This WWII history examines how the Royal Navy defended the English Channel from the first Dover Patrols to the liberation of the Channel Islands. The English Channel has always provided Great Britain with a natural defensive barrier, but it was never more vital than in the early days of World War Two. This book relates how the Royal Navy maintained control of that vital seaway throughout the war. Military historian Peter Smith takes readers from the early days of the Dover Patrols, through the traumas of the Dunkirk evacuation and the battles of the Channel convoys; the war against the E-boats and U-boats; the tragic raids at Dieppe and St Nazaire; the escape of the German battle-fleet; coastal convoys; the Normandy landings and the final liberation of the Channel Islands. Many wartime photographs, charts and tables add to this superb account of this bitterly contested narrow sea.

Describes the events of the major sea battle in the English Channel in February 1942 when the British navy failed to capture several strategically important German battleships.

Discusses the Allied invasion of Normandy, with extensive details about the planning stage, called Operation Overlord, as well as the fighting on Utah and Omaha Beaches.

A WWII Royal Navy commander recounts the struggle to control the narrow seas between Britain and the rest of Europe throughout the war. A Motor Torpedo Boat Commander in the Second World War, Sir Peter Scott—the son of explorer Robert Scott—was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery in battle. Combining his own experience with extensive military research, he tells the story of the wide-ranging naval conflict against the Germans, fought in the congested waters of the Channel and the southern North Sea. Actions against convoys and E-boats, often under the shadows of French cliffs; an impossible sortie against Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as they ran the gauntlet through the Straits in February 1942; the attack on St Nazaire; and the defensive and offensive roles taken on by MTBs during the D-Day landings are just some of the events covered in the book. The bravery of the crews of these small ships became legendary. As the War dragged on, their exploits helped to raise the morale of the nation.

Over the past 80 years, histories of the Battle of Britain have consistently portrayed the feats of 'The Few' (as they were immortalized in Churchill's famous speech) as being responsible for the RAF's victory in the epic battle. However, this is only part of the story. The results of an air campaign cannot be measured in terms of territory captured, cities occupied or armies defeated, routed or annihilated. Successful air campaigns are those that achieve their intended aims or stated objectives. Victory in the Battle of Britain was determined by whether the Luftwaffe achieved its objectives. The Luftwaffe, of course, did not, and this detailed and rigorous study explains why. Analysing the battle in its entirety in the context of what it was – history's first independent offensive counter-air campaign against the world's first integrated air defence system – Douglas C. Dildy and Paul F. Crickmore set out to re-examine this remarkable conflict. Presenting the events of the Battle of Britain in the context of the Luftwaffe's campaign and RAF Fighter Command's battles against it, this title is a new and innovative history of the battle that kept alive the Allies' chances of defeating Nazi Germany.

If ever there was a year of destiny for the British Isles, 066 must have a strong claim. King Harold faced invasion not just from William and the Normans across the English Channel but from the Dane, King Harald Hadrada. Before he faced the Normans at Hastings in October he had fought and defeated the Danes at York and neighboring Stamford Bridge in September. What dramatic changes of fortune, heroic marches, assaults by land and sea took place that year! This book explains what really happened and why in what is arguably the 'best-known' but worst understood battle in British history.

War should be recognised as one of the defining features of life in the England of Henry VIII. Henry fought many wars throughout his reign, and this book explores how this came to dominate English culture and shape attitudes to the king and to national history, with people talking and reading about war, and spending money on weaponry and defence.