In Battle of Britain: The Gathering Storm, the first of Dilip
Sarkar’s unprecedented eight-volume series exploring the Battle
of Britain, the events that led up to the outbreak of war in 1939,
and which set the scene for the epic aerial conflict of summer
1940, were fully explored. Continuing his examination of the events
of the Spitfire Summer, in Battle of Britain: The Breaking Storm
Dilip provides a day-by-day chronicle of the Battle of Britain’s
first phase – the so-called Kanalkampf – which was fought over
the Channel-bound convoys between 10 July and 12 August 1940. This
account, though, does not simply concern RAF Fighter Command, as
the author recognises the operations and efforts of the RAF’s
Bomber and Coastal commands, the Royal Navy and mercantile marine
– making this book part of what he calls ‘the Big story’.
Hitler’s actual policies and intentions towards the ongoing war
with Britain are also explored. If the Battle of Britain was fought
to deny Germany the aerial superiority required to launch a
seaborne invasion of southern England, then, the author argues, the
conflict could surely only have begun when the Germans committed to
Operation Seelöwe – which was not, in fact, until 21 July 1940.
It has previously been accepted that Hitler’s War Directive of 16
July 1940 signalled the intention to invade, but the author proves
that this was no more than another example of the
‘brinkmanship’ that Hitler was renowned for, and the air
attacks at that time little more than ‘Air Fleet Diplomacy’,
all of which was intended to frighten Britain into accepting the
Führer’s ‘last appeal to reason’ of 19 July 1940. In his
broadcast of 22 July 1940, Lord Halifax made the nation’s unbowed
position quite clear. He called Hitler’s bluff: previously
reluctant to fight Britain, Hitler’s preferred policy in the
ongoing war had been blockade and diplomacy – but now he had no
choice but to unleash the Luftwaffe against Britain. All of this is
investigated in detail, aligning these wider events and high
decisions with action in the air. Through diligent research,
combined with crucial official primary sources and personal papers,
Dilip unravels many myths, often challenging the accepted
narrative. This is not 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 Daily
Home Intelligence Reports and numerous other primary sources, this
book forms part of what is likely to be the first and last such
comprehensively woven account of this epic air battle.
General
Imprint: |
Air World
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
August 2023 |
Authors: |
Dilip Sarkar
|
Dimensions: |
234 x 156mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
248 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-399-05641-0 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-399-05641-7 |
Barcode: |
9781399056410 |
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