Today is ‘Battle of Britain Day’. It’s a day to celebrate the astonishing achievement of all those who young men who fought in the skies over Britain to keep Britain free from German Nazi tyranny. It’s also a day to engage in solemn remembrance for all those British pilots who didn’t return and who gave their tomorrows so that we could have our today.
I pay tribute to those pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain, the ground crews and mechanics who gave them the ability to fly and also to the women’s auxiliaries who kept a watch on the skies and helped to despatch and direct Royal Air Force forces towards the enemy.
The Battle of Britain properly started on the 7th September 1940 and culminated in heavy fighting on the 15th September. Following the Battle of Britain, Hitler abandoned plans for a seaborne invasion of the United Kingdom. Although after the fighter battle the nation continued to be afflicted by area bombing from the Nazi Luftwaffe, the threat of invasion and brutal oppression by the Germans had to a large extent receded.
We owe those who fought in that battle a great debt of gratitude for if they had failed, Britain would have been under the murderous yoke of the Nazis. Remember those who fought to save this country and especially remember those who didn’t come back and who gave their lives to save us all.
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them”.
Links
Battle of Britain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain_Day#RAF_forces
Winston Churchill’s ‘The Few’ speech to Parliament
https://www.theguardian.com/century/1940-1949/Story/0,,128255,00.html
The Battle of Britain was not fought by British pilots alone but also by those from the Commonwealth countries and volunteers from non-belligerent nations such as the USA. Britain was also aided by those pilots from countries occupied by the Nazis such as Czechoslovakia and Poland. Their sacrifice should also be remembered along with the sacrifice of our own pilots.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-British_personnel_in_the_RAF_during_the_Battle_of_Britain
