Bombers begin round-the-clock assault on Hamburg; fires burn out of control

By the summer of 1943, Allied air commanders believed a single overwhelming raid could break German industry and morale at once. On the night of July 24, RAF Bomber Command opened Operation Gomorrah over Hamburg, with American bombers following by day. Over eight days, roughly 3,000 sorties dropped 9,000 tons of bombs on the port city, chosen for its shipyards and how easily its rivers guided navigators at night. The resulting firestorm overwhelmed the city's firefighters and outran anything German air defense had prepared for…