Product Description

In July of 1943, British and American bombers launched an attack on the German city of Hamburg that was unlike anything the world had ever seen. For ten days they drenched the city with over 9,000 tons of bombs, with the intention of erasing it entirely from the map. The fires they created were so huge they burned for a month, and were visible for 200 miles. As those who survived 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 burnt-out husks of fire engines that had tried to rescue them, charcoaled corpses and roads that had become flaming rivers of melted tarmac. Using many new first-hand accounts and other material, Keith Lowe gives the human side of an inhuman story, and the result is an epic story of devastation and survival, and a much-needed reminder of the human face of war.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #384291 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 489 pages

Review
"Facts and figures cannot do justice to the sheer horror of what happened to Hamburg in July 1943. But Keith Lowe's admirable book, which is impeccably researched and engagingly written, is full of moving little details and stories. A thoroughly engaging and sobering book. There are rather too many military histories of the Second World War, but this one deserves its place on the shelves."

-- Dominic Sandbrook, "The Daily Telegraph" (London)

Literary Review
`Scrupulous . . . sensitive to all the paradoxes of the bombing
war'

Sunday Times
`The story of that hellish summer night is one Lowe tells well,
unblinkingly, exactly as he should . . . tour de force'

Customer Reviews

From one who took part in the raid ...
I have just finished this magnificent book, and I have to say the chap that finished reading was not the one that started! I am searching for a word that fits my thoughts and the only one that comes to mind is "chastened" and I am sure a lot of my colleagues will feel the same.

After I finished the "firestorm" chapter, I had to leave the remainder of the book for a few days for, as the author knows (and despite having read Martin Middlebrook's version a few years ago), those of us that caused it had no knowledge of the extent at the time and for many years afterwards. It was not that I felt guilty, saddened perhaps, that that sort of thing should have to happen in the cause of fighting a war.

I was very interested and impressed with the way the author covered the history of Hamburg in the early chapters which, despite a reasonable education in N. London, I was totally unaware of the association with this country, perhaps because of the general attitude that all Germans were bad 'un's. It certainly came through at my school, and of course we were growing up in the atmosphere of their annexation of the Sudeten land, Munich agreement, Poland invasion, and finally the War. I likened the "shape" of this story to an aircraft lifting off and climb (history),the levelling off (his run up to the bombing) the actual bombing, turning for home and descent (aftermath and retribution) which was beautifully written.

The extraordinary thing for me, was that I flew over Hamburg and the Rurh towards the end of 1945, and was stationed at one stage at Wilhelmshaven with our mobile OBOE convoy, even so, this book had a greater effect on my thinking. In all probability, because I have finally grown up, and lost some of that "serve the b*****s right" mentality, which is no bad thing!

Finally, the author - for me - summed the whole episode up on the last page when he says ...."since 1945 Germany has only been deployed in peace keeping operations, in marked contrast to the USA, Britain, France, and the USSR, who have waged wars in almost every corner of the planet". Perhaps some good did come out of the carnage. Thank you Keith.

Wonderful, terrifying and very thought-provoking
I found this a wonderful, terrifying and very thought-provoking book. It is impressively researched, Mr Lowe seems to have been to every relevant archive and has managed a balanced view of an emotional subject by interviewing people from both sides who were actually involved in the Hamburg firestorm. However, what really clinched it for me and makes it such a good book is that Mr Lowe obviously knows how to tell a good story. First of all he describes the run up to the bombings, which is full of suspense; then the terrible firestorm itself is presented in the sort of detail that really makes you feel like you're there (but makes you thank god you are not); and then finally when he describes the aftermath it's almost like he's describing Armageddon. However this is not just the telling of a story - Mr Lowe completes the book (as he should) with a discussion about the morality of bombing,inevitably this raises uncomfortable questions about the way we conducted the bomber war, but also asks, could we really have done it any other way? It is interesting to read about the bombing Germany in the context of a city other than Dresden and given that the Hamburg firestorm was such a huge event, I am surprised that I hadn't heard more about it before, however it seems that the Second World War was filled with hundreds of such events and this adds to the poignancy of this book - you can't read it without reflecting that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

`From a reluctant military history reader who was very impressed' (5 stars
I am someone who has never before read a military history book in their lives - and was persuaded to read this by my husband who thought I would like it. He said it wasn't the usual `run of the mill' military history book (whatever that is!) and so I gave it a go. I was amazed. I found myself gripped, challenged and very moved, immersed in an account that drew me on to read more whilst gently informing and educating me. Most of all, I felt my prejudices about the German experience during the war challenged and felt that the true horror of war was - probably for the first time- vividly conveyed to me by the author presenting both the perspectives of the British and American airman and the Germans on the ground. This book has a deceptive simplicity to it. To read it and engage with the story is a powerful and challenging emotional task, and reading it is something you will never forget. I was left feeling older and wiser about what it can mean to be caught up in a war, and I wholeheartedly recommend it because of this. If more history were written like this we may be more likely to heed its lessons.