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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Burma: Japanese Prisoners-of-War in the Cookhouse, Pegu Prison
(art) Made by: Cole, Leslie 1945
image: four Japanese prisoners-of-war prepare food in the cookhouse of Pegu prison camp. Two of the men stand underneath the corrugated iron roof of a hut, one chopping something at a table. The other two men stand and crouch immediately in front of the...
Military Police searching German Prisoners-of-War at Thiberville
(art) Made by: Hennell, Thomas Barclay
image: Lines of prisoners sit or lie on the ground in front of a camp waiting to be searched by a British military policeman.
Prisoners beside the Road near Homs
(art) Made by: Ardizzone, Edward Jeffrey Irving 1943
image: A British soldier guarding a group of German Prisoners of War. The prisoners sit in a group under a bank, one is wounded with is head bandaged and his arm in a sling. A second British soldier 'digs-in' on the rise above.
An Escape Tunnel built by Prisoners-of-War
(art) Made by: Feilding, David (The Hon) 1946
image: A prisoner-of-war, who appears to be naked, sitting within the interior of an underground escape tunnel at work with a small spade. There is a wooden box beside him attached to a thick string, designed to help remove the earth from the tunnel. His...
Major R Harvey, RAMC : 26th General Hospital, captured in Greece
(art) Made by: Worsley, John 1944-04-01
image: a head and shoulder portrait of Major R Harvey in uniform, turning towards the right.
British Prisoners of War, Italy
(art) Made by: Bullard, Paul 1946
image: The interior of a prisoner-of-war hut. The space is filled by the receding lines of wooden framed bunk-beds. Men lie and sit on the three-tiered bunks, clothed and unclothed. A seated figure on the central bunk has a red lozenge shape on the...
German Prisoners : being assembled and searched at Thiberville
(art) Made by: Hennell, Thomas Barclay
image: German Prisoners of War sit in groups on the ground, some are wearing armbands marked with a red cross. In the background one is standing with his hands in the air, being searched by a British soldier. To the right another British soldier is...
U-boat Prisoners landing from HMS Starling, 24th February 1944
(art) Made by: Bone, Stephen 1944-02-24
image: A group of German naval POW's being escorted from HMS Starling and watched by a large group of sailors
British Escapers Brought Back in Chains to Mecheria Internment Camp, Algeria
(art) Made by: Cook, John Kingsley 1942
image: A line of six British prisoners trudge through the desert. They move from right to left, their bare heads bent and linked together by a long chain attached to their wrists. They are accompanied by three horsemen and a soldier on foot. The guards...
Exterior of a German Prison Camp, 1941
(art) Made by: Mitelle, Louis 1941
image: A line of POWs in prison uniforms push wheelbarrows of rubble in between rows of huts. In the foreground there is a German soldier brandishing a wooden club, and two rows of barbed wire fencing.