JAKARTA - The city of Hamburg in the 1943 era was like the city of Nagasaki in Japan, a strategic city. It was an industrial city that also served as the center of the supporting economy of Germany under the control of Hitler and his Nazi party. Through an air operation called Gomorrah on July 24, 1943, the city was ravaged by the attacks of the two allied countries, Britain and the United States.
The decision to switch to Hamburg from another city as the target of the bombing came six months after the German defeat at Stalingrad on the Eastern front. By destroying the strategic point in the center of the manufacturing industry at that time, the allies understood that Germany's great power would be largely paralyzed.
Through the British Royal Air Force (RAF), the British air force, and the United States Army, Hitler didn't expect that in one air attack, he would suffer the greatest defeat in the number of deaths.
It is told on the website thoughtco that the attack claimed the lives of more than 1 million refugees and killed 40,000 to 50,000 innocent civilians.
Gomorrah's assault operations continued day and night. US troops did during the day, then continued by RAF soldiers at night. Continuous attacks in the first two days forced the daytime attack on the third day to be stopped. The bombing targets couldn't be seen because of the dense smog from the night bombing. Until the end of the Gomorrah operation on August 3, Hamburg was completely paralyzed.
A very worrying attack in the eyes of Hitler. He was afraid that if this attack took place in other cities, it would throw Germany out of the domination of the world war at that time.
An Impregnable City
Until now, Hamburg is still one of the city points which is actually difficult for any party to penetrate. Especially during the era of the 2nd World War. The location of Hamburg wasn't too close to the British troops' air routes. It was up to two technological innovations in the world of aviation that were the factors in destroying Hamburg by the Gomorrah operation.
First, the presence of the H2S radar scanner system. It provided the bombers with a visualization of the situation below like a television display. The second is the use of 'window'.
A window was a bundle of aluminum foil strips carried by each bomber. When it was removed, it would interfere with German radar.
On the evening of 27 July, 740 RAF bombers descended on Hamburg led by Pathfinders assisted by H2S. Armed with this technology, all aircraft hit their bombing targets and lost only 12 aircraft.
The attack, which lasted only once, was described as an airstrike that was comparable only to the tragedy in Nagasaki, according to Keith Lowe, author of the book Inferno. "But Hamburg was on a completely different level - it was more comparable with what happened in Nagasaki".
On the same day, there was a firestorm due to the bombing. The powerful 240km/h gusts put the city at 800 degrees Fahrenheit, or 426 celsius. The temperature was so hot. It wouldn't be able to allow humans to survive.
Reported via aoav.org.uk, it's illustrated how terrible the attack was to take its toll. The victims who died were mostly those who took shelter in bomb shelters and cellars. Because the firestorm swept away all the clean oxygen they breathed, then dragged their lives to the death. Thousands of factories, industrial buildings, and civilian houses were destroyed in the one-time attack.
The Gomorrah operation resulted in some fantastic numeric records, such as the following:
-- The attacks lasted for a whole week, day and night nonstop.
-- 17,000 bombardments were launched with a fleet of 700-800 aircraft consecutively.
-- 9,000 tonnes bombs were detonated with an average of 1,200 tonnes of bombs per day.
-- On July 27, 2,400 tonnes of bombs were detonated in one attack that day.
-- About 280,000 buildings were destroyed and burned.
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