The Battle of Britain began in July of 1940 shortly after Churchill became Prime Minister
The Battle of Britain began in the summer of 1940 just a few months after Winton Churchill first became Prime Minister. It was fully expected that the Battle was a prelude of Adolf Hitler’s invasion of the British Isles (Operation Sea Lion). The Battle was fought entirely by air with the German Luftwaffe eventually being successfully fought off by Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF).
Nearly a month before the Battle of Britain began, Winston Churchill gave one of his most famous speeches. In the House of Commons on 18 June 1940 Churchill gave his famous ‘Finest Hour’ speech.
Listen to a clip and read the full text of the speech here.
On the 20th of August 1940, as the battle raged on, Winston Churchill give another of his famous rousing speeches. Paying tribute to the fortitude of the Royal Air Force, he coined one of his most famous lines, ”Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’
‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’
In 2010 on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, actor Robert Hardy, who portrayed Churchill in several feature films, read his ‘The Few’ speech. Click the image below to watch.
Read the full text of Churchill’s ‘The Few’ speech here.
For more information on this subject, visit Churchill Central’s Battle of Britain page.
C. Brian Kelly’s book The Best Little Stories of Winston Churchill includes a section on the Battle of Britain. Follow this link to read an excerpt.
Learn more with these Battle of Britain resources: