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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The Menin Road
(art) Made by: Roberts, William (RA) 1917
image: a view down the Menin Road in the Ypres sector of the Western Front. Two small columns of British troops march along the road, the foremost comprised of men of the Royal Field Artillery. Two ambulance trucks drive ahead of them. Alongside the road...
Souscrivez pour la Victoire [Subscribe for Victory]
(posters) Made by: Richard, M (artist) 1916
whole: the image covers the majority of the poster area, with the title positioned across the top in red. Further text is positioned across the bottom, also in red. image: Victory leads the Allied armies, atop rolling clouds, across a battlefield of dead...
Harret Aus! Zeichnet Die Neunte! [Hold Out! - Subscribe to the Ninth!]
(posters) Made by: Walch, T (artist) 1918
whole: the image covers the whole surface, with the title integrated and placed across the top and upper right. image: a full-length depiction of a German infantryman, standing on a wall, calling out with his hand raised to his mouth. The war-torn...
Captured German Guns Parked near Bourlon, October 1918
(art) Made by: Rose, Geoffrey K (MC) 1918-10
image: a sketch of four German field guns standing in an open landscape, with hills lining the horizon.
Mametz Wood : after the autumn advance, 1916. 'The abomination of desolation'.
(art) Made by: Morrall, J B
image: a view across the devastated Mametz Wood, with splintered tree stumps and flooded shell holes. The body of a dead German infantryman lies in the foreground, the legs visible but the torso and head hidden by the water of a flooded shell hole.
On the Menin Road, Near Ypres: BRCS and order of St John Motor Ambulances
(art) Made by: Baxter, David A
image: four motor ambulances drive along a road that runs across the composition. In the foreground German prisoners carry a wounded man on a stretcher across a bridge over a large flooded shell hole, whilst a man of the Royal Army Medical Corps and...
A German Gunners Shelter, Warlencourt
(art) Made by: Orpen, William 1917
image: A view along a trench from underneath a camouflage net. Stone and shards of wood lie on the ground, and there is a white topped hill visible in the distance.
A Gunners' Shelter in a Trench, Thiepval
(art) Made by: Orpen, William 1917
image: A view along a deserted trench, with the doorway to a dugout on the corner. The floor of the trench is littered with debris, both German and British helmets, fragments of clothing, stones, and shards of wood. Patches of blue sky are visible...
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...