battle of britain

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few...

- British Prime Minister Winston Churchill describing the ongoing battle.

The Battle of Britain (German: Die Luftschlacht um England, "The Air Battle for England") was a military campaign of World War II, in which the outnumbered Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy successfully defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's (then) massive air force, the Luftwaffe.

The battle took place a month after the Dunkirk Evacuation. It was the first step before the intended subsequent invasion of Britain by the Germans (Operation Sea Lion).

The battle was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. The RAF was also supported by several squadrons of Polish pilots who escaped to Britain after the conquest of Poland by Nazi Germany. The British officially recognise the battle's duration as being from 10 July until 31 October 1940, which overlaps the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz, that lasted from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941.

The battle ended with a decisive British victory and the defeat of the apparently superior German Luftwaffe.