battle of britain

The Battle of Britain attempts to recreate the historical events that underline one of the Second World War's greatest struggles. The film starts with the preceding Battle of France in early 1940 where RAF pilots are swept up in the Nazi blitzkreig. In neutral Switzerland, Baron von Richter (Curt Jurgens) officially proposes to British ambassador Sir David Kelly (Ralph Richardson) that fighting the Nazis is a losing cause. Kelly refuses to accept the inevitable and declares that Britain will fight.

At the same time, RAF Air Chief Marshal Dowding (Laurence Olivier) realizes that an imminent invasion of Great Britain will require every available aircraft and airman and will not allow additional forces to be deployed to continental Europe. Prime Minister Winston Churchill declares the end of the fight in France and the start of the Battle of Britain.

Through a series of vignettes mixing real figures with fictional characters, the movie documents the efforts for the RAF to prepare for and eventually engage in a monumental air campaign to defend Great Britain. Efforts to rapidly train young RAF pilots at first seem to be futile as the British, Commonwealth and Allied pilots do not have the combat experience of their Luftwaffe foes, and are decimated in large numbers.

As the attackers switch from Channel raids to attacks on the RAF airfields, the Allied forces begin to recover and fight back. Eventually, “Eagle Day”, the climatic Luftwaffe operation is launched but through an inadvertent attack on London, an RAF reprisal results in Berlin being bombed. In a rage, Adolf Hitler intercedes in the air campaign and orders London to be razed.