Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Battle of Britain Day

Remembering The Few

On this day 70 years ago, RAF Fighter Command claimed victory over the Luftwaffe. A day of heavy bombing raids over London and the south coast ended in big losses for the German air force: the Battle of Britain had been won. As a long, hot summer gave way to the gales of autumn, Hitler cancelled his plans to invade Britain; and while the bombs would continue to rain down on our cities for months to come, the threat to the nation's independence had been averted. There are days in our national story that should always be remembered: the defeat of the Armada, the triumphs at Trafalgar and Waterloo. Battle of Britain Day is among them – and no words, however familiar they have become, better capture the significance of what happened in the summer of 1940 than those uttered by Winston Churchill: "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few."


Related:

Six Weeks that Saved the World

Six Weeks that Saved the World (II)

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