Dilip Sarkar has studied the Battle of Britain period for a lifetime and is renowned for his meticulous research and evidence-based approach, setting events within the broadest possible context. In doing so, he has helped enrich our appreciation and understanding of the past.

In this, the first of a new seven volume series on the Battle of Britain, we have the background to the aerial conflict of the summer of 1940 revealed in great detail and told comprehensively as never before. No stone has been left unturned, no angle unexplored. This meticulous approach the research, combined with the human stories and events, many revealed for the first time, tells what Dilip calls ‘the Big Story’. The development of air power, the creation of Britain’s defenses, the German side, the Home Front and political events are all covered – and much more.

After considering the background threads prior to the outbreak of war in 1939, this book then describes the developing conflict on land, sea and in the air. The German invasion of Norway, the Fall of France and the air fighting over Dunkirk are all explored, along with Hitler’s actual preferred policy towards Britain, which at first was one of blockade – not invasion.

The author, with justification, questions the validity of the Battle of Britain’s official start-date being 10 July 1940, evidencing the fact that the fighting actually began eight days earlier. From that date onwards, a day-by-day, hour-by-hour, account of the fighting is provided, giving due recognition to those aircrew lost or wounded before 10 July 1940, and whose names are not, therefore, found amongst ‘The Few’. Due accord is also given to the Royal Navy, and efforts of both Bomber and Coastal commands, emphasizing just what a ‘big’ story this actually is – far from simply concerning a handful of Spitfire and Hurricane pilots.

Through diligent research with crucial official primary sources and personal papers, Dilip unravels many myths, often challenging the accepted narrative. This is not, however, simply another dull record of combat losses and claims, far from it. Drawing upon unique first-hand accounts from a wide-range of combatants and eyewitnesses, along with the daily Home Intelligence Reports and the papers of politicians such as Italian Foreign Minister Count Ciano, this really is an unprecedented approach to understanding the build-up to and times of the Battle of Britain.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Author’s Note and Glossary
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword by Prince Michael of Kent, GCVO, CD, KStJ
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Locusts, ‘Bomber Barons’, ‘Strawberries and Cream and Fruitcake for Tea’
• Chapter 2 ‘Real Killer Fighters’
• Chapter 3 Dowding, Park, Fighter Command and ‘The System’
• Chapter 4 ‘We Lacked Experience but were Certainly Keen’
• Chapter 5 Göring, Hitler and ‘Mein Kampf’
• Chapter 6 ‘The Personnel of the Luftwaffe … Took the Oath of Allegiance to the Führer’
• Chapter 7 Messerschmitts, Spain and Mölders
• Chapter 8 ‘Barking Creek’ and ‘A Queer War’
• Chapter 9 Operation Weserübung: The German Invasion of Norway
• Chapter 10 Fall Gelb: Blitzkrieg in the West
• Chapter 11 Dunkirk: Operation Dynamo
• Chapter 12 ‘We Never Considered Being Beaten. It Was Just Not Possible in Our Eyes’
• Chapter 13 ‘The Beaver’
• Chapter 14 ‘Unleash a Storm of Wrath and Steel Upon the British!’
• Chapter 15 ‘Events are Much Livelier’
• Chapter 16 ‘I Have Therefore, Somewhat Arbitrarily Chosen the Events of 10 July as the Opening of the Battle’
• Appendix RAF Fighter Command Operational Aircraft and Aircrew Casualties, 2–9 July 1940
• Bibliography
• Other Books by Dilip Sarkar
• Plates