The Battle of Britain and Operation Sealion in 25 Objects

The summer of 1940 was an epic period of British history. Faced with an invasion by Nazi Germany, Britain seemed vulnerable, after the German war machine had conquered western Europe in a matter of weeks. The German aerial attack on southern England which ensued became known as the Battle of Britain, and the contest between the RAF’s Spitfires and Hurricanes and the Luftwaffe’s Messerschmitts and Stukas was immortalised by the stirring rhetoric of Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill. But the story of that summer is greater than the achievements of Fighter Command alone. Bomber Command, the Royal Navy, the Army and the whole British population pulled together in an unprecedented effort to deter and, if necessary, repel Operation Sealion, the Germans’ cross channel invasion plan.