Battle Of Britain: July- September 1940 (1957) By Marcel Jullian
 
Failing to make a peace pact with Britain after the fall of France, Hitler unleashed the Luftwaffe against her southern defences, expecting to cow her into acceptance of his planned invasion. He gravely underestimated both Britain's fighter force and her native determination. As onslaught after onslaught was repulsed, he turned the offensive against London -- a switch in tactics that lost him the war. Few other books dealing with this decisive confrontation approach a full, balanced picture of the battle as a whole. Because no worthwhile account at all had appeared in France, the Air Ministry in London decided to put every facility at the disposal of a Frenchman who planned to recast the complete story. In his research for the book, Marcel Jullian interviewed countless eye-witnesses on both sides, visited the battle sites, and studied not only official reports but telegrams and newspapers, personal diaries, and log books. He views the battle from both camps, observing the political background, the strategical manoeuvring, and the interplay of personality between the leading protagonists. From the cedars and formal lawns of Bentley Priory, the austere, withdrawn Air Chief Marshal Dowding, a dedicated spiritualist, pits his skill against the cunning of obese Reichsmarschall Georing in his beloved Karinhall, where he played in moments of leisure with his giant train set. Against the terror and heady delight of combat in the air, Jullian sets the incongruity of twisted metal and human corpses showering into the quiet fields and summer gardens of helpless civilian spectators. He recounts gripping individual stories of impulsive heroism, unwitting humour, incredible escape and tragic ill-fortune. Marcel Jullian's book is a brilliant synthesis, placing the Battle of Britain into the kind of perspective with which Trafalgar or the defeat of the Spanish Armada is now viewed. 
 
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
295 pages
In Good Condition