Helpful Score: 1
In July, 1943, the axiom "War is hell" becomes reality in Hamburg, Germany. Lowe tells a story we don't hear very often - the horrible cost in lives of German citizens in this northern sea port. Lowe refrains from moralizing as he tells the story of RAF and USAAF bomber crews and Hamburgers who endured terror in the skies and hell on earth. The allied bombing raids on Hamburg created a literal firestorm; a conflagration so huge that swirling winds in excess of 120 miles an hour rushed to feed the flames. Lowe aptly describes it as "a vast sea of fire in the grip of a hurricane". Survivors of the bombing often had no where to run to escape the inferno. This is both a shocking tale of horror and a tribute to the indomitable human spirit that endures that which is unimaginable. I can't recommend this book enough.
