The Battle of Britain (1): the opening day
Seventy years ago today, the Battle of Britain began: the struggle between the German Luftwaffe and the British Royal Air Force to control the skies over south-east England. The pilots of the time did not know that this period would be called the Battle of Britain; still less it they know that this day would be designated in retrospect as the first day of this conflict. But it remains one of the must decisive periods in Britain’s long history and shapes the world in which we live today.