The Battle Of Britain

'A definitive record . . . The fact that we won is remarkable, and Holland brings the events vividly to life.' News of the World 'Stuffed with personal accounts that drive the narrative along at a cracking pace.' Mail on Sunday ____ 'Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war' Sir Winston Churchill, speech to the House of Commons, 18 June 1940 The Nazi Blitzkrieg was unlike any invasion the world had ever seen. It hit Europe with a force and aggression that no-one could counter. Within weeks the German armies were at the French coast and looking across at Britain. It seemed impossible that she would be able to resist invasion. Between the Nazis and glory stood an apparently fragile defence, but the men and women of Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and the Royal Navy would not be cowed. Their heroics that summer would go down in history. In The Battle of Britain for the first time, James Holland tells this most epic of stories from a 360° perspective - when the fate of the world truly hung by a thread.

Harry Woods joins the RAF during WWII, battling the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. England, 1941. Sometimes I can't remember a time when I didn't have the roar of engines or rattle of machine-guns ringing in my ears. Sometimes it feels as though I've been a fighter pilot all my life -- that I had no life before the RAF, before the War, before the Battle of Britain. But I did. Of course I did. Once I was just Harry Woods, a kid like any other kid. And I suppose that's when my story really begins... Harry joins the RAF to protect his country, only to be called a coward by those who do not understand the battles raging in the air above. He loses friends and nearly loses his life when his plane goes down in the Channel.

This book addresses the social, political and economic turbulence in which the UK is embroiled. Drawing on Cultural Studies, it explores proliferating crises and conflicts, from the multiplying varieties of social dissent through the stagnation of rentier capitalism to the looming climate catastrophe. Examining arguments about Brexit, class and ‘race’, and the changing character of the state, the book is underpinned by a transnational and relational conception of the UK. It traces the entangled dynamics of time and space that have shaped the current conjuncture. Questioning whether increasingly anti-democratic and authoritarian strategies can provide a resolution to these troubles, it explores how the accumulating crises and conflicts have produced a deepening ‘crisis of authority’ that forms the terrain of the Battle for Britain.

Published in association with the Imperial War Museum in London to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, this book brings one of the most important battles of World War II to life. Lavishly illustrated with photographs, contemporary art and propaganda posters, and accompanied by numerous first-hand accounts, The Battle of Britain captures the reality and the romance of a defining chapter in British history. Moreover, it offers a detailed analysis of the events immediately preceding the battle, the key strategic decisions by opposing commanders that altered the course of the battle, as well as the development of criticial weaponry and defenses that dramatically changed the way aerial combat was fought. Moore's book pays tribute to visionaries such as R. J. Mitchell and Air Chief Marshall Lord Dowding, who ensured that, rather than simply a victory snatched from the jaws of defeat, this was a battle for which Britain's Fighter Command was uniquely prepared. Such preparation nearly guaranteed that although the British were vastly outnumbered, they could confidently counter the German fighter planes and bombers that darkened the skies throughout the summer of 1940. It was this small band of men and women, covered in detail in this title, that were the first to successfully oppose the seemingly unstoppable tide of the Nazi war machine, irrevocably altering the course of the rest of the war.

The Battle of Britain is the epic story of the fight for control of the skies over England in the bitterly long summer of 1940. Bestselling author Patrick Bishopâ??s compelling day-to-day chronicle is enhanced with eye-witness accounts, diary extracts and pilot profiles, as the horrific reality of air combat is vividly portrayed in this account of the life and death struggle between the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe. This is the story Britainâ??s "finest hour," a fight for national survival that had a profound impact on servicemen and civilians alike, and ultimately proved to be a key a turning point in the course of the war.

This is the second volume of the classified history of air defence in Great Britain. Written while World War II was still being fought, the account has an analysis of the defensive tactics of Fighter Command, and attempts a day-by-day analysis of the action as it took place.

Battle of Britain Day is the only full-scale work on the events of this pivotal day in the Battle of Britain. The text is based on eyewitness testimony and official records.