8 See Charles H. V. Ebert, ‘The Meteorological Factor in the Hamburg Fire Storm’, in Weatherwise, vol.16, no. 2 (April 1963), pp. 70–75. The gentle breeze described was instrumental in bringing about the eventual firestorm on the night of 27/28 July.
9 Volker Böge and Jutta Deide-Lüchow, Eimsbüttler Jugend im Krieg(Hamburg, 2000), p. 21; Ludwig Faupel’s diary, FZH 292–8, A–F.
10 See ‘Frau W.’ in Monika Sigmund et al. (eds), ‘ Man versuchte längs zu kommen, und man lebt ja noch…’ (Hamburg, 1996), p. 29.
11 Hamburg Police Report, p. 1, UK National Archives AIR 20/7287; Hans Brunswig, Feuersturm über Hamburg(Stuttgart, 2003), p. 187.
12 Wanda Chantler (née Wanziunia Cieniewska-Radziwill), interview with the author, 5 July 2004.
13 Hannah Kelson interview, IWM Sound Archive 15550/5. Tonight, fortunately for her, she was on holiday in a village just outside Hamburg, so missed the full force of the raid, although the noise and commotion were still enough to rouse her from her bed.
14 Martha Bührick, quoted in Renate Hauschild-Thiessen, Unternehmen Gomorrha(Hamburg, 1993), p. 25.
15 See, for example, Hanni Paulsen’s description of a bunker, in Martin Middlebrook, The Battle of Hamburg(London, 1980), pp. 149–50.
16 Hans Erich Nossack, Der Untergang(Hamburg, 1981), p. 17.
17 Ibid., p. 19.
18 Ibid., p. 13.
19 Broadcast according to Georg Ahrens’s nephew, Hans Ahrens, quoted in Renate Hauschild-Thiessen, Die Hamburger Katastrophe vom Sommer 1943 in Augenzeugenberichten(Hamburg, 1993), p. 18.
20 Interview with Frau M., St Pauli Archiv, 26 February 1993.
21 Letter to the Hamburger Abendblatt, 1 August 2003.
22 Joseph Goebbels, The Goebbels Diaries, trans. and ed. Louis P. Lochner (London, 1948), pp. 215 and 224.
23 Rudolf Schurig, quoted in Rudolf Wolter, Erinnerung an Gomorrha(Hamburg, 2003), p. 122.
24 Ibid., p. 122.
25 Johann Ingw. Johannsen, typescript account, c/o Marga Ramcke, Ottensen Geschichtswerkstatt.
26 Hiltgunt Zassenhaus, ‘Feuer vom Himmel’, in Hage (ed.), Hamburg 1943(Frankfurt am Main, 2003), pp. 156–7.
27 Henni Klank, ‘Operation Gomorrha’, http://www.seniorennethamburg.de/zeitzeugen/vergessen/klank1.htm (last viewed 1 September 2005).
28 Hiltgunt Zassenhaus, in Hage, Hamburg 1943, p. 157.
29 Ibid.
30 Paul Elingshausen, typescript account, FZH 292–8, A–F.
31 Wanda Chantler interview.
32 ‘Klöntreff “Eimsbüttel im Feuersturm”’, unpublished transcript of local-history group conversation, Galerie Morgenland/Geschichtwerkstatt, p. 4.
33 Liselotte Gerke, interview with the author, 6 April 2005.
34 Hamburg Police Report, p. 15, UK National Archives, AIR 20/7287. Later estimates put the death toll for this raid much higher, but it is almost impossible to say with any accuracy how many people died in any one particular raid during this intense period of attack.
35 Brunswig, Feuersturm, pp. 162, 167 and 175.
36 Erwin Garvens, in Hauschild-Thiessen, Die Hamburger Katastrophe, p. 33.
37 Paul Elingshausen, FZH 292–8, A–F.
38 Hamburg Police Report, p. 15.
39 Ibid.
40 See Wolten, Erinnerung, p. 125.
41 History of Luftgaukommando XI by General Flieger Wolff, Bundes archiv, RL 19/424. See Martin Middlebrook, The Battle of Hamburg(London, 1980), pp. 154 and 168.
42 The single Wellington shot down belonged to 166 Squadron. See W. R. Chorley (ed.), Bomber Command Losses, vol. 4 (1943), (Hersham, 2004), p. 239.
43 Johannsen account.
44 Ibid.
45 Rolf Arnold, http://www.seniorennet-hamburg.de/zeitzeugen/vergessen/arnold1.php (last viewed 1 September 2005).
46 Wolff-Möncheberg, On the Other Side, pp.68–9.
47 Johannsen account.
48 Liselotte Gerke interview.
49 Franz Termer, in Hauschild-Thiessen, Die Hamburger Katastrophe, p. 47.
50 Pastor Schoene, of the Christuskirche in Eimsbüttel, quoted in Volker Böge and Jutta Deide-Lüchow, Eimsbüttler Jugend im Krieg(Hamburg, 1992), p. 24.
51 Total Damage Report, UK National Archives, AIR 40/426.
52 Reconnaissance report on photographs taken by RAF 542 Squadron, at 1200 hours, 27 July 1943, UK National Archives, AIR 24/257; see also Franz Termer, in Hauschild-Thiessen, Die Hamburger Katastrophe, p. 47.
53 Ilse Grassmann, Ausgebombt, p. 20.
54 Wolff-Mönckeberg, On the Other Side, p. 69.
55 Ibid.
56 Total Damage Report, UK National Archives, AIR 40/426.
57 Wanda Chantler interview.
58 See Hamburger Zeitung, 25 July 1943: ‘Das Verlassen des Lufschutzortes Hamburg ist bis auf weiteres nur mit einer besonderen Genehmigung gestattet.’
59 Wolff-Mönckeberg, On the Other Side, pp. 69–70.
11 The Americans Join the Fray
1 Speech at Columbus, Ohio, 11 August 1880, in the Ohio State Journal, 12 August 1880; a photostat of the published speech can be found in Lloyd Lewis, Sherman, Fighting Prophet(New York, 1932), p. 637.
2 In March 1944, faced with high losses among his men, he was quoted as saying that he would like to bomb ‘those damn cities’ until ‘there won’t be a damn house left’. See Ronald Schaffer, Wings of Judgement:American Bombing in World War II(New York, 1985), p. 68.
3 Anderson flew with Flight-Lieutenant Garvey of 83 Squadron; see UK National Archives, AIR 27/687.
4 The Casablanca conference in January had designated U-boat manufacturers as the highest-priority target, but by the time of the Pointblank Directive in June this had taken second place to German air-force targets, such as Klöckner, which were ‘second to none in immediate importance’. See W. F. Craven and J. L. Cate, The Army Air Forces in World War II, vol. II (Chicago, 1949), p. 666.
5 Group leader’s report on mission, 25 June 1943, US National Archives, RG18, E7, Box 728, Folder 2. See also Roger A. Freeman, The Mighty Eighth(London, 1986), p. 52.
6 For details of this meteorological flight, see UK National Archives, AIR 29/867.
7 For all these plans, see VIII Bomber Command Report of Operations; and 1st Bombardment Wing Report of Operations, US National Archives, RG18, E7, Box 941. See also Martin Middle-brook, The Battle of Hamburg(London, 1980), pp. 176–80; and Gordon Musgrove, Operation Gomorrah(London, 1981), p. 56.
8 351st BG had arrived in Britain at the end of April and had flown its first mission in mid-May on Courtai (14 May); 379th BG had arrived around the same time (first mission, St Nazaire, 29 May); 381st BG and 384th BG had both arrived in May/June (first mission, Antwerp, 22 June). See Roger A. Freeman, The Mighty Eighth War Diary(London and New York, 1981).
9 I had the great pleasure of working with Pierre Clostermann on the English translation of the millennium edition of his classic book The Big Show. This was one of his favourite anecdotes about the Americans he met during the war.