Book excerpt: The result of over twenty years of meticulous research, this two volume work will transform our knowledge of the Luftwaffe's battle to defend the cities of the Reich from night attack. It has previously been assumed that no detailed history of the night battles could ever be compiled because so much information had been lost at the end of the war, but Dr Boiten has succeeded where others failed. During his research Dr Boiten has analysed and cross referenced many sources, mostly unpublished, and some from private collections never seen by researchers before. For the first time the picture of each major raid has been compiled as seen from both the Luftwaffe and RAF view, each night's activity is detailed and each of the more than 6,000 night fighter claims listed. Importantly it has been possible to conclusively identify the victors and victims of the majority of combats, a thing previously considered impossible in all but a few cases. This has been made possible by accurately locating the crash sites of most of the fallen bombers through newly discovered Luftwaffe documents, again significantly improving on previously available material.