Destruction by Fire Storm

Throughout the war, Hamburgers lived in fear that the next air raid warning would be followed by a major onslaught. From July 25 to August 3, 1943, that fear became reality. The British-American "Operation Gomorrah" consisted of four night and two day raids, in which some 3,000 aircraft dropped around 9,000 tons of incendiary and high-explosive bombs on Hamburg. During the first raid on July 25, at 0:57, the city center, the districts Hoheluft, Eimsbüttel and Altona, the north-western suburbs and the harbor were hit hard. The church of St. Nikolai burnt out.

The heaviest bombing of all took place on July 28, starting at 01:00 am, on Wandsbek, Eilbek, Hohenfelde, Borgfelde, Hamm, Horn, Hammerbrook and Rothenburgsort. High-explosive bombs and mines tore the roofs, windows and doors from houses, providing plenty of fuel for the incendiary bombs, soon leaving these districts in flames. The inferno generated wild fire storms in the streets. The hot air not only swept up trees and pieces of buildings, but also burnt all available oxygen, so that many people suffocated in the bunkers. In many cases, firefighters were unable to get through to the affected areas. The following day, a huge cloud of smoke hung over the city.

The next raids struck the districts of Harvestehude, Rotherbaum, Uhlenhorst, Winterhude and Barmbek. In July/August 1943, some 35,000 people died in Hamburg, with tens of thousands more wounded. It was the greatest disaster the city ever experienced. Whole neighborhoods were reduced to rubble, and many streets were closed as buildings threatened to collapse. Sixty-one percent of the city's housing stock was destroyed, almost one million people were homeless, and hundreds of thousands fled the city. Hamburg's municipal authorities and auxiliary forces were not prepared for attacks on this scale and tried their best to help. The feeling among the population, whipped up by propaganda, was one of helpless fury against the attackers. Expressions of discontent against the National Socialists who had caused the war were the exception.


Hamburg in the 20th.century (1)
-    Imperial Germany and the Struggle for Voting Rights
-    Life in Wilhelmine Germany
-    The Mobile City
-    International Port and Economic Center
-    Revolution in Hamburg
-    Democracy and its Enemies
-    A Decade of Economic Crisis
-    Greater Hamburg
-    Life Under the Swastika
-    The Abolition of Democracy
-    Towards a War Economy
-    Persecution and resistance in the National Socialist state
-    Hamburg at war
-    Destruction by Fire Storm

Hamburg in the 20th.century (2)