I was honoured to be invited to attend an event to recognise the 81st Anniversary of the Battle of Britain and remember those who served and sacrificed everything between 10th July and 31st October 1940 to defend England from German invasion during the Second World War.
The Battle of Britain was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe.
I’m proud and in awe of my forebears who served during the Second World War, in the Navy, the Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force.
In the late 1930s and early 1940 Germany made significant progress invading Europe and once France had surrendered, the British troops that remained on the continent had to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk.
The then Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the the House of Commons on 18 June 1940 with a now famous speech, where he determined:
“What General Weygand called the ‘Battle of France’ is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin.”
This is where the Battle of Britain takes its name from.
On 16 July 1940, Hitler ordered the preparation of Operation Sea Lion as a potential amphibious and airborne assault on Britain, to follow once the Luftwaffe had air superiority over the Channel.
However, the Luftwaffe’s failure to overwhelm the RAF forced Hitler to postpone and eventually cancel Operation Sea Lion.
Historian Stephen Bungay cited Germany’s failure to destroy Britain’s air defences to force an armistice (or even an outright surrender) as the first major German defeat in the Second World War and a crucial turning point in the conflict.
The airmen who took to the skies in 1940 left the United Kingdom with a legacy of freedom. The RAF, in preventing a Nazi invasion during the Battle of Britain, preserved a way of life and kept the shores of Britain clear so that it could be used as a launchpad for re-taking Europe in 1944.
Winston Churchill payed tribute to the enormous efforts made by the fighter pilots and bomber crews to establish air superiority over England when he stated:
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few“
Another famous Winston Churchill quote from his speech in the House of Commons on 18 June 1940 is:
‘This was their finest hour.‘”
You can read more about the Battle of Britain on the Wikipedia page or on the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF) website:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain
https://www.raf.mod.uk/display-teams/battle-of-britain-memorial-flight/
There’s a film about the Battle of Britain, some of which was projected onto the background wall of the venue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain_(film)
Some pictures from the event itself:
