Prologue -- Norfolk and Heligoland bight, 18 December 1939 -- In the beginning, Trenchard: British bomber policy, 1917-40 -- Squadron, Norfolk, 1940-41 -- Squadron, Yorkshire, 1940-41 -- Crisis of confidence, 1941-42 -- The coming of area bombing, 1942 -- Squadron, Lincolnshire, 1942 -- Harris conducts an overture -- Operations -- Protest and policy, 1942-43 -- Dissent -- Casablanca-the airmen victorious -- The tools of darkness -- Squadron, Yorkshire, 1943 -- The Ruhr -- Hamburg -- Courage -- The other side of the hill: Germany 1940-44 -- The destruction -- The defenses -- Bomber Command Headquarters, Buckinghamshire -- Conflict and compromise, 1943-44 -- The battle of Berlin -- The American breakthrough -- Pathfinders: 97 Squadron, Lincolnshire, 1944 -- "A quiet trip all round": Darmstadt, 11/12 September 1944 -- Saturation -- The balance sheet -- Appendix A: Bomber command sorties dispatched and aircraft missing and written off, 1939-45 -- Appendix B: Specifications and performance of the principal aircraft of Bomber Command and Luftwaffe night-fighters, 1939-45 -- Appendix C: -- The target indicator board at Bomber Command HQ, High Wycombe, at the beginning of February 1945 -- Appendix D: Comparison of British and German production of selected armaments, 1940-44 -- Appendix E: Schedule of German cities subjected to area attack by bomber command, 1942-45 -- Appendix F: Comparison of Allied and German aircraft production, 1939-45.