The book became an international best-seller during the 1960s debate about the morality of the World War II area bombing of the civilian population of Nazi Germany.

Despite having long being praised and held in high esteem, the book is no longer considered to be an authoritative or reliable account of the Allied bombing and destruction of Dresden during February 1945.

[1][a] The book, an international best seller when published in the 1960s,[2] is based on a series of 37 articles about strategic bombing during World War II titled Wie Deutschlands Städte starben (How Germany's Cities Died) which Irving wrote for the German journal Neue Illustrierte.

In later editions of the book over the next three decades, he gradually adjusted the figure to: According to Evans, an expert witness for the defence at the 2000 libel trial of Deborah Lipstadt,[9] Irving based his estimates of the dead at Dresden on the word of one individual, Hans Voigt, who provided no supporting documentation,[10] used a document forged by the Nazis,[11] and described one witness named Max Funfack as Dresden's Deputy Chief Medical Officer.

[12] Funfack had made it clear by letter to Irving on 19 January 1965 that he had not been either the Chief or Deputy Chief Medical Officer in Dresden, that he had no knowledge of any documentation about the number of people who were killed in the bombing, and during the war he had only heard rumours, which varied greatly, over the number of people who were killed in the raids.