The Battle of Britain

The battle begins, summer 1940
The battle begins, summer 1940

After defeating France in June 1940, Hitler assumed Britain would sue for peace but ordered his armed forces to prepare for invasion. Hermann Goering assured him that a sustained air assault would destroy the RAF, winning the air superiority needed.
A Heinkel He 111 bomber flying over London, September 1940
A Heinkel He 111 bomber flying over London, September 1940

July 1940 saw German planes target shipping in the Channel, drawing the RAF into combat, before radar stations, communications centres and airfields faced round-the-clock bombing in August. The battle reached a climax with attacks on London in September.
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)

Joan 'Elizabeth' Mortimer, Elspeth Henderson and Helen Turner of the WAAF. All three received the Military Medal for courageous conduct during attacks on Biggin Hill airfield. Biggin Hill suffered a total of ten major attacks between 30 Aug and 5 Sept.
Non-British personnel in the RAF
Non-British personnel in the RAF

A group of pilots of No. 303 (Polish) Squadron RAF return from a sortie. The first Polish squadrons were formed in the summer of 1940. Pilots came from several other countries, including Australia, Canada, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand and the USA.
Sector 'G' Operations Room at RAF Duxford
Sector 'G' Operations Room at RAF Duxford

RAF Duxford was a Sector Station in 12 Group, responsible for defending the Midlands and East Anglia. As the fighting intensified, Duxford's squadrons were called on to support 11 Group's defence of London and the south-east.
Hawker Hurricane Mk Is of No. 85 Squadron RAF
Hawker Hurricane Mk Is of No. 85 Squadron RAF

Despite incessant attacks, the RAF's defences held. The Luftwaffe could not continue, and in the autumn switched to 'nuisance' raids and night operations. The failure to defeat the RAF convinced Hitler to postpone his invasion plans indefinitely.

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Mont St Eloi
(art) Made by: Nash, Paul 1917
image: a scene showing the ruins of the church at Mont St Eloi. The figures of lifeless trees dominate the foreground, and there is a soldier standing on the hill to the left. He appears to be looking out at the brilliant sun that beams down over the...
The Field of Passchendaele
(art) Made by: Nash, Paul 1917
image: a battle scarred Western Front landscape near Passchendaele in Flanders. A large water-filled shell hole dominates the foreground, with two dead soldiers lying nearby on the left. Beyond them is the entrance to a dugout, a small bomb damaged brick...
The Mule Track
(art) Made by: Nash, Paul 1918
image: The view across a battlefield undergoing heavy bombardment. The shattered landscape is disected by an angular duckboard path, along which a mule train is travelling, their small figues just visible in the distance. The animals rear and panic at a...
Spring in the Trenches, Ridge Wood, 1917
(art) Made by: Nash, Paul 1918
image: Three British soldiers waiting in a trench. One stands leaning against the wall of the trench, another sits on a step resting one arm behind his head. The third stands up looking out over the broken landscape beyond. There are the remains of a...
The Menin Road
(art) Made by: Nash, Paul 1919
image: A devastated battlefield pocked with rain-filled shell-holes, flooded trenches and shattered trees lit by unearthly beams of light from an apocalyptic sky. Two figures pick their way along a tree-lined road, the road punctuated by shell-holes and...
The Harvest of Battle
(art) Made by: Nevinson, C R W 1919
image: The aftermath of a battle showing a muddy and flooded battlefield. A long line of wounded men, some with limbs bandaged, men carrying their comrades, straggling from right to left. Corpses lie in and around water-filled shell holes. Artillery...
Evening, After A Push
(art) Made by: Gill, Colin U 1919
image: The original line, which the advancing army leaves behind in its forward movement, remains desolate and encumbered with the debris of battle. A dead German soldier lies at the foot of a smashed tree trunk while British soldiers holding rifles...
Liberation
(art) Made by: Carr, Henry 1944
image: A view of the remains of an Italian village with soldiers and civilians moving around the ruins of the bombed houses and church.
Galeries de Paris, Boulogne
(art) Made by: Hennell, Thomas Barclay 1944
image: a group of British soldiers to the left, and a single British NCO to the right, sit amidst the rubble of the bomb damaged Galeries de Paris in Boulogne-sur-Mer in northern France. The building is a mass of twisted, rusty girders, the roof having...
Divisional Pigeon Loft, Italy 1944
(art) Made by: Burn, Guy 1944
image: A mobile pigeon loft stands with its doors open, the pigeons free to fly around. The interior of the loft can be seen with the birds perched on their compartments. In the left background is a ruined farmhouse; a village on a steep hillside lies in...