High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II (September 1939 – April 1945) included numerous strategic bombing missions and diversion/nuisance raids. As a large port and industrial center, Hamburg`s shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg area oil refineries were attacked throughout the war. Close to Hamburg, in Geesthacht was also the site of the world`s oldest dynamite factory, constructed by Alfred Nobel.