The Battle of Britain and the Blitz

by Nigel Fountain, War Museum Imperial

By June 1940 Britain faced the enemy across the English Channel with an anxious sense that very little kept her from being subjugated by the overwhelming might of the Nazi forces. What rescued the country was the Royal Air Force's triumph in the Battle of Britain, and the defiance and enduring will of the people who lived, worked and suffered under the Lufwaffe's Blitz which almost nightly from September 1940 until May 1941, rained destruction upon London and other major cities - only to do so again in later campaigns that culminated in the launching of the Nazis' V1 and V2 'revenge weapons'. Based on eyewitness reminiscences, The Battle Of Britain and the Blitz relives those desperate times in the words of pilots, ground crew and other airman and airwomen, firefighters, air-raid wardens, radar operators, spotters, anti-aircraft gunners, and Red Cross, and other voluntary workers, as well as civilians - old and young, male and female - who between them helped to ensure that Britain survived to fight another day and, ultimately, to win.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2003