Hellstorm Page #2

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When the great mass of flames joined,

they rose into a column three miles high.

The attacks against Hamburg

continued unabated for another week.

Soon, there was nothing left to destroy.

Appropriately dubbed by the Allies as "Operation

Gomorrah," the raids had been a cold and calculated

attempt to scorch Hamburg and its

people, from the face of the earth.

The plan succeeded. With thirteen square miles

of total destruction, with 750,000 homeless,

with an estimated 60 to 100,000

dead, mostly women and children,

Hamburg, for all intents and

purposes, had ceased to exist.

It was now clear to all that the Allied air war

against Germany had become a war ofmassacre and terror.

The pattern was repeated

time and again across Germany.

All German cities suffered the same. After first

blasting a town to splinters, the Allied bombers quickly

returned in the hope of catching survivors

and rescuers in the open and igniting with

fire bombs all that remained. When the roaring

bombers released their lethal cargo, a veritable

rain of fire descended upon a targeted town.

The thousands of small fires would join together

to form one huge blaze, creating an

intense vortex of wind and flames.

Kate Hoffmeister: I struggled to run

against the wind in the middle of the

street. We couldnt go on across

because the asphalt had melted. There

were people on the roadway, some already dead,

some still lying alive but stuck in the asphalt.

They were on their hands

and knees screaming.

Some miraculously survived the inferno,

reaching safety in rivers, canals and parks.

Thousands more, however, did not. When the raids

finally ended and the firestorms began to recede,

rescue workers rushed to free

those still trapped underground.

When would-be rescuers finally broke through

to buried bunkers they often found scenes

of unimaginable horror. In cellars suffering

direct hits, walls were awash in blood,

with bone, brains and body

parts splattered everywhere.

Rescuers who entered some bunkers found

floors covered, in up to a foot of greasy fat,

the victims rendered

down into a dark liquid.

When word first filtered through to the outside

world of the butchery being visited upon the

women and children of Germany by the Royal Air

Force, critics of these war crimes spoke out

Author Vera Brittain: The ruthless mass bombing

of congested cities is as great a threat to

the integrity of the human spirit as anything

which has yet occurred on this planet. There

is no military or political advantage

which can justify this blasphemy.

Although it was considered treasonous for members

of the RAF to criticize the bombing campaign

the conscience of some was overwhelmed

by the hell being unleashed upon Germany.

RAF Aviator:
There were people down there being

fried to death in melted asphalt in the roads,

they were being burnt up and we were

shuffling incendiary bombs into this holocaust.

I felt terribly sorry for the people

in that fire I was helping to stoke up.

As a symbol of the Third Reich, and as the most

obvious example of Germanys will to fight on,

more bombs were devoted to

Berlin than any other German city.

It is another place, however, that has become most

widely associated with the terror campaign waged

against Germany

- Dresden.

Since Dresden had suffered only two small raids

in the five years of war, many assumed that the

citys salvation was due to its irreplaceable

treasures - ornate palaces, world-renowned

museums and art galleries, its

towering, centuries-old cathedrals.

Others surmised that since Dresden had almost no heavy industry

- and what little it did have

had no bearing on the war

- the enemy simply did not deem the city a viable target.

To some, the twenty-six thousand Allied POWs interned

within the town appeared a more logical answer.

Still others thought that, perhaps it was the

estimated half million refugees jamming the city,

many who had fled Soviet atrocities in the

East, that kept Dresden safe from bombing.

Despite the dire situation as war closed in,

Dresdeners were determined on the night of

February 13 to enjoy an annual event, known

in America as Mardi Gras, but celebrated in

Germany as "Fashing." Women and children,

along with the few remaining men, many in

costume, flooded the streets of Dresden

to celebrate the event, one last time,

before Germany's looming defeat.

Just before ten p.m. sirens began wailing.

There was no panic. Most residents simply

ignored the sounds. Even had there been any

air raid shelters few would have fled to them

for there seemed little doubt on this cold,

yet cheery night, that like the 171 false

alarms which had preceded it, this

warning too, would end in nothing.

However, instead of the "All Clear" siren, a short

time later Dresden heard another sound, a sound

similar to a rolling earthquake. As wave after

wave of RAF bombers appeared overhead, thousands

of bombs tumbled down.

Added to the normal payload of high explosives,

hundreds of two- and four-ton "block-buster" bombs

slammed into Dresden, obliterating entire

neighborhoods. Ancient cathedrals, palaces

and museums were reduced to rubble within

seconds. At the railroad station, hundreds

of individuals who had refused to leave their

highly coveted train seats were blown to bits.

At the huge indoor circus, spectators, performers

and animals were slaughtered by blast and

hissing shrapnel. Well-marked hospitals were

targeted. In the streets, on the sidewalks,

atop the bridges over the Elbe River,

costumed revelers with nowhere to run,

were slain by the thousands.

Without let-up, the massacre continued.

And then, the roar above ceased, the explosions

stopped, and there was quiet once more.

Several minutes later, the welcomed silence was

broken, by the even more welcome sound of the

"All Clear" signal. What had seemed an all

- night trial by fire had actually occurred in just

under half an hour. In those thirty minutes,

however, one of the worlds most beautiful

architectural treasures

had all but vanished.

Fire brigades from surrounding towns arrived.

Red Cross workers spread out to help the victims.

Families screamed for missing loved ones. For

many, the end of the world had seemingly arrived.

No one, however, was at all emotionally

prepared for what came next....

At 1:
30 a.m., the earth began to tremble once

again. As more than a thousand bombers roared

overhead, a rain of death showered down on

Dresden. In addition to explosives, the second

wave brought tons of incendiary bombs. In a

matter of minutes, the thousands of fire bombs

ignited the debris and a racing furnace of

flame erupted. Unfamiliar with the bombing

raids and fire storms, most Dresdeners reacted

slowly. Many sought safety in cellars again,

not realizing that the terrific heat

would transform their havens into ovens.

Others ran for safety through the streets, only

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