The Battle of Britain

It was the spring of 1940. While America nervously watched, Adolf Hitler unleashed his Nazi armies upon the world. With little trouble, the military buzz saw laid waste to Western Europe. Now only Britain stood between Nazi Germany’s total domination of the European theatre.

Determined to control the tiny island country, Hitler orders Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering to launch “Operation Sea Lion” in the summer of 1940. It called for the Luftwaffe, Germany’s elite air force, to destroy the Royal Air Force. At the time, German air power outnumbered the British four to one. Goering’s plans called for the German army to invade Britain’s shores once the RAF was crushed. But the RAF fighter pilots had other ideas. The “few” as Prime Minister Winston Churchill called them, defied the odds and produced one of the most remarkable victories in the history of warfare.

But the victory came at great cost. The Battle of Britain and subsequent Blitz killed more than 60,000 British civilians.

In this inspiring podcast of “War Stories with Oliver North,” you’ll meet the pilots who clashed over Britain. Men like British flying aces Billy Drake and Pete Brothers. You’ll hear from those who survived the horrific bombings. And you’ll meet legendary Luftwaffe pilot Günther Rall credited with 275 “kills.”