The Listening Zone

From July to September 1940 the British people watched the Battle of Britain play out in the skies above them, aware that the eventual outcome would decide their fate. From September through to the following May, Hitler then attempted to ‘blitz’ London and other major cities into submission. For a year the citizens of Britain were effectively front-line soldiers in a battle which united the country against a hated enemy. Despite the terror, destruction and heavy casualties the British people survived the onslaught, until May 1941, when Hitler re-directed his attention, and that of the Luftwaffe, to the campaign in Russia.

On the day that Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister, Germany invaded Holland and Belgium. Despite all the efforts of the Allied armies, Hitler’s powerful Panzer divisions smashed their way through to the French coast. For the retreating British Expeditionary Force, Dunkirk was the only practical point of departure, and on May 26th the order for total evacuation – Operation Dynamo – was given. Over succeeding days the ‘miracle’ of Dunkirk took place, and almost four hundred thousand troops were rescued from the beaches. Meanwhile in Britain belated preparations were going on for the expected invasion – the Battle for Britain had begun.