Keith Lowe - Inferno; the Devastation of Hamburg 1943

1. Churchill and Roosevelt at the Casablanca Conference, where the Combined Bomber Offensive was first agreed.

2. Sir Arthur Harris, Commander-in-Chief, RAF Bomber Command.

3. Major General Frederick L.Anderson, commander of US VIII Bomber Command.

4. Hitler arrives at Hamburgs airport on one of his many pre-war visits. He never returned once war had broken out, despite appeals for a morale-raising tour after the city was destroyed.

5. Karl Kaufmann, Hamburgs gauleiter and a loyal disciple of the Fhrer.

6. Gring (left) was head of the Luftwaffe, but it was Erhard Milch (right) who ran the show. Chief of Air Staff Hans Jeschonnek (centre) shot himself shortly after the bombing of Hamburg.

7 Colin Harrison: One minute I was a school boy, next minute they called me a man and put me in an aeroplane.

8 Bill McCrea: When we were detailed on the first Hamburg raid we thought, Now well see what its really like!

9 Doug Fry (centre), hours before he was shot down at the end of July 1943.

10 Baptism of fire: Ted Groom and pilot Reg Wellhams first operation was the firestorm raid of27 July.

11 Hamburg before the war. Narrow streets like this allowed fires to spread rapidly.

12 The bright lights of the Reeperbahn in the 1930s. Scenes like this were impossible during the black-out.

13 The heart and soul of Hamburg: the docks and shipyards were the main reason the city was such an important target.

14 False streets and buildings were floated on the Alster lake in an attempt to disguise the city centre. This camouflage caught fire during the bombardmetn, adding to the inferno.

15 Secret weapon: a factory worker cuts strips of Window to the right length.

16 RAF ground crew prepare bombs before loading them into a Stirling bomber.

17 Hamburg from the air on the night of 24 July. The centre of the picture shows the Neustadt on fire, with bombs spreading back towards Altona at the bottom.

18 Streaks of flak over Hamburg. Without radar to guide them, flak gunners were forced to fire blindly into the sky.

19 A typical formation of B-17 Flying Fortresses, with German fighter aircraft above.

20 The lead crew of the USAAFs 303rd Bomb Group before their mission to Hamburg on 25 July. The pilot, Major K. R. Mitchell, is second from left at the back.

22 Hamburg women and children run for cover during an air-raid warning.

21 American bombs fall on Howaldtswerke shipyards, 26 July.

23 German propaganda poster, 1943:The enemy sees your light. Black out!

24 The Michel, a symbol of Hamburg. The sight of this spire rising unscathed in the ruins of the city was as important to Hamburgers as the urvival of St Pauls Cathedral was to Londoners during the Blitz.