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.

10 Walter K. Davis, interview with the author, 28 July 2005.

11 John F. Homan interview, 25 July 2002, Tape 3, side A, Oral History Archives of World War II, Rutgers University.

12 Samuel P. Fleming, Flying with the Hell’s Angels(Spartanburg, 1992), pp. 49–50. In July 1943 the combat tour was still twenty-five missions.

13 Joseph E. Mutz interview, 9 February 2000, Tape 1, Side A, Reichelt Oral History Program, Florida State University. Mutz flew as armourer/gunner for the 95th BG in the Warnemünde wing on 25 July 1943.

14 The US Army was, of course, already engaged in Sicily and North Africa, but with nothing like the numbers that would be deployed the following year.

15 W. Scott Buist interview, 27 September 1995, Tape 1, Side A, New Brunswick History Department, Oral History Archives of World War II, Rutgers University.

12    The Luftwaffe Strikes Back

1 This is the popular form of the quotation. The actual quotation is ‘No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy force.’ See ‘Über Strategie’ in Helmuth von Moltke, Moltkes Militärische Werke, vol. II (Berlin, 1900), p. 291.

2 Philip P. Dreiseszun, 381st BG website, http://www.381st.org/stories–dreiseszun.html (last viewed 5 April 2006).

3 Ironically, the Klöckner factory had already evacuated before these raids took place, so it was a much less important target than the USAAF thought. The plant had become a repair shop, with some continued production of gears and screws. See USSBS, Economic Effects of the Air Offensive against German Cities: A Detailed Study of the Effects of Area Bombing on Hamburg, Germany(November 1945) p. 45, UK National Archives, AIR 48/19.

4 Quote and estimate of AA guns from 303rd BG ‘Mission to Hamburg, Germany: Estimate’, US National Archives, RG18, E7, Box 678, Folder 9. Martin Middlebrook lists the numbers of heavy flak guns in the city as 88mm, 166, 105mm, 96, and 128mm, 16 guns although he does not reveal his source for this information; see The Battle of Hamburg(London, 1980), p. 84. His numbers are backed up by the website http://www.lostplaces.de/flakhamburg (last viewed 1 December 2004), which says that in addition twenty 128mm guns and forty-eight 105mm guns were brought in on seventeen railway flak batteries.

5 Howard L. Cromwell, quoted in Middlebrook, Battle of Hamburg, p. 183.

6 Philip P. Dreiseszun, 381st BG website.

7 Edward Piech interview, c/o Shaun Illingworth, Oral History Archive of World War II, Rutgers University. Piech flew on the second Hamburg mission the following day, but his comments are relevant to both missions.

8 Sometimes it took even longer. For example, the 91st BG took off at 1320 but did not finally cross the English coast until 1437. See 91st BG immediate narrative, 26 July 1943, US National Archives, RG18, E7, Box 541, Folder 11.

9 Donald Hillenmayer interview, Oral History Archives of World War II, 11 September 2003, Tape 1, Side B, Rutgers University.

10 See Philip Dreiseszun, 381st BG website.

11 Albert S. Porter Jr interview, 9 February 2004, Tape 2, Side A, Oral History Archives of World War II, Rutgers University.

12 Edward Piech interview.

13 Lieutenant Darrell Gust, quoted in Brian D. O’Neill, 303rd Bombardment Group(Oxford, 2003), pp. 61–2.

14 See Donald L Caldwell, The JG26 War Diary, vol. II (London, 1998), p. 121.

15 Ibid.

16 Walter K. Davis, interview with the author 28 July 2005.

17 Ibid.

18 381st BG War Diary, 25 July 1943. See 381st BG website.

19 Charles R. Bigler, quoted in Frank L. Betz and Kenneth H. Cassens (eds), 379th BG Anthology(Paducah, 2000), p. 17. Bigler mentions this as happening on the Sunday raid, but it appears these events took place on the Saturday; see Derwyn D. Robb, Shades of Kimbolton: A Narrative of 379th Bombardment Group(San Angelo, 1981), 25 July 1943.

20 Major Kirk Mitchell, quoted in message from 303rd BG to 1st Bombardment Wing, 25 July 1943, US National Archives, RG18, E7, Box 678, Folder 9. For Mitchell’s more realistic estimate, see US National Archives, RG18, E7, Box 406, Folder 9.