The Battle of Britain

Description

British historian Holland (Italy’s Sorrow: A Year of War, 1944–45, 2007, etc.) provides a thorough reconsideration of the Battle of Britain that is both staggeringly technical and dramatically engaging. According to the author, the battle began well before RAF Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding’s squadrons took on Hermann Göring’s mighty Luftwaffe over southeast England in July 1940. It is hard now to imagine how isolated and vulnerable Britain had grown at the increasing demonstrations of German aggression. With its lightning thrust into Belgium, Holland and France in the spring of 1940, the Nazi war machine seemed invincible. The French, despite having greater forces than the Germans, “had fallen for Nazi spin-doctoring.” Hemmed in with the British along the Channel coast, the Allied forces were saved from annihilation by a last-minute halt by the Germans, allowing them a miraculous evacuation from Dunkirk. As the French crumbled, the British were largely expected to sue for peace as well, if the prevailing defeatist voices were to be believed. The galvanizing role of the new prime minister, Winston Churchill, has been amply documented elsewhere, and Holland underscores the power of his rhetoric in steeling the nation to its defiant task, aided by the press and media. Thanks to delays caused by bad weather and Nazi dithering, the British were gaining strength and producing new aircraft at startling speed, so that by July they were ready for the Luftwaffe’s onslaught. Holland uses numerous interviews with British and German pilots for respective takes on strategy, and he takes a frank look at the strengths and weaknesses of each side. In the end, Hitler could not launch an invasion of Britain until the RAF could be destroyed—and the British did not let that happen. A painstakingly detailed history of the battle that exposed the myth of Nazi invincibility.

Description

"If Hitler fails to invade or destroy Britain, he has lost the war," Churchill said in the summer of 194o. He was right. The Battle of Britain was a crucial turning point in the history of the Second World War, and now, acclaimed British historian James Holland has written the definitive account of this battle based on extensive new research from around the world, including thousands of new interviews with people on both sides of the fighting. Had Britain's defenses collapsed, Hitler would have dominated all of Europe and been able to turn his full attention east to the Soviet Union. The German invasion of France and the Low Countries in May 1940 was unlike any the world had ever seen. It hit with a force and aggression that no one could countermand in just a few short weeks. All in their way crumbled under the force of the Nazi hammer blow. With France facing defeat and with British forces pressed back to the Channel, there were few who believed Britain could possibly survive. Soon, it seemed, Hitler would have all of Europe at his feet. Yet Hitler's forces were not quite the Goliath they at first appeared to be and Germany's leadership lacked the single-minded purpose, vision, and direction that had led to such success on land. Nor was Britain any David. Thanks to a sophisticated defensive system and the combined efforts of the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy as well as the mounting sense of collective defiance led by a new prime minister, Britain was not ready to give in to the Nazi onslaught. From clashes between coastal convoys and Schnellboote in the Channel to astonishing last stands in Flanders, and from the slaughter by the U-boats in the icy Atlantic to the dramatic aerial battles over England, James Holland's The Battle of Britain paints a complete picture of that extraordinary summer--a time in which the fate of the world truly hung by a thread. --Book Jacket.

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Other Editions

• The Battle of Britain: Five Months that Changed History, May-October 1940HardcoverSt. Martin's Press2011-01-01
• Battle of Britain2012-01-01