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

The Ypres Salient at Night
(art) Made by: Nash, Paul (artist) 1918
image: A night scene showing three soldiers on the fire step of a trench surprised by a brilliant star shell lighting up the view over the battlefield. On the left there is a flooded shell-hole, beyond which stand three other soldiers, overlooked by a...
'Stand To' Before Dawn
(art) Made by: Nash, John (RA) 1918
image: British infantrymen stand-to in a duckboarded trench. They lean against the parapet looking over the breastworks into No Man's Land, with their rifles beside them. There are two large puffs of smoke from artillery fire hanging in the dawn sky to...
Study for 'Over The Top' (IWM ART 1656)
(art) Made by: Nash, John (RA) 1918
image: a squared up preparatory drawing for the oil painting 'Over the Top' (IWM ART 1656). On the left, a red earth trench lined with duckboards stretches away from the viewer. A group of soldiers clamber from the trench, going 'over the top'. Two lie...
Study for Oppy Wood, 1917 (IWM ART 2243)
(art) Made by: Nash, John (RA) 1917
image: a squared up preparatory drawing for John Nash's painting 'Oppy Wood'. The lower half of the composition has a view inside a trench with duckboard paths leading to a dug-out to the right. Two British infantrymen stand on the firestep to the left,...
Study for 'Stand To' before Dawn. (No 1160)
(art) Made by: Nash, John (RA)
image: a squared up study of five British infantrymen at 'Stand To' in a front line trench at dawn. Four of the men stand on the firestep, carefully looking over the parapet towards No Man's Land. One of the men, in the centre, stands lower down in a...
Brigade Headquarters: Signallers and Linesmen
(art) Made by: Roberts, William (RA) 1918
image: a group of stylised figures installing communication lines outside a Brigade Headquarters housed in a dugout. Light shines down on the scene from the left illuminating one side of the figures.
Rosieres Valley, 1918
(art) Made by: Roberts, William (RA) 1918
image: the figures of four stylised signallers laying a wire across a heavily battle-scarred landscape. Clouds of dark smoke billow from the ground not far away. There is a village on the horizon in the distance, and another in the valley beyond the...
Gunners. Turning Out for an SOS. Battery action at night
(art) Made by: Roberts, William (RA) 1918
image: a group of gunners of the Royal Field Artillery hurriedly emerging from a dugout, still dressing as they run towards a battery firing into the distance. A Sergeant stands to the left of the composition, holding a torch in his hand shining down at...
Signallers
(art) Made by: Roberts, William (RA) 1918
image: a scene with six British signallers laying a wire in a trench. The two men in the centre appear to be shouting at one another, perhaps as a result of the noise of artillery fire, and the others look on, transfixed in their pose. A wounded man lies...
Visions de Guerre
(posters) Made by: Unknown (artist) 1916-06-15
whole: the image is positioned centre left and lower left, held within a narrow blue border. The title is separate and positioned across the top edge, in orange outlined blue. The text is separate and positioned in the upper third, in blue and in orange...