"This taut, continuously engrossing novel of an American bomber command based in England packs a solid impact from its first page." —The New York Times (Jan. 5, 1947)

"Rare it is that a piece of fiction smacks the reader between the eyes with conviction that it has burst spontaneously from the narrator's brain and is a story that HAD to be told." —Chicago Tribune (Jan. 5, 1947)

Leader of an elite team of American heavy bomber planes, General Casey Dennis of the US Air Force is sent to England during the height of World War II—and orders his pilots deep into German territory in order to disrupt production of the Luftwaffe's fighter jets. Forced to balance the safety of his crew against the lives of thousands of Allied troops ahead of D-Day, and plagued by political interference pressuring him to attack less dangerous targets, General Dennis must make agonizing life-and-death decisions—with the outcome of the war, and the future of the Air Force, in the balance.

A fascinating fictional account of the USAAF bombings of Germany during World War II, this international bestseller takes a close, suspenseful look at the demands faced by generals forced to send their troops on desperate, deadly missions. This book was the basis for a movie of the same name, starring Clark Gable. A former US intelligence officer during World War II, author William Wister Haines lends an intensity to the prose informed by firsthand experience.