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Title details for Churchill's Few by John Willis - Available

Churchill's Few

The Battle of Britain

by John Willis
ebook
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Eighty years after the Battle of Britain this vivid and dramatic book tells the story, in their own words, of six brave young men who fought courageously in the skies above England to prevent Hitler's invasion of Britain.
This thin blue line in their Hurricanes and Spitfires were the 'few' to whom Churchill said the nation owed so much. It was, as one pilot's wife put it 'a queer, golden time', when men in their teens and twenties fought each other in a brutal but still gentlemanly conflict. At stake was the very future of Britain.
The six men in this sympathetic but honest portrayal were from vastly contrasting backgrounds. Geoffrey Page, shot down in his Hurricane and the victim of horrendous burns, was a founder member of the legendary Guinea Pig Club. Bob Doe, also badly injured, was one of the most successful fighter aces but remained unheralded and out of the public eye. Cyril Bamberger rose from humble origins as a Sergeant Pilot to win a DFC and bar. Joseph Slagowski was one of the small band of heroic Polish pilots whose contribution to the Battle, as this book shows, remains scandalously undervalued.
Former Daily Telegraph journalist Geoffrey Myers, Intelligence Officer in a squadron that was hopelessly and fatally led, wrote eloquent contemporaneous letters to his family, extracts of which are published here for the first time.
Not all the heroes fought for Britain. Unusually this book includes the parallel but contrasting story of Luftwaffe pilot Ulrich Steinhilper, shot down and captured over Kent and destined to become one of the greatest escapers of World War II, evading British and Canadian prison camp guards five times.
This unique and moving record throws light on the long-term consequences of the Battle of Britain on the lives of the young pilots in the frontline. These insightful portraits illuminate the ineradicable marks that one momentous battle made on the brave participants of both sides. Just a few months of brutal aerial combat changed their lives and history forever.
As Geoffrey Page said: 'I still find it hard to take when children point at me because of my burnt face and hands. They are my enemies now, not the Germans.'

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 21, 2020

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781912914067

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781912914067
      • File size: 871 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 29, 1986
      The Germans had a great advantage at the start, with more-experienced pilots flying more, first-rate planes against "an amateur, class-ridden gentlemen's air force.'' But the tactics employed by air marshals Dowding and Park, the use of radar and the bravery of a relative handful of RAF pilots resulted in one of the great victories of World War II. Willis, a British television producer, relates this thrilling story principally through the eyes of six men who flew the Spitfires, Hurricanes and Messerschmitts in the summer of 1940. Four are British, one is a Pole who joined the RAF, and one is a Luftwaffe pilot. All are presented as distinct individuals with different attitudes toward air combat. Geoffrey Page, for instance, becomes revenge-obsessed after being shot down; Cyril Bamberger sees the experience as ``continual chaos.'' The narrative includes a highly suspenseful account of the German pilot's escape attempts after he was downed in the final days of the battle. Photos.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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