A new book, “The Battle of Britain in the Words of the Pilots Who Won It,” by Max Arthur, is now available.
In 1940, the future of the free world and Britain’s very freedom depended on the outcome of a single summer’s battle. “The Few” thwarted the Nazis, stopped the invasion, and changed the course of World War II. Over seven decades after that fateful battle, historian Max Arthur has compiled the personal accounts of “The Few” in a historical volume that brings readers into the battle with the very men who fought it.
After the fall of France in May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from Dunkirk. Britain stood alone to face Hitler’s inevitable invasion. For the German Army to land 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 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 crisscrossed with the contrails from the constant dogfights between Spitfires and Me-109s. Britain’s air defenses 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. More than a fifth of the British and Allied pilots died during the Battle of Britain.
Last of the Few is a compilation of the personal accounts of the pilots who fought and survived that battle.
Max Arthur served with the RAF and is the author of the “Forgotten Voices of the Great War,” “Forgotten Voices of the Second World War,” and “Dambusters.”
Price: $24.95.
For more information: SkyHorsePublishing.com
