Never Mind The Dambusters
Never Mind The Dambusters…It’s The Bomber Command Podcast!
Join historians and authors Jane Gulliford Lowes and James Jefferies as they delve into the world of RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. In this weekly podcast (episodes released every Wednesday), Jane and James explore strategy, policy, and the events which shaped one of the most controversial campaigns of the war.
Despite their iconic status, Bomber Command's history extends far beyond the famed Dambusters raid of 1943 and the Avro Lancaster. Through insightful discussions, expert analysis of the strategic bombing campaign and first hand accounts by veterans and civilians on the ground, Never Mind the Dambusters offers listeners a comprehensive exploration of Bomber Command's operations and the diverse aircraft it employed, as well as tackling some tough topics.
Jane and James will be joined by leading academics, historians, aircraft enthusiasts, technicians and engineers and veterans' family members. Expect discussions on relevant books and films and a spotlight on a different aircraft in each episode. Please send in your questions to us on X (twitter) at @RAFBomber_Pod and on Instagram at @NeverMindTheDambusters. You can email the show at nmtdambusters@gmail.com, and continue the conversations in our Facebook group.
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Never Mind The Dambusters
Episode 67 - After the Firestorm: Bomb Disposal in Wartime Hamburg, with Thomas Rost
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After the Firestorm – Bomb Disposal in Wartime Hamburg
With Thomas Rost
Never Mind the Dambusters – Series 4
Content Note
This episode includes discussion of forced labour, concentration camp inmates, and civilian casualties. Listener discretion is advised.
In this episode, Jane Gulliford Lowes turns to a largely hidden chapter of the bombing war: bomb disposal in Hamburg during and after the Second World War.
While the Battle of Hamburg in mid-1943 — known to the Allies as Operation Gomorrah — is often remembered for the scale of destruction and the firestorm that engulfed the city, far less attention is paid to what followed. Long after the raids ended, unexploded bombs continued to pose a deadly threat, demanding dangerous and morally complex work on the ground.
Joining Jane is Thomas Rost, a German historian and returning guest on the podcast, whose research examines bomb disposal in Hamburg and the career of Walter Merz, a central figure in this story.
In this episode, we discuss:
- How Germany prepared for bomb disposal before the war
- Who was responsible for clearing unexploded ordnance
- The roles of organisations such as the Reichsluftschutzbund, Luftwaffe, Luftschutzpolizei, and Sicherheits- und Hilfsdienst
- How bomb disposal functioned once the bombing war intensified
- The use of forced labourers and prisoners for dangerous clearance work
- Walter Merz’s background and rise as a bomb disposal specialist
- Bomb disposal during and after the Gomorrah raids on Hamburg
- The SS’s use of concentration camp inmates for unexploded bomb clearance
- Why bomb disposal continued long after 1945
- The 1957 Hamburg-Harburg detonation and renewed public attention
- Merz’s later life, public profile, and memorial work
- Whether unexploded bombs remain a threat in Hamburg today
Newsreel of the Harburg Incident: The Harburg incident starts at minute 1:42
https://digitaler-lesesaal.bundesarchiv.de/video/31072/721973
A 25 minute feature in German:
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