THE DEFENCE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

THE DEFENCE OF THE UNITED KINGDOM 
by Basil Collier


Written in the 1950's, this book was the first in a series of eighteen official histories of the second world war. 
Basil Collier's wartime roles included staff officer posts at the headquarters of Fighter Command and later, SHAEF.

This huge and weighty tome has been republished in full to a very high standard by the publisher has been quoted from in numerous other books.

It begins at looking at the period between both world wars, where economic factors would lead to the decisions of cuts across all the armed services, which inevitably included the defence of the UK.
Once the war has begun and as the Germans storm across Europe, an invasion attempt across the Channel appeared inevitable.
The book provides a great deal of detail covering the time from the Phoney War, through the Battle of Britain, the Blitz and the attacks by Germany's various flying bombs. Looking at all these events individually and revealing  how the government and senior commanding officers, across the armed sevices, made decisions in regard to defence from Luftwaffe attacks, before a potential German invasion codenamed Operation Sealion.

As described it is an immense book that is packed with detail. Included is a huge Appendix offering further facts and figures, as well as many fabulous coloured maps throughout. 
This is my third book of this series with many more here waiting to be read. They are proving to be essential reading and I highly recommend them all.

The paperback edition is published by Naval Military Press and is available now from their website,
www.naval-military-press.com 

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