From Middlebrook and Everitt's book, The Bomber Command War Diaries - 1939 - 1945
30/31 March 1944
Nuremberg
This would normally have been the moon stand-down period for the Main Force, but a raid to the distant target of Nuremberg was planned on the basis of an early forecast that there would be a protective high cloud on the outward route, when the moon would be up, but the target area would be clear for ground-marked bombing. A Met Flight Mosquito carried out a reconnaissance and reported that the protective cloud was unlikely to be present and that there would be cloud over the target, but the raid was not cancelled.
795 aircraft were despatched – 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitoes. The German controller ignored all the diversions and assembled his fighters at 2 radio beacons which happened to be astride the route to Nuremberg. The first fighters appeared just before the bombers reached the Belgian border and a fierce battle in the moonlight lasted for the next hour. 82 bombers were lost on the outward route and near the target. The action was much reduced on the return flight, when most of the German fighters had to land, but 95 bombers were lost in all – 64 Lancasters and 31 Halifaxes, 11.9 per cent of the force despatched. It was the biggest Bomber Command loss of the war.
Most of the returning crews reported that they had bombed Nuremberg but subsequent research showed that approximately 120 aircraft had bombed Schweinfurt, 50 miles north-west of Nuremberg. This mistake was a result of badly forecast winds causing navigational difficulties. 2 Pathfinder aircraft dropped markers at Schweinfurt. Much of the bombing in the Schweinfurt area fell outside the town and only 2 people were killed in that area.
The main raid at Nuremberg was a failure. The city was covered by thick cloud and a fierce cross wind which developed on the final approach to the target caused many Pathfinder aircraft to mark too far to the east. A 10-mile long creep back also developed into the countryside to the north of Nuremberg. Both Pathfinders and Main Force aircraft were under heavy fighter attack throughout the raid. Little damage was caused in Nuremberg; 69 people were killed in the cty and surrounding villages.