The decision to bomb the town was made by RAF Command in High Wycombe, west of London due to favorable weather conditions predicted for the sixteenth of March. The target had been relatively undamaged and was on the way to other targets including Nuremberg. The half-timber buildings and cramped old city promised the release of a firestorm. Commencing the attack would be the No. 5 group, which also executed the heaviest raid on Dresden from February 13–14. The small town of Würzburg experienced an even higher proportion of death and destruction.