The Battle of Hamburg: Allied Bomber Forces Against a German City in 1943

by Martin Middlebrook

Book Overview

Over the course of 11 days in the summer of 1943, Allied bombers conducted six major air raids on Hamburg. Historians call this sustained period of bombing the Battle of Hamburg; citizens of that city... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684167271
• ISBN13: 9780684167275
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 424 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The peak of the Area Bombing war

Martin Middlebrook's judicious method of recounting military history works nearly as well in "The Battle of Hamburg" as it did in his first book "First Day on the Somme." The two most attractive things about the Middlebrook style are the somewhat clinical attitude -- there is no rodomontade or triumphalism in his books -- and the pithy selections from participants. Middlebrook is also good about paying attention to logistics, the area usually most neglected in popular histories. For the Battle of Hamburg, the big issues are Area Bombing and the famous firestorm that killed perhaps 40,000 civilians in one night. The image of living people stuck on melted asphalt as the flames approach is one not easy to read. Everybody has to have an opinion about such events. In a thoughtful summary, however, Middlebrook says he has been unable to decide for himself how to judge. He lets others present their judgments. It is easy enough, however, to judge the judgments of many (Middlebrook suggests, a majority) of Hamburgers. They remain aggrieved that the British resorted to such uncivilized warfare as terror bombing. We can rightfully judge this a one-way-street morality: Only Germans are entitled to practice uncivilized warfare and it is a crime only when they have to experience it. As always, the worst thing you can do for a German is to encourage him to speak frankly. I very much like Middlebrook's approach to military history, but there are a couple of points where "The Battle of Hamburg" is seriously lacking. Hamburg was the main producer of submarines. The attacks may have cut U-boat deliveries by around two dozen. (The implication has to be that the Germans got more efficient after the raids, as the workforce at the main yards, Blohm & Voss, was still down 20% four months after the raid.) Middlebrook never puts this number (the range is 20 to 26, depending upon whether you accept the British or the American estimate) in context. The raids on Hamburg came in July 1943; May 1943 was the "black month" of the U-boat arm when it went from great success in April to a loss of more than 40 boats in May. So two dozen boats was a minor victory at the time. At the beginning of the year, it would have been much more consequential. In his discussion of the strategy of Area Bombing, again, Middlebrook ignores a big piece of context. During the first four years of the war, Britain and (for the latter part) the USA were unable to come to grips with the main might of Germany. From June 1941, most of the fighting was done by the USSR. Although the USSR defeated Germany at least as early as October 1941 (see my review of Overy's "Russia's War" for a discussion), there was a possibility that Germany could have retrieved the situation, had Britain not kept up the pressure. Britain's ability to engage Germany was limited. The Battle of the Atlantic was the main arena. There is much talk today about asymmetric warfare. The Battle of the Atlantic was extremely

A GRIPPING ACCOUNT WITH INSIGHTFUL ANALYSIS

My father was born under the bombs in Hamburg, so this had a personal interest to me. It is a fantastic, balanced book. It captures very well every aspect of the operation, and Middlebrook debunks a lot of myths about it being a "firebombing" raid. It was, as he is at pains to emphasize, a typical raid that was just more successful than most. As with his other books, Middlebrook uses and includes many personal accounts; in this case, they are sad and gripping for all concerned. From the narrative and analysis perspectives, this is a very well done book. The first and last chapters alone are a great read, discussing how area bombing and "terror" bombing came about. Middlebrook is balanced, summarizing the opponents and supporters' points of view. He himself remains "above" the debate, claiming, correctly in my point of view, that the era was challenging for all concerned, and difficult decisions had to be made in a compressed period of time without the benefit of a crystal ball. It may be the best of his bomber series of books, because of the treatment of the Hamburgers.

When Everything Came Together for RAF Bomber Command

Martin Middlebrook's series of books is a must for anyone interested in the strategic bombing campaign over Germany in World War II. Although most of his books cover raids that did not go well for the Allies (Nuremberg, Schweinfurt-Regensburg, and the Battle of Berlin), this book covers one of RAF Bomber Commands biggest successes (the US Eigth Air Force also carried out daylight raids as part of the Battle of Hamburg but they were not so successful). Middlebrook explains how "everything came together" for the RAF, most especially the introduction of "Window" which rendered the German defenders' radar useless; and the weather which made the incendiary bombs particularly effective in starting massive fires which lead to the horrific firestorm that caused so many fatalities. Middlebrook not only describes the attacking force, but also the defensive measures taken on the ground by the Germans and the experiences of the civilian population caught up in this nightmarish experience.The author points out that regarding the bomb-load mix in this raid, the ratio of incendiaries to high-explosive bombs was no different than usual and it was the combination of circumstances that lead to the massive destruction (incidentally-he also points out that the Germans used incendiaries in their bombing raids on London and Coventry in 1940 and 1941 so the RAF can not be blamed for starting this type of warfare)This book, like his others, is highly recommended.

Viewing the Maelstrom

This story of the Allied bombing of Hamburg, Germany begins 30 years before the actual attack with a description of the origin of stategic bombing. The book narrates the development of the technology that culminated in that nightmare of firestorm and destruction. It is also the story of the Allies's attempt to end the war by annihilating certain German cities.On the night of July 28, 1943, a firestorm occurred, the result of the British "area bombing" method used in the attack on the city. The center of the storm, which covered a 4-square-mile area, is estimated to have reached a temperature of 800 degrees Centigrade. Survivors said the storm sounded "like the Devil laughing."Middlebrook includes eyewitness accounts.American and British flyers described what they saw, heard and felt. German survivors describe the horrors they endured.The author is a conscientious researcher and compassionate historian. He confronts issues that affect the political relationships of the USA, Britain and Germany; the bitterness that some Germans still harbor because of the bombing of residential areas, and the anger that victims of the Reich still have against the Germans. This book studies all viewpoints.Books like THE BATTLE OF HAMBURG add valuable pieces to the puzzle of historical perpsective that we all need when we make political decisions at the ballot box.

In Praise of Area Bombing

Martin Middlebrook does his usual thorough research job, which includes excellent Order of Battle information, planning and operational details. Excellent diagrams for each raid shows where each aircraft was downed and where bombs were dropped. This is the story of four RAF and two USAF bomber raids on Hamburg between 25 July-3August 1943, in the first example of "round the clock bombing". This is also a useful case study to examine the British concept of night area bombing versus American daylight precision bombing. A total of 100 British aircraft were lost, as well as 552 airmen killed and 65 captured. The USAF lost 17 bombers in Hamburg raids, with 46 killed and 114 captured. The RAF dropped about 8,300 tons of bombs on Hamburg, the Americans about 300 tons. These raids were unique in several respects. The first British raid used "Window" to successfully disrupt the German night-fighter defense. The second British raid created a firestorm that killed over 40,000 civilians in Hamburg. The two American raids were hampered by cloud cover and inflicted only minor damage on the U-Boat construction yards in the city. The Luftwaffe lost more than 13 aircraft defending the city and the defenses improved considerably in the course of just one week. Although the raids failed to disrupt U-Boat construction or erode German morale, Middlebrook feels that the raids did help to "grind" Germany down and force them to devote more resources to the defense of their cities. I find that Middlebrook's claims for the RAF bombing campaign somewhat exaggerated; they rarely bombed within 3 miles of their target and their bombers were shot down fairly easily (with few survivors). There is a tremendous amount of detail in this volume which makes it well worth reading, even if aviation history is not one's primary interest. The full, ugly face of aerial bombing is also revealed, probably in more stark contrast than other works, since Middlebrook spends as much time describing civilians faced with firestorms as bomber crews going down. At the end, Middlebrook asks whether area bombing - specifically targetting civilian housing - was justified. His answer, that it was consistent with the mores and circumstances of the Second World War are somewhat questionable.