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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Collections search

Private Papers of Miss C Horwitz
(private papers) Made by: Horwitz, C
Postcards and letters (circa 90pp ms/ts), mostly in German, written to her between 1939 and 1946 after she had left Germany for England in December 1938 on the `Kindertransport' scheme, mainly from her parents who remained in Hamburg, her brother Max,...
Private Papers of Mrs I Ellis
(private papers) Made by: Ellis, I
Ts memoir (42pp), written in 1993, of her childhood and family life in Hull in the 1930s, her unhappy evacuation to Scunthorpe following the outbreak of war in 1939 and her return (together with her two sisters) in (?) early 1940 and describing in vivid...
Private Papers of Reverend J G Markham
(private papers) Made by: Markham, John Gabriel
Photocopy of a well-written and informative ts memoir (50pp) entitled 'The Church Under Fire', concerning the author's involvement with Civil Defence when he was Rector of St Peter's, Walworth (South East London) prior to and during the Second World War...
Private Papers of Captain B R Cowles TD BA FICE ARICS
(private papers) Made by: Cowles, B R
Ms diary in 11 booklets, together with bound printed transcript (580pp) giving an excellent and detailed account of his joining (in Birmingham in 1937), and service in the ranks of, 192nd (TA) HAA Battery (69th HAA Regiment) RA in England (until May 1941...
Private Papers of Mrs N Williams
(private papers) Made by: Williams, N
Lively (14pp) ms description of the emotional reaction of the author to the news of the Japanese surrender, 15 August 1945, the announcement by Attlee and broadcasts by the King; good descriptions of celebrations in the mess and in central London during...
Private Papers of W Crompton Holgate
(private papers) Made by: Crompton Holgate, W
Folder of ts lecture notes, correspondence, reports and newsletters collated by the Secretary and Treasurer of the Anti-Poison Gas Association ca 1936 - 1939 including various issues (some incomplete) of the AGPA NEWS June - August 1939 together with a...
Memorabilia of a Yorkshire Family, First and Second World Wars
(private papers)
Collection of 25 miscellaneous documents mostly relating to the Hindley family of Amotherby, North Yorkshire, including newspapers, letters and official forms (1901 - 1954).
Private Papers of Mrs G Eisner
(private papers) Made by: Eisner, G
Good, illustrated memoir (112pp ts) of her childhood and schooling in Berlin during the 1930s and the effects on her family of Nazi anti-Jewish policies, her arrival in Britain with the first `Kindertransport' in December 1938 and reception at the...
Private Papers of Mrs M E Butler
(private papers) Made by: Butler, M E
Photocopy of a ts memoir (39pp), written in 1994, describing her life as a South London schoolgirl (1938 - 1939), her evacuation to family friends in Hastings, Sussex (September 1939 - Easter 1940) and then with the Mary Datchelor Girls' School,...
Private Papers of E A Dorking
(private papers) Made by: Dorking, E A
Well-written memoir (50pp ts), written circa 1996, covering his childhood in Battersea, London, during the 1930s, evacuation to the Sussex coast after the outbreak of war in 1939 and return to the capital in February 1940, experiences during the Blitz,...