The Battle of Berlin was the longest and most sustained bombing offensive against one target in the Second World War. Bomber Command's Commander-in-Chief, Sir Arthur Harris, hoped to 'wreck Berlin from end to end' and 'produce a state of devastation in which German surrender is inevitable'. He dispatched nineteen major raids between August 1943 and March 1944 - more than 10.000 aircraft sorties dropped over 30.000 tons of bombs on Berlin. It was the R.A.F.'s supreme effort to end the war by aerial bombing. But Berlin was not destroyed and the R.A.F. lost more than 600 aircraft and their crews. The controversy over whether the Battle of Berlin was success or failure has continued ever since.