Hamburg was incinerated in a firestorm during 8 days and 7 nights of continual bombing by the RAF in the night and the US Air Force during the day in July 1943. Over 40,000 people died and thousands were severely burned or injured.  The port of  Hamburg is strategically located on the Elbe River that flows to the North Sea so a very attractive bombing target and vital to the German war machine.  There were also oil reserves and refinieries nearby along with u boat pens.  Being not that far from the British mainland it was an obvious mission to wipe the city out.  Thousands of bombers dropped incendiaries and phosphorous bombs (which turned into pools of flames when they hit the ground).  The name of this mission was aptly named Operation Gomorrah.  There had been no rain for sometime so on this very hot and dry July night the inferno was ignited.

The bombing created a vortex and whirling updraft of super heated dry air which created a 460 meter tornado of fire.  Hell on Earth.

At the time it was the heaviest assault in the history of aerial warfare.  Until Hiroshima.

For a city that was totally devastated you would be amazed to see it today.  There are a few neighborhoods that were spared the fires and remain intact but the majority of city has been rebuilt; beautifully rebuilt.  It wasn’t built to the “before” style as many cities were forced to do but rather to modern standards.  There is alot of stainless steel and glass.  Just my style.  Some builidings are more remarkable than others of course.  Being the home of 1.8 million people, it is the second largest city in Germany behind Berlin.  It has a broad corporate base and is a science and research, hi-tech hub in Europe.  Extremely clean and green with new building and development going on non stop.  Also a very expensive place to live.

Now, very importantly,  Hamburg is where the  young Beatles first started playing their bar gigs in the early 1960’s.  The barber shop where they got the famous mop top hair cuts still operates today.

We continued on to visit one of the three remaining flak towers in Europe (one in Berlin and one in Vienna). These were built to protect the city from airraids. Didn’t work too well for Hamburg however.

It is an enormous, ugly structure in decay. The locals have big dreams of turning it into apartments and retail but no one wants to pay for it. It is in a rather seedy, graffiti filled, red light district of the city so it seems doubtful that it will ever be anything but a reminder of another time.

Before lunch we did a harbour tour on the River Elbe. As I remembered it was a very busy commercial container port. Lunch was on a old ship in the harbour and I must say I am getting quite used to drinking wine at lunch! Full vacation mode I guess.

The shell of St. Nicholas cathedral was next. The city has kept it there as a reminder of that week in July 1943. We took the elevator to the top.

This has not been a “shopping trip” at all but we had a little time to spend in downtown Hamburg city center. It was very sparkly and upscale but not the one of a kind shop, quaint shopping experience I have been hoping for. Breathe easy honey I don’t think that’s going to happen on this trip. Haha

Very impresssed with Hamburg. The people here are dealing with their terrible past but looking forward, building their future and doing a beautiful job of it.

Tomorrow we drive to Berlin but have a special stop on a bridge on the way.