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Title details for Last of the Few by Max Arthur - Available

Last of the Few

The Battle of Britain in the Words of the Pilots Who Won It

by Max Arthur
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After the fall of France in May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force was miraculously evacuated from Dunkirk. Britain now stood alone to face Hitler's inevitable invasion attempt. For the German army to land across the channel, Hitler needed mastery of the skies—the Royal Air Force would have to be broken. So every day throughout the summer, German bombers pounded the 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 very freedom depended on the outcome of that summer's battle: Its 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.
These are the personal accounts of the pilots who fought and survived that battle. Their stories are as riveting, as vivid, and as poignant as they were seventy years ago. We will not see their like again.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 1, 2011

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781628730463

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781628730463
      • File size: 9574 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      October 1, 2011

      British oral historian Arthur (Forgotten Voices of the Second World War) has gathered the personal remembrances of many Battle of Britain vets. The recollections are not arranged by veteran (although each memory is attributed) but by the chronology of experience from learning to fly, to signing up, to actual battle experiences. Because the entries are so short, readers will feel that they are missing many more details from each oral history. There are no source notes, but most of these memories evidently come from recorded interviews held by the Imperial War Museum, not just of flying veterans but of ground crew members and radio and warning networks, as well as a few Germans. With many photos of particular veterans in uniform. A chronology and organizational charts would have been nice additions. VERDICT A readable complement to James Holland's The Battle of Britain, this will reward readers in search of primary sources on the subject.

      Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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