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A bloody summer : the Irish at the Battle of Britain / Dan Harvey.

By: Publisher: Newbridge, Co. Kildare : Merrion Press, 2020Description: xxii, 112 pages ; 24 cmISBN:
  • 9781785373251
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 23 940.54
LOC classification:
  • D756.5.B7 H2 2020
Summary: The Battle of Britain, one of the greatest air battles in the history of warfare, saw air power come of age and was an early turning point in the Second World War. In the summer of 1940, the German army had mercilessly swept aside all before them with astonishing speed and were perched on the northern coastline of France. Outright victory over all of Europe was impeded only by the expanse of the English Channel. The supremely confident, yet-to-be defeated Luftwaffe were eager for more action, to claim victory over an outnumbered RAF, and to clear the skies for the amphibious invasions of Britain and Ireland. It was vital that they be denied, and so an epic battle began that was to rage for more than three months. In the thick of it, in the cockpits of the RAF's Spitfire and Hurricane fighter squadrons, were a great many Irishmen. They were engaged in the ferocious aerial exchanges, the audacious 'dog-fights' and the tireless interceptions of German bombers and their fighter escorts. Theirs is a widely misunderstood and undervalued contribution to the Allies' victory in the Battle of Britain, but now, in A Bloody Summer, Dan Harvey tells their remarkable story for the first time.
List(s) this item appears in: New Acquisitions Summer 2021
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Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode
Loanable Book Library Irish Collection 940.54 HAR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 000417866

Includes bibliographical references (page 106) and index.

The Battle of Britain, one of the greatest air battles in the history of warfare, saw air power come of age and was an early turning point in the Second World War. In the summer of 1940, the German army had mercilessly swept aside all before them with astonishing speed and were perched on the northern coastline of France. Outright victory over all of Europe was impeded only by the expanse of the English Channel. The supremely confident, yet-to-be defeated Luftwaffe were eager for more action, to claim victory over an outnumbered RAF, and to clear the skies for the amphibious invasions of Britain and Ireland. It was vital that they be denied, and so an epic battle began that was to rage for more than three months.
In the thick of it, in the cockpits of the RAF's Spitfire and Hurricane fighter squadrons, were a great many Irishmen. They were engaged in the ferocious aerial exchanges, the audacious 'dog-fights' and the tireless interceptions of German bombers and their fighter escorts. Theirs is a widely misunderstood and undervalued contribution to the Allies' victory in the Battle of Britain, but now, in A Bloody Summer, Dan Harvey tells their remarkable story for the first time.

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