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When I published yesterday’s piece on Tears in the Darkness, I forgot that I still had a history lesson for the day. So now that it’s the 28th and I’ve checked my spreadsheet, we get to play a bit of “catch-up”. My apologies for missing this.
Operation Gomorrah was a joint U.S. – British air operation conducted over the span of a little more than a week. It’s target?…the heavily industrialized port city of Hamburg, Germany. During the day, U.S. bombers would carry out smaller, precision attacks (as much as “precision bombing” could be defined in 1943) during the day, while the Brits filled the night sky with massive numbers of bombers for less precise (read: terror) bombing.
On four different evenings, between 700-800 bombers would lift off and head for Hamburg. Though the British ostensibly were going after non-civilian targets, let’s be honest about it. Bombing was pretty imprecise, and sending 700+ bombers to a set of targets and then asking the bombadiers to hit those targets at night was…well…it’s safe to say this wasn’t just about hitting specific targets.
Late at night on July 27, 1943 (shortly before it became the 28th), nearly 790 bombers arrived again over Hamburg. In 30 minutes, they had blanketed an area just two miles square. The fires, combined with warm, dry conditions, blended together to create an immense firestorm. It generated hurricane-force winds that reached 150mph. Temperatures reached 1,500°F, hot enough to cause asphalt to burn.
For more than 40,000 people, this was their last night alive. Many of them had sought the protection of their underground air raid shelters, but fires need to breathe, and the firestorm’s insatiable appetite for oxygen sucked it from the shelters and the people, killing them where they sat and waited.
Morning’s light brought a smoldering ruin, shells of buildings, and death. Air Marshal Harris had begun collecting the debt owed for the bombing of London. Japan would experience similar attacks two years later, as the War was nearing its conclusion.
Recommended Reading: Masters of the Air
