This is the full account of USAAF Mission 311 on 22 April 1944 when American bombers suffered their highest ever loss to German intruders. The German fighters followed the air armada home after the raid, picking individual bombers off on their return over Europe and then over England as the American force struggled to land. The book covers many famous USAAF, RAF and Luftwaffe units and describes the ferocious action over Europe when the Americans attacked Germany's largest railway marshalling yards at Hamm. Packed with powerful human interest stories, history and technical details, it chronicles the mission fully from the initial planning stage to its bloody finale, untangling the facts behind what went so horribly wrong and why sixty bomber crewmen and ground personnellost their lives owing to intruder action.Ian McLachlan is a renowned aviation historian and author. His other books include Final Flights and Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories. He lives in Beccles, Suffolk.