The Nuremberg Raid: 30-31 March 1944

Bomber Command's raid on Nuremberg in early 1944 should have been a routine 'maximum effort' operation. It wasn't: it was a major disaster. The target was only lightly damaged and 96 of the 779 bombers dispatched went missing. Martin Middlebrook recreates the events of the night of 30-31 March in astonishing detail. He consults archives, corresponds with the raid's planners, interviews RAF and Luftwaffe aircrew as well as the German civilians in the areas that were bombed. It is a meticulous, dramatic and often controversial account. It is also a moving testimony to the bravery of both the RAF's bomber crews and their opponents.