Inferno
Description
The people of Hamburg had no time to understand what had hit them. As they emerged from their ruined cellars and air raid shelters, they were confronted with a unique vision of hell: a sea of flame that stretched to the horizon, the burned-out husks of fire engines that had tried to rescue them, roads that had become flaming rivers of melted tarmac. Even the canals were on fire.
Worse still, they had to battle hurricane-force winds to escape the blaze. The only safe places were the city's parks, but to reach them survivors had to stumble through temperatures of up to 800°C and a blizzard of sparks strong enough to lift grown men off their feet.
Inferno is the culmination of several years of research and the first comprehensive account of the Hamburg firestorm to be published in almost thirty years.
Keith Lowe has interviewed eyewitnesses in Britain, Germany, and America, and gathered together hundreds of letters, diaries, firsthand accounts, and documents. His book gives the human side of an inhuman story: the long, tense buildup to the Allied attack; the unparalleled horror of the firestorm itself; and the terrible aftermath. The result is an epic story of devastation and survival, and a much-needed reminder of the human face of war.
Includes nineteen maps and thirty-one photographs, many never seen before
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Content
Introduction
Author's Note
1. City on the River
2. The Anglophile City
3. City of Rebellion
4. The Rise of the Nazis
5. Hamburg Prepares for War
6. A Brief History of Bombing
7. The Grand Alliance
8. The British Plan
9. The First Strike
10. The Devastation Begins
11. The Americans Join the Fray
12. The Luftwaffe Strikes Back
13. The Americans Again
14. The Eye of the Storm
15. Concentrated Bombing
16. Firestorm
17. The "Terror of Hamburg"
18. Coup de Grace
19. The Tempest
20. City of the Dead
21. Survival
22. Famine
23. The Reckoning
24. Redemption
Acknowledgments
Appendixes
A. Chronology of Hamburg
B. Chronology of World War II
C. Chronology of Operation Gomorrah
D. Comparison of British, American, and German Terms
E. British Order of Battle
F. American Order of Battle
G. Luftwaffe Order of Battle of Fighters in the West
H. Air Force Casualties
I. Tables
J. Aircraft Specifications
K. Financial Cost of the Hamburg Bombings
Notes
Archives Consulted
Select Bibliography
Index
list of maps
1. Hamburg and its defenses, 1943
2. RAF route on the night of July 24, 1943
3. RAF bombs dropped on Hamburg on the night of July 24
4. The American Plan, July 25, 1943
5. USAAF route over Hamburg, July 25
6. American bombs on Hamburg, July 25
7. Attacks on 384th BG, July 25
8. USAAF losses, July 25
9. USAAF route, July 26
10. American bombs on Hamburg, July 26
11. Damage caused by British and American bombers, July 24-26, 1943
12. RAF route on the night of July 27
13. RAF bombs dropped on Hamburg on the night of July 27
14. The firestorm area
15. RAF losses on the night of July 29
16. RAF bombs dropped on Hamburg on the night of July 29
17. Damage caused on the night of July 29
18. British and German losses on the night of August 2
19. Total damage to Hamburg in the Gomorrah raids, July 24-August 3
