Pre-Invasion Bombing Strategy: General Eisenhower's Decision of March 25, 1944

On March 25, 1944, General Eisenhower met in London with all the major military figures in Britain concerned with the application of air power against Germany. How should the massive British and American bombing forces be deployed in the two months preceding D-Day and in the period immediately thereafter? The choice before Eisenhower was simple: a systematic assault on the railroad marshaling yards and repair facilities of northwestern Europe or a systematic attack on German oil production. This lively account of a still-debated pivotal decision contains a good deal of previously unpublished material.