3 June 2024 Garand Picture of the Day

[CINDERS]

I've so many on bomber command they each have their story ~ 1000 Bomber Raid, Looking into Hell, Flying Backwards, Hamburg Raid, Dresden Raid, Peenemunde Raid, Luck & a Lancaster, Bennet & the Pathfinders, Pathfinder force, Tail Gunner that's just a very small lot on my shelves of H/C along with S/C's as well with allot more packed away.

When you read about the Hamburg/Dresden raids all the stars aligned with the perfect atmospheric conditions for Hamburg that instigated the fire storms these are where the fire creates its own wind fanning the flames further & hotter.
The suction from the firestorm was so fierce that it stripped the clothes from ppl hanging on for dear life to poles & trees until it grabbed them, trees were uprooted whilst steel melted ppl in basements suffocated as the fire used the oxygen or were cooked alive in there.
Conservative estimates from that raid put civilian deaths at @40,000 but as time has passed it is now thought to have been 80,000 as many were not found just turned to dust by the extreme flames and heat.
Bomber crews stated at debriefings they could smell the smoke and feel the heat from the conflagration with the target being easily identifiable by the red glow visible from 50 miles away.

In a book from the other side called "Strike From The Sky" it tells the story of the Luftwaffe bombing campaign against England with reports from factory workers after being bombed at the factories with descriptions of blast waves in buildings and what it did to the workers some of the descriptors are quite graphic in nature.
One I recall was a girl sat on a stool when the bomb hit the blast wave left her hips and legs on the stool complete with nylon stockings with the upper body completely gone.
Another lass sat on a chair just like a mannequin in a window not a mark on her or her clothes the pressure wave from the blast being confined to the inside the building and quite near to her had shattered all her internal organs but did no exterior injury.
I find sometimes I need a break so put the book down for a day or two to process what has gone on, as each side has its stories.