In July 1943, British and American bombers launched an attack on the German city of Hamburg that was unlike anything the world had ever seen. For ten days they drenched the city with over 9,000 tons of bombs, creating fires so huge they burned for a month, and were visible for 200 miles. As those who survived emerged from their ruined cellars and air-raid shelters, they were confronted with a unique vision of hell: a sea of flame that stretched to the horizon, the burned-out husks of fire engines that had tried to rescue them, charcoaled corpses and roads that had become flaming rivers of melted tarmac. This book is the first comprehensive narrative of the Hamburg firestorm for almost thirty years. Using many new first-hand accounts, Keith Lowe gives the human side of an inhuman story, and the result is an epic tale of devastation and survival, and a much-needed reminder of the human face of war.