Battle of Britain Archives

On September 6, 1940, the destroyer USS Buchanan exits Boston Harbor en route to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and new Lend-Lease duties with the British Royal Navy. Buchanan was renamed HMS Campbeltown and gained everlasting fame during the commando raid on St. Nazaire in 1942.

Battle of Britain

Trade of 50 American Destroyers for British Bases in World War II

By William H. Langenberg

In early September 1940, the world was in turmoil. The battle of Britain was nearing its climax, and elsewhere global tensions ran high. Read more

President Franklin D. Roosevelt boards the battleship HMS Prince of Wales to attend his first meeting with Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Battle of Britain

Winston Churchill And Franklin Roosevelt’s Arcadia Conference

By Michael D. Hull

Still stunned by the sneak Japanese onslaught on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, American families tried to summon up their Christmas spirit in December 1941. Read more

Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel became a legend flying the tank-busting Stuka.

Battle of Britain

Stuka Legend Hans-Ulrich Rudel

By Michael E. Haskew

The Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive-bomber proved itself an effective weapon of terror during the Spanish Civil War as part of Hitler’s Condor Legion. Read more

After the fall of France, Britain prepared for the inevitable: Operation Sea Lion, a Nazi invasion of England. So why did it never happen?

Battle of Britain

Why Operation Sea Lion, the Nazi Invasion of England, Never Happened

Michael E. Haskew

Without doubt, the fall of France was an unmitigated disaster for the Allied cause. However, for all its failures in command, strategy, and tactics, it could have been much worse. Read more