The book describes a twenty-four-hour period in the Allied Strategic Bomber Offensive in great detail. It outlines the course of the bombing war from 1939 to the night of the Nuremberg raid. The target of the raid was the symbolic Nazi rally city of Nuremberg. Due to difficulties, dangers, and bad luck, the mission went horribly wrong.
Only lightly damaged, Nuremberg became a turning point in the campaign. Out of 779 bombers dispatched, 96 went missing.
Martin Middlebrook meticulously recreates the events of that fateful night, consulting archives, interviewing RAF and Luftwaffe aircrew, and speaking with German civilians in the areas that were bombed