Kiausch, Elisabeth, ‘Wer es erlebt hat, wird es nie vergessen’, delivered at 11.00 a.m. on 23 July 1993 in the Great Hall of the Hamburg Rathaus. From Bürgerschaft der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg Parlaments-Dokumentation (Press and public relations document 66/91: 17.00 100/23.07.1993/1.03 Kiausch, Elisabeth)
Schönfelder, Adolf, speech given on 16 August 1952 at the Ohlsdorfer Friedhof (Staatsarchiv, 141–20 Friedhof Ohlsdorf/Bombenopfer)
Witter, Ben, Speech 1993,from Berichte und Dokumente 952 (27 September 1993), Staatliche Pressestelle, Hamburg
(c)Letters and diaries
Gerke, Liselotte: typescript account
Herr Schult, Letter to Pastor Kreyer
Hof Kerstin (ed.), Rothenburgsort 27/28 Juli 1943,unpublished booklet, produced by Stadtteilinitiative Hamm e.V.
Severin, Günther (ed.), Briefe an einen Pastor,collection of letters written to Pastor Jürgen Wehrmann in Eilbek from his parishioners
(d)University theses
Hohmann Mirko, ‘so wurde die Zerstörung ihres Lebens für uns alie zu einer furchtbaren Anklage’:Die Juliangriffe auf Hamburg in der hamburgischen Erinnerungskultur 1943 bis 1993(Hamburg, 2003)
(e) Unattributed
Hamburg secondary school project, ‘Als die Bomben fielen: Hamburg vor 40 Jahren, Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, Halll 68
‘Klontreff “Eimsbüttel im Feuersturm”’, unpublished transcript of local-history group conversation at Galerie Morgenland/Geschicht-swerkstatt
Acknowledgements
I am extremely grateful to the staff at the many institutions that have become essential to the creation of a book like this. The most important of these were, in no particular order, the Air Force University in Alabama, the US National Archives in Washington, the Reichelt Oral History Program at Florida State University, Oral History Archive of World War Two at Rutgers University, the British Library, the Imperial War Museum in London, the Royal Air Force Museum, the UK National Archives, the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, and the Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg. I have been consistently surprised at the knowledge and helpfulness of the staff in such institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, and am truly grateful for their existence.
Special mention must be made of the various Geschichtswerkstätten and Stadtteilarchive in Hamburg, most of which are run with extremely limited funds, and rely on the unbounded enthusiasm of the people who run them. I am particularly indebted to Grunhild Ohl-Hinz of the St Pauli-Archiv and Sielke Salomon of Galerie Morgenland Geschicht-swerkstatt Eimsbüttel, both for giving me access to unpublished material and for introducing me to survivors of the firestorm. Tim Bottoms at the Mighty Eighth Museum, in Georgia, and Robin Sellers, at Florida State University, should also be mentioned for assistance above and beyond the call of duty. Also Klaus Gille of the Carl Hagenbeck Archiv, who kindly provided me with information about the destruction of Hamburg’s zoo.
Where possible I have tried to restrict myself to quoting contemporary diaries and letters in this book, since the details they give are more likely to be accurate. However, stories told face to face have an immediacy that can sometimes be lacking in written accounts. I would therefore like to express my deep gratitude to the men and women who have both shared their diaries and consented to be interviewed for this book, especially: Leonard Bradfield, Wanda Chantler, Leonard Cooper, Walter
Davis, Lishman Easby, Ted Edwards, Doug Fry, Liselotte Gerke, Ted Groom, Colin Harrison, Kenneth Hills, Norman Jones, Beege Margot, Wallace McIntosh, Bill McCrea, Gordon Moulton-Barrett, Ted Neville, F. H. Quick, James Sullivan, Denys Teare, Trevor Timperley and Louis P. Wooldridge.
There are several individuals whom I must thank for their help with research. I could not have covered the German side of the story in nearly so much detail without the help of Malte Thieβen and Mirko Hohmann. David Isby got me started on the American research, and Paul Wolf was an enormous help at the US National Archives. Harry D. Gobrecht was very helpful with information relating to the USAAF’s 303rd BG. Although I did not have time to follow up all the leads they gave me, Penny Ash and Keith Hill were generous with their own lists of contacts. The irrepressible Peter Hart of the Imperial War Museum not only helped with oral history sources but kept me smiling as well. Thanks must also go to H. E. Batchelder of the RAF Ex-Prisoner of War Association, Nigel Parker of Bomber Command News,and Frank Haslam of the British & Commonwealth Air Unit Register, and Oliver Clutton-Brock. My wife, Liza, gave me excellent advice on ways to improve the manuscript, as did Ion Trewin, Ian Drury and Gary Sheffield. I must also thank Sonia Stammwitz, Jenny Piening and Sylvia Goulding for their help with translating some of the denser German documents.
As always, I am very grateful also to my agents: Simon Trewin and Claire Scott at PFD; Nicki Kennedy, Mary Esdaile and all at ILA; and Dan Mandel at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
Lastly I must thank all those at my publishers who have made this book possible. After working for several years in the publishing industry myself I know what an enormous amount of effort goes into the creation, publicizing and marketing of a book, and I am grateful to everyone at Penguin for all their hard work. In particular I must thank my editors Eleo Gordon and Hazel Orme for all their patience, their excellent advice and their constant enthusiasm for this book throughout the publishing process.
Index
Aachen 107
Abromeit, Friedrich 159
absurdity 259
accommodation, lack of 301
Ahrens, Georg III, 306
air crew, jobs 87–8
air doctrine 48–9
air power 50–3
Air Protection battalions withdrawn 248
Air Protection leader 120–1
air raid, June 1943 129, 138
air raid, 24 July
expectancy 77–80
preparations 78–80
briefing 80–3
intelligence briefing 81–3
last meal 83–4
take-off 84–7
numbers involved 86
aborts 86
Pathfinders 86, 90, 95–6, 97, 98–9, 104, 181
outbound flight 87–8, 89–92, 95–7
diversionary missions 89, 101
interception attempts 92–5, 96, 103
casualties and losses 96, 98, 104, 117, 119, 136, 151–8, 376–8
flak 97–8, 112–13, 121
target indicators dropped 98–9, 111–14
bombing run 99–101
air-raid warnings 109–11
in the shelters 114–16
on the streets 116–19
fires 101, 113–14, 118, 119–21, 122, 123, 124, 201
homebound flight 101, 103–5
landing 105
debriefing 105
25 July 106
effects of 119–27
damage 124–5
RAF statistics 393
air raid, 25 July
planning and preparation 128–36
weather 129–30
priority targets 129, 138
diversionary missions 130–1, 145
briefing 137–9
takeoff and formation assembly 139–42
apprehension 139
flak 139, 146–7
aborts 142, 150, 163
outbound flight 142, 144–7
bombing run 147–50, 334
casualties and losses 147, 161, 163–4, 378–80
homebound flight 150–9
landing 159–61
debriefing 161–2
intelligence assessment 163–5
victory claims 164–5
USAAF statistics 394
air raid, 26 July
briefing 165–6
takeoff and formation assembly 166–8
diversionary missions 166
aborts 167–8