Their Finest Hour: The Story of the Battle of Britain, 1940

Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: Battle #2

by Edward Bishop

the story of the battle of Britain

Genres: History, Military History, War, World War II

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1968

Reviews

[Christopher Rush · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've said before I don't have any internal compunction toward interest in naval or aviator battles. I don't like to play naval or aviation wargames, though I have seen Crimson Tide and Memphis Belle and a few other movies about them (not anytime recently, I must say). Thus even though I really enjoyed the Ballantine book about the development of Japan's naval armada (much to my own surprise), I did not go into this book with a lot of zeal. I was interested in the "Battle of Britain" as a historical occurrence, but not as an air battle (if that makes sense). Like a few of you out there, I sort of intuitively assumed the "battle" was not just one afternoon, since I sort of collated "the blitz" in with it (from what I knew from my scant knowledge of C.S. Lewis and the evacuations and such), but I did not know the "battle" was about four-to-five months long, depending on your range. I still am not sure why it is not a "campaign," but I would be fine if the only reason is because of the alliterative effect of its current nomenclature.

I thought Mr. Bishop did a fine job balancing the technical aspects of the battle with bringing the event to life in an engaging narrative. Perhaps part of my apathy toward naval battles is the tendency for some technical-minded authors to go overboard (so to speak) with the data: tonnage, identification insignia, and a whole lot of other numbers I will not guess at to stop embarrassing myself about military matters. Mr. Bishop does a fine job, as I said, of telling us the technical matters in small amounts, just enough to make us feel like we know what kinds of planes were involved but not so much we are stuck in a technical manual. Just when you start to forget what the abbreviations for the planes are, he'll give you the full word/model again, and you'll feel confident again.

As an early entry in the series, it's possible the early kinks of an new venture could be present. In this case, Mr. Bishop switches into full Union Jack mode by the end, and while I enjoyed the length of the conclusion (something I have indicated I missed in later entries in the series), Mr. Bishop gets about as close to singing "God Save the Queen" as I have ever read in a book about England. Though, to be honest, most of the books about England I have read were by satirists (Douglas Adams, Spike Milligan, John Cleese and the gang). Still, I don't say this as a criticism. It was a fairly rousing, patriotic ending, and that's actually refreshing. It's hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm of how "the few" saved England, and how the resolute British citizen bit their thumb in Germany's direction and went back to work each morning after sleeping in the subway. It's easy to look back at history with a dispassionate "of course that's what happened," but Mr. Bishop evokes the fear, the sorrow, the uncertainty, the relief, and the joy of the Battle of Britain.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

The courage of "the few" in defending Britain from almost certain defeat in the summer of 1940 lives in memory, but Edward Bishop has a just as keen an eye for the technical accomplishments that gave the RAF victory over the Luftwaffe: the sturdy and versatile SPITFIRE and HURRICANE fighters, outgunning, outmaneuvering, and outdistancing the German Messerschmitts, and of vital importance radar, providing British Fighter Command with a crucial half-hour, sometimes less, to get its planes up in the air for dogfight combat. This is military history in the hands of a master.

[Robert Hepple · Rating 2 out of 5]

First published in 1968, 'Their Finest Hour - The Story of the Battle of Britain 1940' is one of many in the Pan/Ballantine Illustrated series covering the history of WW2. This book gives a basic coverage of the 1940 airwar known as the Battle of Britain. There is a tendency to repeat myths, the photo illustrations are of often low quality and the photo captions are uninformative and pointless, not the best in the series.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

All my issues and complaints about the other Ballantine books about the maps and pictures being used to enhance the history on the pages is addressed here. Bishop had to keep it short and sweet and I think he did a great job of pointing on the errors on the German side and even the shortfalls on the British. However, in the end he showed how "The Few" were able to win the battle and the consequences of the victory here meant for the war going forward. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Alex MacKenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good book.
Far better than I initially thought it would be.
Big picture drama, with small anecdotes interspaced.
Wars have always been decided more by the quality of weapons and equipment than popular opinion has allowed, and the more industrialized the world has become, the greater the factor played by technical skill in comparison with the ancient virtues of bravery and strength.

[T.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The purpose of this book is to teach you that Britain's Royal Air 
Force(RAF)beat the more powerful and numerous German Air Force(Luftwaffe).

The theme of this book is to teach you that you should never give up, even if the odds are against you. Britain did it, why can't you?

The style of this book is a narration because it tells us what happens in the order it happens.

I like this book because it let me know a lot more about WWII and how it was fought. What I didn't like was how they made it hard to follow what they were talking about. It would switch from the Luftwaffe to the RAF and back again. I would change how they ordered the story. I would have one paragraph about the RAF and another about the Luftwaffe and another about the battle in general. This book is unlike any other book I have read so far.

[Winston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one of a number of books I bought when I was first working for the Boston Globe in downtown Boston. First real glimpse into the wonderful aircraft, pilots and epic struggle against the Luftwaffe in 1940. Led Douglas Bader book and countless others on the subject.

[Johnny Mayall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent view of the Battle of Britain. Author does a good job of being as objective as possible on the facts, and very clearly notes any opinions as such.