158 Squadron
Halifax II, HR751 NP-J
Hit by flak, crashed in east Hamburg. Sgt C. K. Davie and six crew bailed out, but Sgt R. B. Farmery’s parachute failed to open and he died. All others became PoWs.
166 Squadron
Wellington X, HE464 AS-W
Shot down by fighter (Oblt Hermann Greiner, IV/NJG1), crashed in Waddenzee. Sgt H. Nash and four crew died.
214 Squadron
Stirling III, EF409 BU-V
Iced up and crashed in sea off Wilhelmshaven. Pilot Sgt A. A. R. McGarvey and Sgt A. B. Grainger survived to become PoWs, five others died.
300 Squadron
Wellington X, HF605 BH-P
Hit by flak, and forced down by severe icing. Pilot F/O Smyk and P/O T. S. Skalisz both died, three others survived to become PoWs.
305 Squadron
Wellington X, HZ467 SM-C
Shot down by fighter, crashed Elksop. F/S Grzeskowiak and four crew died.
405 Squadron
Halifax II, HR849 LQ-E
Hit by flak over Bremen. Sgt A. F. Gregory and six crew died.
Halifax II, HR871 LQ-B
Hit by flak and storm, and eventually abandoned over Swedish territory. Sgt J. A. Philips and six crew were interned.
Halifax II, HR917 LQ-G
Lost without trace (possibly shot down by Do217 of Hptm. R. Schönert of II/NJG5). F/L H. W. J. Dare and six crew died.
419 Squadron
Halifax II, DT798 VR-T
Crashed due to heavy icing and storm: three survived as PoWs, but pilot Sgt J. S. Sobin and three others died.
428 Squadron
Halifax V, EB212 NA-U
Lost over sea. P/O V. T. Sylvester and seven crew died.
Halifax V, EB274 NA-H
Lost without trace (possibly shot down by Hptm. H. Jabs IV/NJG1). Sgt M. Chepil and seven crew died.
432 Squadron
Wellington X, HE906 QO-H
Crashed in the sea. P/O D. R. C. McDonald and four crew died.
In addition the following planes crashed in England:
7 Squadron
Stirling I, R9260 MG-O
Returned to Oakington with serious misfire. While landing the undercarriage collapsed. Pilot P/O W. E. Stenhouse and Sgt G. Breedon were injured, five others unharmed.
10 Squadron
Halifax II, DT792 ZA-O Farouk
Badly damaged by fighter, crashed on return to base. F/O J. G. Jenkins and crew unharmed.
57 Squadron
Lancaster III, LM322 DX-X
Crashed on take-off and caught fire. F/O E. T. Hodgkinson and crew unharmed.
166 Squadron
Wellington X, HF455
Crashed shortly after take-off. W/O J. A. C. Newman and crew unharmed.
300 Squadron
Wellington X, HE807 BH-O
Developed engine trouble after take-off and crashed in field near Worksop, before bursting into flames. F/L J. Spychala and four crew injured.
The following plane crashed on another operation in the same area:
166 Squadron
Wellington X, HE578 AS-G
Laying mines in Elbe estuary when lost without trace. W/O R. R. Burton and four crew died.
Appendix I
Tables of Statistics
Appendix J
Aircraft Specifications
Appendix K
Financial Cost of the Hamburg Bombings
British and American
Aeroplanes lost
USAAF
14
@$500,000
$7,000,000
RAF
87
@$350,000
$30,000,000
Total $37,000,000
Crews lost
USAAF
13
@$120,000
$1,560,000
RAF
87
@$58,000 (approx)
$5,000,000
Total $6,560,000
Gasoline consumed
USAAF
375,000 gals
@ 23c
$86,250
RAF
3,095,000 gals
@ 23c
$711,850
Total $798,100
Bombs dropped
USAAF
998
500#G.P.
@ $94
$93,800
416
250#inc.
@ $75
$31,200
680
100#inc.
@ $50
$34,000
Bombs dropped
RAF
9478
2000#G.P. (or equiv)
@ $200
$1,895,600
Total $2,054,600
Total cost $46,412,700
[Source: ‘Cost of Destruction of Hamburg’, Statistical Control Division, Office of Management Control, 1 September 1943; Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell Air Base, Alabama, Microfilm A1107, 1654–6]
German
Damage to public buildings
140,000,000RM
Damage to military structures
48,000,000RM
Damage to stations, post offices and telephone exchanges
19,000,000RM
Damage to major industrial plants
200,000,000RM
Damage to residential housing and smaller plants
22,643,000,000RM
Total 23,050,000,000RM
Equivalent in US dollars (1943)
$9,220,000,000
[Source: United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Hamburg Report]
Notes
The following abbreviations have been used throughout:
BBSU
British Bombing Survey Unit
BG
Bombardment Group
FZH
Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg
Hamburg Police Report
Secret Report by the Police President of Hamburg (as local Air Protection Leader) on the heavy air raids on Hamburg in July/August 1943 [Geheim. Bericht des Polizeipräsidenten in Hamburg als Örtlicher Luftschutzleiter über die schweren Grossluftangriffe auf Hamburg in Juli/August 1943]
IWM
Imperial War Museum
NSDAP
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei: (National Socialist German Workers Party or Nazi Party)
SPD
Sozialdemokratische Partei: Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany)
USSBS
United States Strategic Bombing Survey
Introduction
1 Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil(London, 2003), maxim no. 146, p. 102.
2 Hans Erich Nossack, Der Untergang(Hamburg, 1981), pp. 18–19. Nietzsche’s idea of gazing into an abyss was used as a central theme in this classic account of the Hamburg firestorm.
3 For a much longer discussion of this German reaction to the war, including Stig Dagerman’s observations, see W. G. Sebald, On the Natural History of Destruction, trans. Anthea Bell (London, 2004).
4 According to the BBSU, Dresden suffered 1,681 acres of destruction, as compared to Berlin’s 6,427. In Hamburg, a much smaller city than Berlin, 6,200 acres were completely destroyed during the course of the war – 75 per cent of the city’s total built-up area.
5 Coventry was attacked dozens of times during the war, but the only major attack occurred on 14–15 November 1940, when 600 people were killed and 800 injured. Casualties at Hamburg were some seventy-five times greater.
6 The exception, of course, was the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 – a threat that, thankfully, never materialized. During the Second World War, however, Cuba was an American dependency; and at the time of writing, more than fifteen years since the end of the Cold War, Cuba’s ability to pose a threat to the United States has been vastly reduced.
Part One
1 City on the River
1 According to Eckart Klessmann, Geschichte der Stadt Hamburg(Hamburg, 2002), p. 413.