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The Allied capture of Le Havre from its German garrison on 12 September 1944 was preceded by a week of air raids which, though militarily quite ineffective, destroyed most of the city and killed between 1500 and 2000 French civilians. This article assesses a range of explanations for the city's destruction, contrasts British and French perspectives on the raids, and shows that the trauma of September 1944 has continued to define local memory over six decades. The impact of British and American bombing on Allied civilians, it suggests, remains a relatively under-researched area in the study of the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]