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In the summer of 1940 Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany, continental Europe having fallen under the overwhelming military might of Hitler's invading armies. By August, enemy air activity over southern England was starting to increase in intensity as a prelude to invasion. The unfolding Battle of Britain was fast assuming make-or-break status for the British nation in general, and for the RAF in particular.
On Sunday 18 August the Luftwaffe launched three major air assaults against targets in southern England. In the course of these and numerous smaller actions, 100 German and 136 British aircraft were destroyed or damaged in the air or on the ground. On no other day during the Battle of Britain would either side suffer a greater number of aircraft put out of action.
When The Hardest Day was first published in 1979 as Battle of Britain: the Hardest Day, Alfred Price offered readers a fresh new approach to the story of the 1940 air battle. Price described in well-researched detail all that happened on the particular day that turned out to be the hardest-fought of the Battle of Britain. Seen through the eyes of both British and German combatants, the story includes eyewitness accounts of those who were involved on the ground as well as in the air.
Price's examination of hitherto inaccessible official and personal records adds to the sheer authenticity of his compelling narrative, with its rich thread of human interest that runs throughout. In a revealing postscript he describes how The Hardest Day came to be written, with its genesis in an invitation to the German Bomber Crews Comrades' Association reunion in 1975. Detailed appendices of carefully researched statistical data, RAF and Luftwaffe orders of battle, combat losses and the intelligence appreciations of the day, combine to offer a new level of insight into this seminal event in 20th century British history.
Alfred Price, PhD, FRHistS, served for 15 years as an aircrew officer in the RAF, where he was a crewman on Avro Vulcan bombers, specialising in electronic warfare and air-fighting tactics. Since leaving the service he has become a full-time author, a respected aviation historian and an acknowledged authority on the Spitfire. He is co-author of the hugely successful Haynes Supermarine Spitfire Manual and the Avro Vulcan Manual. He lives in Rutland.
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