oil refineries were attacked throughout the war. Hamburg was also the site of the world's oldest dynamite factory, constructed by Alfred Nobel.
The attack during the last week of July, 1943, Operation Gomorrah, created one of the greatest firestorms raised by the RAF and United States Army Air Force in WWII,[2] killing roughly 50,000 civilians in Hamburg and practically destroying the entire city. As with the bombing of other cities, the RAF and USAAF bombings of Hamburg employed a number of revolutionary[citation needed] strategies, including bombing the city center first in order to draw in the city's entire fire-fighting force, then dropping delayed action high-explosives in a concentric ring around the center, filling the streets with rubble and trapping the firefighters while they worked, ultimately incinerating them. This was followed by the dropping of further napalm and white-phosphorus incendiaries in a second concentric ring outside the first, facilitating unhampered burning in the remaining outer city. The circular bombing pattern[citation needed], combined with a few days of unusually warm weather, was fundamental to creating the necessary vortex and whirling updraft of super-heated air needed to create the 1,500-foot-high tornado of fire. Various other new techniques and devices were instrumental as well, such as (e.g., area bombing), tactics (Pathfinders), and technologies (H2S radar), and 'Window' - clouds of shredded tinfoil dropped by pathfinders preceding the bomber stream in order to completely cloud German radar.
Contents |
Significant missions
Battle of Hamburg
The Battle of Hamburg, codenamed Operation Gomorrah, was a campaign of air raids beginning 24 July 1943 for 8 days and 7 nights. It was at the time the heaviest assault in the history of aerial warfare and was later called the Hiroshima of Germany by British officials.[3]
The Battle of Hamburg overlapped the Battle of the Ruhr which ended on 31 July.[citation needed]
Gomorrah was originally formulated by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill with help from Air Chief Marshal Arthur "Bomber" Harris.[citation needed] The operation was conducted by RAF Bomber Command (including RCAF Squadrons) and the USAAF Eighth Air Force. The British conducted the night raids and the USAAF conducted the daylight raids.
On 24 July, at approximately 00:57AM, the first bombing started by the RAF and lasted almost an hour. A second daylight raid by US Army Air Force was conducted at 4:40PM. A third raid was conducted on the morning of the 26th. The night attack of 26 July at 00:20AM was extremely light due to a severe thunderstorm and high winds over the North Sea during which a considerable number of bombers jettisoned the explosive part of their bomb loads (retaining just the incendiaries) with only two bomb drops reported. That attack is often not counted when the total number of Operation Gomorrah attacks is given. There was no day raid on the 27th.
On the night of 27 July, shortly before midnight, 739 aircraft[clarification needed] attacked Hamburg. The unusually dry and warm weather, the concentration of the bombing in one area, and firefighting limitations due to Blockbuster bombs used in the early part of the raid culminated in the so-called "Feuersturm" (firestorm). The tornadic fire created a huge inferno with winds of up to 240 km/h (150 mph)reaching temperatures of 800 °C (1,500 °F) and altitudes in excess of 1,000 feet, incinerating more than eight square miles (21 km²) of the city. Asphalt streets burst into flame, and fuel oil from damaged and destroyed ships, barges, and storage tanks spilled into the waters of the canals and the harbor caused it to ignite as well. The majority of deaths attributed to Operation 'Gomorrah' occurred on this night. A large number of those killed died seeking safety in bomb shelters and cellars, the firestorm consuming all available oxygen in the burning city above. The furious winds created by the firestorm were rumored to have swept people up off the streets like dry leaves.
On the night of 29 July, Hamburg was again attacked by over 700 aircraft. The last raid of Operation Gomorrah was conducted on 3 August.
| Bomber Harris' firestorm quotation[4] |
|---|
| "The last time London was burnt, if my history is right, was in 1666. …[Harris on a rooftop to an elderly sentry. Harris then brought Portal to the rooftop to witness the bombing, and after watching and then turning away from the "fantastic sight."]… Well, they are sowing the wind." |
| Arthur Harris to Charles Portal, December 29, 1940 c. 7:00 PM, quoting a different author: "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind." |
Operation Gomorrah caused at least 50,000 deaths, and left over a million German civilians homeless. Approximately 3,000 aircraft were deployed, 9,000 tons of bombs were dropped, and over 250,000 homes and houses were destroyed.[citation needed] No subsequent city raid shook Germany as did that on Hamburg; documents show that German officials were thoroughly alarmed, and there is some indication from later Allied interrogations of Nazi officials that Hitler stated that further raids of similar weight would force Germany out of the war. Hamburg was hit by air raids another 69 times before the end of World War II.
RAF Bomber Command lost 12 bombers on the first day of the attack. In total, 440 RAF aircraft were lost over Hamburg during the war.
Aftermath
Cityscape
The totally destroyed quarter of Hammerbrook, in which mostly longshoremen lived, was not rebuilt as housing area but as a commercial area. The adjoining quarter of Rothenburgsort shared the same fate, as only a small area of housing was rebuilt. The underground line which connected these areas with the central station was not rebuilt either.
In the destroyed residential areas many houses were rebuilt across the street and therefore do not form connected blocks anymore. The hills of the Öjendorfer Park are formed by the debris of destroyed houses.[citation needed]
Memorials
Several memorials in Hamburg remind at the air raids during World War II:
- The Nikolaikirche, which was largely destroyed during the bombing, has been made into a memorial against the war. The spire of the church, which was used by the bomber pilots as aiming point, endured the attacks.
- Memorial at the Hamburger Strasse - a memorial for those who died in a shelter under the Karstadt department store at the corner Desenißstrasse/Hamburger Strasse. The department store was hit by a bomb in the night of 30 July. The people in the air raid shelter below were killed by the heat and carbon monoxide poisoning.
- The victims of the air raids were buried on the Ohlsdorf cemetery in mass graves. The memorial "Passage over the Styx" by Gerhard Marcks is in the center and shows how Charon ferries a young couple, a mother with her child, a man and a desperate person over the river Styx.
- Many houses rebuilt after World War II show a memorial plaque with the inscription "Destroyed 1943 - ... Rebuilt" to remind of their destruction during the air raids in July 1943.
Timeline
| Date | Target/Type | |
|---|---|---|
| night of 10/11 September 1939: | leaflets | |
| May 17/18, 1940 | oil installations | |
| May 27/28, 1940 | oil refineries | |
| May 30/31, 1940 | oil refineries | |
| nights of 15/16 November and 16/17 November 1940: | ||
| night of 12/13 March 1941: | ||
| The night of 13/14 March 1941 | ||
| April 1941. | ||
| May 1941. | ||
| The night of 11/12 May 1941 | ||
| The night of 27/28 June 1941: | ||
| night of 14/15 January 1942: | ||
| night of 15/16 January 1942: | ||
| night of 17/18 January 1942 | ||
| night of 16/17 February 1942 | ||
| night of 8/9 April 1942 | ||
| The night of 17/18 April 1942 | ||
| The night of 3/4 May 1942 | ||
| night of 26/27 July 1942 | ||
| night of 28/29 July 1942 | ||
| day of 3 August 1942 | ||
| day of 18 August 1942 | nuisance raid | |
| day of 19 September 1942 | nuisance raid | |
| night of 13/14 October 1942 | ||
| night of 9/10 November 1942: | ||
| night of 30/31 January 1943 | ||
| night of 3/4 February 1943 | ||
| The night of 3/4 March 1943 | ||
| 13/14 April 1943 | nuisance raid | |
| 25 June 1943 | Blohm & Voss | |
| night of 26/27 June 1943 | nuisance raid | |
| night of 28/29 June 1943 | nuisance raid | |
| night of 3/4 July 1943 | nuisance raid | |
| night of 5/6 July 1943 | nuisance raid | |
| night of 24/25 July 1943 | large raid | |
| 25 July 1943 4:40PM | Blohm & Voss | |
| 26 July 1943 | Blohm & Voss | |
| The night of 26/27 July 1943 | nuisance raid | |
| night of 27/28 July 1943 | ||
| night of 28/29 July 1943 | nuisance raid | |
| night of 29/30 July 1943: | ||
| night of 2/3 August 1943 | ||
| night of 22/23 August 1943 | nuisance raid | |
| night of 5/6 November 1943: | ||
| night of 1/2 January 1944: | diversionary raid (Berlin) | |
| night of 11/12 March 1944: | nuisance raid by 20 Mosquitos. | |
| night of 6/7 April 1944: | ||
| night of 26/27 April 1944: | diversionary raid | |
| night of 28/29 April 1944: | ||
| 18 June 1944 | oil refineries | |
| 20 June 1944 | oil refineries | |
| night of 22/23 June 1944: | diversionary raid | |
| night of 22/23 July 1944: | diversionary raid | |
| night of 26/27 July 1944: | diversionary raid | |
| night of 29/29 July 1944: | ||
| 4 August 1944 | oil refineries | |
| 6 August 1944 | oil refineries | |
| night of 26/27 August 1944: | diversionary nuisance raid | |
| night of 29/30 August 1944: | diversionary nuisance raid | |
| night of 6/7 September 1944: | nuisance raid | |
| night of 26/27 September 1944: | diversionary nuisance raid | |
| night of 30/1 October 1944 | ||
| 6 October 1944 | oil refinery (Harburg/Rhenania) | |
| night of 12/13 October 1944 | ||
| 25 October 1944 | oil refineries | |
| 30 October 1944 | oil refineries | |
| 4 November 1944 | oil refinery | |
| 6 November 1944 | oil refineries | |
| night of 11/12 November 1944 | oil refineries | |
| 21 November 1944 | oil refineries | |
| night of 30 Nov – 1 Dec 1944 | diversionary raid | |
| night of 11/12 December 1944 | ||
| night of 27/28 December 1944 | nuisance raid | |
| 31 December 1944 | Blohm & Voss | |
| night of 16/17 January 1945 | diversionary nuisance raid | |
| 24 February 1945 | Blohm & Voss | |
| 24 February 1945 | oil refineries | |
| 08/9 March 1945 | Blohm & Voss | |
| 10 March 1945 | Blohm & Voss | |
| 10 March 1945 | shipyard | |
| 20 March 1945 | Blohm & Voss | |
| 20 March 1945 | oil refinery | |
| 20 March 1945 | shipyard | |
| night of 21/22 March 1945 | oil refinery (Erdölwerke) | |
| 30 March 1945 | oil depot | |
| night of 30/31 March 1945 | ||
| day of 31 March 1945 | Blohm & Voss | |
| night of 2/3 April 1945 | nuisance raid | |
| 8 April 1945 | shipyards | |
| night of 8/9 April 1945 | shipyard | |
| day of 9 April 1945 | oil storage | |
| night of 9/10 April 1945 | diversionary raid | |
| The night of 13/14 April 1945 | diversionary raid |
References
- ^ Levine, Alan J. The Strategic Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945. p. p149. http://books.google.com/books?id=LZ99c7ZlxxQC. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
- ^ Dyson, Freeman. "Part I: A Failure of Intelligence". Technology Review. http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17724/page5/. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
- ^ "The Cabinet Papers 1915–1978: Glossary - B". The National Archives. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/help/glossary-b.htm. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
- ^ Jablonski, Edward (1971). Volume 1 (Tragic Victories), Book II (The Big League). p. 144,156.
- ^ "Hamburg, 28th July 1943". Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. UK Crown. http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/hamburg.html. Retrieved 2009-03-22. Campaign Diary:
1940: May-June (Battle of France) July-December June-October (Battle of Britain)
1941: January-April May-August September- December
1942: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1943: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1944: January 1944, February 1944 March 1944, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1945 January 1945, February 1945, March 1945, April 1945 - ^ These two nights of bombing were only 24 hours after a very large raid by the German Luftwaffe on Coventry on the night of 14/15 November 1940. However the raid must have been planned more than 24 hours in advance, so although these raids are often stated to be revenge attacks, it is unlikely that they were planned to be so.
- ^ "384 BG": "Missions 1943-1945". 384th Bomb Group (Heavy). 384thBombGroup.com. http://www.384thbombgroup.com/pages/missions.html. Retrieved 2009-04-17.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hans Brunswig: Feuersturm über Hamburg, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-87943-570-7, S. 195.
- ^ McKillop, Jack. "Combat Chronology of the USAAF". http://www.usaaf.net/chron/index.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
1942: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1943: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1944: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1945: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September - ^ 447 BG: "The Missions". http://users.cybercity.dk/~nmb5433/missions1.html. Retrieved 2009-03-23.
Further reading
- Lowe, Keith (2007). Inferno: The Devastation of Hamburg, 1943. Viking. ISBN 0-670-91557-2.
- Friedrich, Jörg (2006). The Fire: The bombing of Germany, 1940-1945. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-13380-4.
- Grayling, A. C. (2006). Among the Dead Cities. New York: Walker Publishing Company Inc.. ISBN 0-8027-1471-4.
- Interrogation of Captured Prisoners, United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Summary Report, (European War), September 30, 1945
- Memories of a 14 year old girl (in German)
- Nossack, Hans (2004). The End: Hamburg 1943. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-59556-0.
- Sebald, Winfried (2003). On the Natural History of Destruction. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50484-2.
- Spaight. James M. "Bombing Vindicated" G. Bles, 1944. ASIN: B0007IVW7K (Spaight was Principal Assistant Secretary of the UK Air Ministry)
External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bombing of Hamburg in World War II |
| „Gefangen im Glut-Orkan“ | |
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