New Battle of Britain Book Signed Off
I’ve just finished writing my new book about the Battle of Britain, which has taken me the best part of three years to put together. I’ve always been amazed by how often aspects of the Second World War quickly became the acceped way of regarding things and have been continued by historians ever since. The Battle of Britain is a prime example. Since the HMSO pamplet published in 1941 first appeared, the Battle has been viewed as RAF Fighter Command versus the Luftwaffe, yet this both isolates it as a much smaller conflict and demeans the significance of what happened in that incredible summer of 1940. Moreover, most accounts look at it only from the Allied perspective, which also provides a very narrow-minded view.
Instead, I have written about Britain versus Germany, looking at the battle as beginning with the German invasion of France and the Low Countries on 10th May, and finishing at the end of October, by which time Hitler realized his Third Reich was committed to a long and attritional war after all. This meant looking at all aspects of the clash – from the ground, from the air, and at sea. It meant looking at the intelligence and propaganda war as well, and how both British and German leaderships were coping with the battle to win the hearts and minds of their respective people.
It was certainly an epic clash, full of incredible drama, triumph and tragedy. Yet some very interesting and different perspectives emerged. I loved writing this book – it’s the work of history I have always wanted to write and I’m very excited about it coming out.
When is it out?
Hi James
sorry to be nick picking but I though you should know I have just started to read your book and have noticed some errors so far. On your radar map you have a radar location on the norfolk coast as Nopton – this should read Hopton(I have visited the site and some of the buildings are still there and have been taken over by the local caravan holiday park after the war ended) also on the RAF squadrons position on 8 Aug 1940, there is no mention of 602 Squadron(City of Glasgow) one of the RAFs crack squadrons that was then based at Drem and moved south to Westampnett on 14th Aug. Great book so far though
Hi James
sorry to be nick picking but I though you should know I have just started to read your book and have noticed some errors so far. On your radar map you have a radar location on the norfolk coast as Nopton – this should read Hopton(I have visited the site and some of the buildings are still there and have been taken over by the local caravan holiday park after the war ended) also on the RAF squadrons position on 8 Aug 1940, there is no mention of 602 Squadron(City of Glasgow) one of the RAFs crack squadrons that was then based at Drem and moved south to Westampnett on 14th Aug. Great book so far though
Many thanks for this – I’m sure these can be sorted out for the next edition. It’s amazing – these all get proof read and proof read again and yet something always slips through. I’ve also since noticed that the Spitfires on the back jacket are Griffon engine and that the photo was probably taken some time in 1944. Not sure how that got past the censors, but again, it’s one to change. All very annoying!
Great book – but just a few more that have slipped through that you might find helpful for the next edition:
p141 should be Fieseler Storch not Feisler Storch
p356 should be Berry Head not Bury Head
third set of illustrations, third page should be Britain’s two principal fighters not principle fighters
third set of illustrations eighth page: should be Ventnor not Ventor
fourth set of illustrations second page should be Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve not Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve and finally:
p609 “Bee Beamont…….becoming a leading ace at shooting down V1 and V2 rockets”. Undoubtedly true for the V1 – which was however NOT a rocket but was powered by a pulse jet. The V2 was indeed a rocket – but its speed as a ballistic missile made it impossible for any aircraft to shoot down.
Cheers for this, Adrian. Duly noted, and much appreciated. You wouldn’t think it but the proof reading is pretty thorough: myself several times, plus the copy editor and two professional proof readers, but still things slip through the net. Hopefully all these will be sorted out for the paperback – and that includes the horrible error of having a row of Griffon Spitfires on the back cover! How did that every get through??
Well, of course, we’re getting into the dangerous realm of ‘what ifs.’ But we have to bear in mind that Germany wasn’t that far off from prevailing in 1941, and that was without yet being on a war footing. The point is that one thing was certain: from the moment Hitler came into power, at some point, Nazi Germany and the USSR were going to have a ho-down. Who attacked who first was not so certain and there’s quite a lot of evidence to suggest that Stalin was thinking of striking first. However, Hitler knew he could not afford a long, attritional war in 1940 and certainly not on two fronts. His success against France made him over-confident and so he changed his original plan of attacking in 1943 or 1944 and brought the campaign forward to June 1941.
I completely disagree about the war in the west becoming a sideshow. We’ve been seduced by the numbers involved and the vast areas over which the war in the East was fought. The point is that the war in the west was every bit as important to Hitler, and by failing to defeat Britain in 1940, Hitler consigned himself to a war on two and then three fronts, precisely what he knew he had to avoid.