The Battle of Britain... 75 Years After

摘要

Blitzkrieg! Lightning war. It was a new, violent and unbelievably fast form of warfare and Nazi Germany held the patent on it. Poland was first: WWII started on September 1,1939 with Panzers crushing across their borders on the ground and bombers and Stukas hammering the country senseless from the air. The conquest took 16 days and formed a template for the conquest of Europe: when Hitler rolled into France, despite massive air and ground support from England and other Allies, it took only a little over two weeks for the entire British force and its Allies to be hopelessly bottled up in the sea port of Dunkirk, a name that implies both defeat and miraculous survival at the same time. With the tattered UK troops shuttled across the Channel to safety, Hitler's conquest of most of Europe was complete. Then, 75 years ago this month, on June 10, 1940, Hitler focused his attention on England and the Battle of Britain was joined.