The Hamburg Firestorm 70 Years Ago

Between July 24 and August 3, 1943, the British and US airforces conducted -- or attempted to conduct, since several of them failed -- a series of massive air raids on Hamburg, then a major port and manufacturing center of Germany. Finally, they got through. Wikipedia's description of " Operation Gomorrah":

On the night of 27 July, shortly before midnight, 739 aircraft attacked Hamburg. The unusually dry and warm weather, the concentration of the bombing in one area and firefighting limitations due to Blockbuster bombs used in the early part of the raid - and the recall of Hannover's firecrews to their own city - culminated in the so-called "Feuersturm" (firestorm). The tornadic fire created a huge inferno with winds of up to 240 km/h (150 mph) reaching temperatures of 800 °C (1,500 °F) and altitudes in excess of 1,000 feet, incinerating more than eight square miles (21 km²) of the city. Asphalt streets burst into flame, and fuel oil from damaged and destroyed ships, barges and storage tanks spilled into the water of the canals and the harbour, causing them to ignite as well. The majority of deaths attributed to Operation 'Gomorrah' occurred on this night. A large number of those killed died seeking safety in bomb shelters and cellars, the firestorm consuming the oxygen in the burning city above. The furious winds created by the firestorm had the power to sweep people up off the streets like dry leaves:

Some people who tried to walk along, they were pulled in by the fire, they all of the sudden disappeared right in front of you (...) You have to save yourself or try to get as far away from the fire, because the draught pulls you in.[9] On the night of 29 July, Hamburg was again attacked by over 700 aircraft. A planned raid on 31 July was cancelled due to thunderstorms over the UK.[10] The last raid of Operation Gomorrah was conducted on 3 August.

Operation Gomorrah killed 42,600 people, left 37,000 wounded and caused some one million German civilians to flee the city.

Here are contemporary German and United States shorts on the bombing:

See, also, this description by a citizen of Hamburg who managed to escape being incinerated or asphyxiated in a bombing shelter (via Word War II Today).  The extraordinary devastation of the raids spread terror among Germany's population.

Although the US film comes off much more as propaganda (to me) than the German film, the firestorm on the night of the 27th was caused by the RAF, not the U.S.  

And finally, as a reference, here are the bombing deaths from Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Tokyo, Dresden, and London and England (though out its bombing) to compare with the ~43,000 killed in Hamburg in the  July 24 and August 3, 1943 raids (most on July 27): Nagasaki 40,000 to 75,000 (August 11, 1945); Hiroshima 70,000 to 80,000 (August 6, 1945);  Tokyo ~100,000 (March 9-10, 1945); Dresden ~25,000 (February 13 to 15, 1945); England ~23,000 (summer and fall 1940).