Quatrième de couverture
After the fall of France in May 1940, Britain stood alone to face Hitler's inevitable invasion attempt. Within weeks, he had assembled a vast fleet ranged along the French coast. But before the German Army could land across the Channel, Hitler needed to achieve mastery of the skies. His biggest obstacle, the small and under-resourced Royal Air Force would have to be broken.
And so began the Battle of Britain: thirteen terrifying weeks which saw 2,500 young RAF pilots pitted against the larger and more experienced German forces of the Luftwaffe high above the English Channel.
During that fateful summer, Britain's air defences were badly battered and nearly broken, but against all odds, The Few, as they came to be known, bought Britain's freedom - many with their lives.
These are the personal accounts of the pilots who fought and survived that battle. Their stories are as riveting, as vivid and as poignant as they were seventy years ago.
Lauded by Churchill as The Few...The survivors of that campaign are now in their eighties or nineties, their ranks thinning by the year... Max Arthur brings together the voices of the living and the dead to recreate the events of July-October 1940, when vapour trails against a blue sky marked the battle to save civilisation - Daily Telegraph
Entertaining and moving ... This is a brilliant introduction for anyone seeking to understand the origins and outcomes of the battle. A dramatic tale, well told
- News of the World
No one can relive the battle except the men who fought it, and here they are in a tide of telling testimony...expertly tracked down and anthologised by out foremost oral historian of war, the self-effacing Max Arthur...Read it and remember.- Daily Mail
Présentation de l'éditeur
After the fall of France in May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force was miraculously evacuated from Dunkirk. Britain now stood alone to face Hitler's inevitable invasion attempt.
For the German army to be landed across the Channel, Hitler needed mastery of the skies - the RAF would have to be broken. So every day, throughout the summer, German bombers pounded the RAF air bases in the southern counties. Greatly outnumbered by the Luftwaffe, the pilots of RAF Fighter Command scrambled as many as five times a day and civilians watched skies criss-crossed with the contrails from the constant dogfights between Spitfires and Me-109s. Britain's very freedom depended on the outcome of that summer's battle.
Britain's air defences were badly battered and nearly broken, but against all odds 'The Few', as they came to be known, bought Britain's freedom - many with their lives.
These are the personal accounts of the pilots who fought and survived that battle. We will not see their like again.
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