Terrifying as that total is, it is a miracle that the final figure was not higher. A quarter of the population of Hamburg lived within the bombed area – 427,637 people, according to official figures – and their numbers had been swelled by the influx of people made homeless by the first heavy attack. ⁵⁹Yet more than 90 per cent of the population escaped with their lives. Many of these people lived beyond the edges of the firestorm, but even in Hammerbrook and Hamm the number who survived still outweighed the number who died. ⁶⁰

To survive the terrible conditions caused by the firestorm required not only incredible physical stamina, but huge courage and an unwavering determination to survive. Fugitives had to face the combined dangers of fire, high-explosive bombs (many of which were on time-delay fuses), falling masonry and hurricane-force winds. In addition, they had to maintain the presence of mind to battle against the wind rather than let themselves be carried along by it, and seek out shelter in the most unpromising places. Many people refused to give up despite terrible injuries: more than thirty-seven thousand people were hurt during this series of attacks – again, the vast majority on the night of the firestorm. ⁶¹

There was a strong element of chance involved in who survived and who did not: sometimes a family would make a sensible decision over which way to run only to find their hopes crushed by the collapse of a building or a sudden change in wind direction. Even so, certain groups were more vulnerable than others. The very old or the very young were often the first to succumb. According to the Hamburg police chief’s report the winds were so strong that ‘Children were torn away from their parents’ hands by the force of the hurricane and whirled into the fire.’ ⁶²Another eyewitness, who described the ‘tornado-like storm’, claimed it was so strong that it was almost impossible to fight it: ‘Elderly people, who were unable to walk well, were obliged to give up this impossible fight, and the flames greedily made their way over this prey.’ ⁶³A man in front of her was set alight like that, and ‘in less than ten seconds he too became a living pillar of fire’.

Their bodies, with hundreds of others, were found where they had fallen. They were nearly always face downwards, arms thrown round their heads as if they were trying to shelter their faces from the heat as they died. ⁶⁴Most of the bodies were charred and shrivelled to half their normal size. Some were so badly burned that the fat had seeped out to form pools round them. By contrast, others were not burned. Many were naked except for their shoes – the city coroner concluded later that they had probably tried to flee in their nightwear, only to have it torn or burned off in an instant by the heat of the firestorm.

Far more died in the shelters. In the east of Hamburg, there were relatively few purpose-built public bunkers and most people were forced to make do with the basements of their apartment buildings. When some were opened the next day, nobody was alive inside: they had all succumbed to the fierce temperatures generated by the fires. In some basements the heat had been so great that everything inside was charred beyond recognition, including the bodies of the occupants. But the worst killers were smoke and carbon monoxide. One woman remembered afterwards how the lack of oxygen had affected those in her shelter:

The very small children fell asleep first, then the four to six-year-olds, then the slightly older, then the adolescents and finally the old. I knew what this sleep meant. Many never woke up, because our rescue came very late – we could not be saved sooner because of the terrible heat that raged on the street… We owe our lives to an armaments-factory worker who was looking for his flat and his wife, and looked in the Gothenkeller and found us all unconscious. This man then informed the police station on Nagelsweg. Consequently fifty soldiers were sent to carry us out and lay us in the open, first in front of Gothenhaus so we could breathe some oxygen… I regained consciousness as three soldiers lifted me, and a fourth, who stood nearby, said: ‘That is number 238’. ⁶⁵

It is probable that as many as 70 per cent of those who died were killed by smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning. ⁶⁶Their bodies were sometimes found piled up around the exits to the shelters, as if they knew they were in danger but were unable to escape. More often, though, they were found seated at tables, or leaning peacefully against walls, as if they had simply fallen asleep. ⁶⁷Those men, women and children paid the price for having followed official advice to remain in their cellars until the all-clear sounded. Had they taken their chances in the inferno of the firestorm, many more might have been saved.

* * *

As the storm died down, those who had survived the night began to move. Often their first instinct was to leave the city, but many had become separated from their families during the frantic escape from their basement shelters, and to leave without them was too painful to consider. People milled about, some venturing back towards the fires in the hope of finding friends and loved ones still alive.

Sixteen-year-old Herbert Wulff was one of the lucky ones. He had seen his sister run off several hours before, and had lost his mother in the smoke and chaos of the night. Now, in the gloom of morning, he was trying desperately to find them:

It was a terrible twilight, as I first began to make out the many corpses and the devastation all around. But of course my first worries were now for my family. Had they managed to survive? Luckily I found my mother again nearby, where I’d left her. She herself was unhurt, but beside her lay two dead bodies. Our joy at seeing one another again was huge. I took my mother with me to the other side of the street and started the search for my sister and father. And I was lucky. I found my sister nearby where we had last seen her during the night. She too had survived, albeit with bad burns on her legs caused by the devilish phosphorus. I myself had picked up some small burns, but nothing too bad. And then, like a wonder, my father turned up, relatively unscathed. He had had an unbelievable odyssey. Our joy at seeing one another again was overwhelming, and we were simply indescribably lucky to have survived this purgatory. ⁶⁸

Others were not so lucky. Desperate stories emerged, of mothers losing their children in all the smoke and darkness, of children losing their parents when their buildings collapsed – stories that would be repeated again and again in the days to come. Countless others did not know what had become of their loved ones. They picked their way through the crowds searching and calling names. Occasionally family members were reunited in this way, but for the most part the calls echoed round the parks unanswered.

Meanwhile, those who had no one to look for remained silent, dazed by what they had experienced. Many, including some of the eyewitnesses quoted here, were too badly injured or burned to do anything but stay where they were. Herbert Wulff and his sister had fairly bad burns. The man in his forties who had watched his brother-in-law die in the fire, was himself badly burned and suffering from exhaustion. Fredy Borck’s eight-year-old brother fell into the flames as they were being evacuated from their Rothenburgsort cellar, and burned his legs severely.

One of the most common injuries was burns to the eyes. After spending the night in the open Erich Titschak complained that his eyes hurt so much he could no longer keep them open. Hans Jedlicka’s were scorched, as were those of Else Lohse and her son Peter, who soon began to lose their sight. ⁶⁹Erika Wilken’s eyes were so badly damaged during her ordeal in the Grevenweg public lavatory that by the time she and her husband were evacuated she could no longer see. ‘From Horn onwards our eyesight became worse and worse, and once we reached the compound we were already blind.’ ⁷⁰Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. In most cases people’s eyesight would return, but for now at least they were spared some of the gruesome sights others had to endure.