SINCE the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, the British people have confronted no greater threat to their freedom than in 1940,
when Hitler’s armies swept through France in a few weeks and stood poised twenty-one miles from Dover. Had the Luftwaffe then gained air supremacy over the English Channel, nothing could have prevented the Germans from landing, in the first invasion of Britain for nine hundred years.
In two highly acclaimed accounts - in his bestselling books Blitzkrieg and Fighter - Len Deighton dealt in considerable detail with all the events that led up to the Battle of Britain and exploded the myths that have collected around that struggle. Now he adds a third dimension to the story of how, against all odds, the British succeeded in turning the prevailing tide of history and won the day. For here, in a series of vivid ‘snapshots’, he shows us the reality of the most crucial battle of the Second World War as it was enacted in flesh and blood by those on both sides who participated in the air, on the ground, in the planning rooms and in the homes.
Among the extraordinary photographs assembled are many from private collections that have never been seen in print before. New and contemporary drawings, diagrams, charts and maps make instantly clear what was happening day by day on both sides and in the accompanying text Len Deighton uses the words of witnesses and combatants to evoke a few weeks of desperate human endeavour and shows how the delicate balance was tipped - but only just - in Britain’s favour.
Rarely has an event in history been portrayed with such immediacy. Bringing to bear all his skill as a war historian, novelist and designer, Len Deighton enables the reader to relive the past and experience what it meant to live and die forty years ago when Britain stood alone in the face of tyranny.