In July 1943, large areas of Hamburg were annihilated in the Allied bombing campaign known as Operation Gomorrah.
14-year-old Günter Lucks barely survived the horrors of the bombing; his brother Hermann, two years his senior, was not as lucky. Written with Harald Stutte, Lucks’ new book details every one of the ten days of Operation Gomorrah, including the nights spent in air raid shelters; the days after the attacks; the fears, hopes and thoughts of the inhabitants; the indications for a putative impending “decisive blow”; “fire watch” at the post office; bombing defence preparations in schools and occupational training centres; the “peoples’ gas masks”; the gossip on the streets and much more besides. Here, 75 years after the end of World War II, one of the last living survivors of the Allied bombing of Hamburg tells of his experiences.
