The Nuremberg Raid

369 pp. On the night of 30-31 March 1944, R.A.F. Bomber Command took off on what should have been a routine "maximum effort" raid an Nuremberg. It turned into a major disaster, with Bomber Command suffering its heaviest loss of the war: of the 779 bombers taking part 96 were missing and, due to adverse weather conditions, Nuremberg was only lightly damaged. Martin Middlebrook's book is a detailed re-enactment of that operation, based on extensive research in English and German archives and interviews and correspondence with many of the senior officers who planned the raid, some 380 R.A.F. and Luftwaffe aircrew who took part and German civilians in the areas that were bombed.