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Operation "Gomorrha"...

Discussion in '"Today in History", Literature & Media Review' started by Martin Antonenko, Jul 23, 2020.

  1. Martin Antonenko A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    In the evening hours of July 24, 1943, 791 bombers of the new type "Lancaster" of the Royal Air Force take off from their southern English bases ...:

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    An hour before midnight the bomber fleet reached the northern German metropolis of Hamburg ...

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    ... and releases his deadly cargo, a total of 2,300 tons of bombs ...:

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    Although the destination, the St. Nikolai Church in the city center ...

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    ... is missed and the bombs fall over a relatively large area of ​​the Hanseatic city, the damage in the city center as well as in the Hoheluft, Eimsbüttel and Altona districts is great - there are extensive wildfires! Some northwestern suburbs were also hit.

    When the bombers turn off, 1,500 dead hamburgers are left behind!

    Twelve "Lancasters" are shot down by German night fighters ...:

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    The air defense over the attacked city itself is practically blind, because the British together with their bombs throw off tinfoil strips, so-called "Düppel" ...:

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    The British had found out that this "chaff" blinds the German "Würzburg" anti-aircraft guiding radar, rendering it ineffective ...:

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    This is the first attack of the "unmasking" so-called "Operation Gomorrha", which aims to destroy the city of Hamburg.

    The chief of the British Bomber Command, Air Marshal Arthur Harris ...

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    ... made no secret that the city center and the densely populated residential areas are the target of his air force!

    This is supposed to break the morale of the German population - Harris therefore quite frankly calls the attacks "moral bombing"!

    The RAF will return three times until August 4th.


    In addition, the 110 B-17s of the 91st, 351st, 381st Bomb Groups of the 8th USAAF (United States Army Air Force, there was no Air Force as a sub-force in the USA at the time!) As part of "Operation Gomorrah" on July 25th and July 26th three day attacks on Hamburg ...:

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    In contrast to Arthur Harris, the Americans emphasize that - unlike the British - they are only limited to "military goals".

    Well - the port of Hamburg is such a military target, and everything that doesn't hit the port hits civilian residential areas. The result is ultimately the same - it just sounds better ...!

    When the "Operation" Gomorrah attacks ended on August 3, 1943, they went down in history as the most severe air strikes ever.

    107,000 explosive bombs, 300,000 phosphorus fire bombs and three million stick fire bombs were dropped on Hamburg, 277,330 apartments and 580 industrial companies, 2,632 commercial companies, 80 Wehrmacht facilities, 24 hospitals, 277 schools and 58 churches were destroyed.
    Commercial and port vehicles with 180,000 GRT were sunk in the harbor.

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    Hamburg as an organized and habitable community no longer exists!

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    58,000 civilians are dead, 125,000 injured ...

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    The ruin of the Nikolai church is today a memorial to "Operation Gomorrha" ...:

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    dmcHobbes, Ferris and Nap like this.
  2. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Hi Martin

    Thank you .......terrible results from the operation , devastation beyond imagination

    Interesting to read the figures ...and your "on this day" threads

    Nap
    Martin Rohmann likes this.

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