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the shadow of the conquering German
armies covered Western Europe the
self-styled master race was riding high
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you
now Adolf Hitler stood just as Napoleon
had stood more than a hundred years
before and looked across the English
Channel to the one fighting obstacle
that stood between him and world
domination the chalk cliffs of Britain
rose sheer and white out of the choppy
waters
and beyond a little island smaller than
the state of Wyoming crush that little
island and it's stubborn people and the
way was open for world conquest the fall
of Austria Czechoslovakia Poland Denmark
Norway Holland Belgium France had given
him more than 100 million slaves to work
for him or starve the preliminaries were
over it was time for the main event the
Battle of Britain
it learned his generals feverishly
drafted their plans for the conquest of
Britain every detail must be anticipated
a slip now might wreck the whole
timetable of world conquest six weeks of
final preparation went into those plans
six weeks to determine the history of a
thousand years the thing was foolproof
see for yourselves how simple the whole
operation was to be look German plan for
invasion of England phase one knock out
the Royal Air Force and his bases get
control of the air and the sea lanes
across the channel follow the Blitz plan
that had wiped out Poland the Low
Countries and France destroy
communication and transport lines
above all get command of the air
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- pulverized the coastline with dive
bombers dropped parachute troops to take
over the airfields and establish beach
heads
Phase three actual invasion for the
German Panzer divisions across in
high-speed barges under an umbrella
protecting fighter planes then send
spearheads of armed might to divide
surround destroy all opposition that's
all there was to it
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conquer Britain force the surrender of
the British wheat then with the combined
sea power of Germany Britain Italy
France and Japan he could control the
seas and tell us where to head in the
torch of freedom flickered low
on the channel invasion coasts more than
a hundred fully equipped German
divisions were singing the Nazi theme
song we are sailing against England as
they waited the word from Hitler
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here for weeks all the supplies and
weapons of the Nazi war machine had been
turned toward Britain
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the jaws of the Nazi whale were set to
swallow Jonah and what about Jonah how
was he doing well Britain also had an
army but it was an army dragged from the
sea a tanker
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the army without weapons these have been
left behind on the roads of France tanks
gun motorized equipment all abandoned to
save the one priceless item men in all
of Britain there was not enough
equipment for one modern division only
one tank for every thousand square miles
of territory only one machine gun for
every 15 hundred yards of beach Britain
had a navy too but it was scattered all
over the globe guarding vital food and
supply lines and the British knew it
would be suicide to use their feet in
the narrow waters of the English Channel
with the German air force in control of
the air
Britain also had an Air Force and Air
Force outnumbered 10 to 1 by the enemy
both in men and machine and then there
was Britain's herself the people of
Britain the people who were to be
terrorized and forced to surrender
they knew that every man woman and child
in uniform or out would be Hitler's
target in the onslaught that might come
at any moment they knew they had a job
to do and not much time to do it
the young the not so young and the old
the butcher the farmer the member of
parliament they formed a civilian army
Britain's Home Guard they started from
scratch experienced equipment supplies
all were scarce
only one shelter fire at each practice
the women of Britain refused to be left
out
willingness to you'll put up the barrage
balloons
man the ICAT guns will run the railroads
and get the trains through on time
ferry the planes carry the dispatches
guide the ambulances and run the busses
and we'll see that our men are fed and
don't go hungry
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others work men and women alike
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they worked full time overtime
double time 40 hours a week 50 60 70
hours meant nothing
fatigue meant nothing
until the government forced them to cut
down ours because for appetit was
hurting production
and when they weren't working the men
patrolled the moors for parachutists
blocked the roads rehearsed invasion
defences
for something had happened here the
Germans could never understand in a
democracy it is not the government that
makes war it is the people
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to lead them the people had chosen
Winston Churchill as their prime
minister and he spoke the words in every
British heart when he said we shall
defend our island whatever the cost may
be we shall fight on beaches landing
grounds infusing streets and on the
hills we shall never surrender this was
Britain in its darkest hour the people
knew they were in for the worst the Nazi
mind could invent yet they didn't panic
or run away they patrol and waited they
drilled and wait they work and waited
waited for the terror than you was
coming
then it came that's the song became part
of the life of every man woman and child
in August 8 1940 and the battle for
Britain is on thirty enemy a part of the
channel find you
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here comes the Luftwaffe in dozens of
flights hundreds of planes bombers
fighters dive bombers across that 21
miles of channel that eight short
minutes of water their first tactics
were to bomb convoys in the channel
convoy is loaded with food and munitions
bound for the great Port of London
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german fighters waited over hip for the
defending planes of the Royal Air Force
the RAF to appear they didn't have long
to wait
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the RAF came facing odds of six eight
ten to one and Dovan shouting the old
hunting cry Tallyho
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these one the Nazi plan called for the
RAF to be knocked out of the air but the
men of the RAF hadn't read the Nazi plan
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[Applause]
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in the first four days the RAF not 182
German planes out of the sky
for the next week the Germans attacked
the coast cities from the Thames River
to wake
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[Applause]
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they cover
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Hitler paid off with 180 more planes
then the Luftwaffe battered the great
port towns of Southampton Plymouth
trying for a knock out before the flawed
supplies from overseas became more than
a trickle the ports took a terrible
pounding but they couldn't be knocked
out cargoes went on being unloaded with
the protection of the RAF overhead
battling Spitfires and hurricanes in the
air wasn't panning out
so Goering switched his main attacks to
the fighter airfields no burr deal
mocking maybe he could destroy the
planes on the ground upon the airfields
and the fields were hit but the planes
were saved for Britain unlike Poland in
the Low Countries didn't make the
mistake of bunching its planes on the
runways the planes of the RAF were
scattered and hidden only a few on any
one field and those in the far corners
the Spitfire still went up to meet the
enemy
in the first 10 days of the Battle of
Britain Goering launched 26 major
attacks to get command of the air and
lost 697 aircraft the British lost 153
and 60 British pilots bailed out
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valuable trained men were saved and
ready to fight again but the crews of
Goering was planes were lost to him
forever
the pace was too hot something was going
haywire the Nazis had to call timeout on
a 2,000 mile front from Norway to France
the whole Nazi blitz program was being
stalled because the RAF was still in the
air the shock troops were getting hoarse
from singing we are sailing against
England
the long-range German guns were getting
hot across the channel in public
Hitler assured the Germans mr. Churchill
tells his people that England will win
but I tell you that victory will belong
to Germany but in private he sent for
Goering the boss of the Luftwaffe and
put him on the hot seat earring was told
to do something and do it quick so on
August 30th he ordered all out attacks
on inland air drones and industrial
centers maybe he could knock out the RAF
on the assembly line and he adopted new
tactics two more fighters into ER
bombers or maybe he just had fewer
bombers to send anyway those he did send
were well protected fighters above at
high altitudes fighters on both sides
fighters in the front and in the rear
fighters weaving in and out of the
bomber formations
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Britain winner of the first round was
ready with higher morale and sharper
defence improved listening posts were
set up all along the coast and warned of
the enemy's approach before he left the
continent a quick flash from the control
station to the fighters station and
pilots were on their way to meet the
enemy while he was still over the
channel
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day after day out of sight almost out of
sound of the watches on the clips 4 5
and 6 miles above the battles raged over
the Dover area
adora area became known as house corner
by sheer weight of mom the enemy again
and again broke through the coastal
defenses
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and weak inland to the airdrop aircraft
plants
munition factories and machine shops
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gunfire the southeast right
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you
but the workers kept on working and the
RAF kept on flying beasts human with
wings alone in the sky behind their
motors and machine guns were shooting
down more than the luthfi
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they were smashing the whole Nazi plan
of world conquest
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he claims Julie 109 destroyed but is
good show all right getting in the
batter
yes I got amazement 109 in the Dornier
between August 24th and September 5th 35
major attacks were launched they cost
the Germans 562 planes while the British
lost only 219 planes and saved 132
pilots invasion plans were going
completely haywire the Nazis were blind
with rage the German mind has never
understood why free people fight on
against overwhelming odds Hitler now
knew he was superior in every weapon
except the weapon of spirit so he told
Goering break that spirit crush the
people crush the spirit of democratic
life itself invasion now would have to
wait the Nazis would avoid the RAF and
slash the great city of London
into the rubble heap they had made of
Warsaw and Rotterdam good London take it
even the people themselves didn't know
the answer
the defenses they trusted in were
London's hastily assembled Abbey
aircraft the attack gun the balloon
barrage which kept the Raiders at high
altitudes
the Royal Air Force now down to its last
reserves and the plain downright guts a
bleep
set more children out of the city
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tightened air raid precautions stationed
more airplane spotters rehearsed
firefighters moved in to bomb shelters
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they blacked out their city and carried
on
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the first blow aimed to crush the
British spirit came on September 7
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planes coming in control room speaking
customers and staff will now take cover
at the basement please do not run third
floor
clear second floor clear first floor
clear that day when 375 German planes
came rolling up the Thames River the
Battle of Britain became the Battle of
London the Germans broke through the
charge of hurricanes and Spitfires that
went out to meet them
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John was any pretence of aiming at
military objectives this was just savage
destruction
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mom's fella like on the homes of the
East End poor and the Mayfair rich on
shops hospitals
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churches
for 28 days the matches were to drop
everything in the book on the City of
London tons upon tons of high explosives
delayed-action bombs that exploded days
later torpedoes that sheared away whole
buildings and underneath the war in the
air the war of the man in the street
went on
he learned to exist with very little
food
he forgot what it meant to have a
night's sleep spending most of his time
on the ground in the damp and dark and
cold box you're here early tonight
well I'm on the safe side aren't I I
think that'll be all right now anyway
I'll be back in a few minutes if you
want now how are we gonna get you up
there get a young man to lift you up
Tarly hello
come here young lady a lift up course
doctors and nurses worked on steadily as
the bombs crashed all around rescue
squads labored night and day
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my son fireman said nuts to the bomb
then battle to put out fire this was
life in the Blitz
against all the rules of nazi warfare
britain was refusing to topple up across
the channel
they enraged Goering took personal
command of the operations and on
September 15th a senthil Mustafa into
one of its greatest attacks
500 German bombers and Messerschmitt
fighters roared over the English coast
Falmouth calling claims heard three
miles southwest the hostile planes
approaching from southwest the British
met the challenge by throwing in
everything they had
an historic three-dimensional battle
took place inside an area 60 miles long
38 broad and from five to six miles high
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200 individual dog fights took place
within the first 30 minutes of the raid
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[Applause]
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doorstep oh what a threat
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- calling London one Thank You Center
we'll keep a lookout for hostile
formation to the south some of the
German bombers broke through London's
defenses
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and reached the center of the city
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ragi all the tonight's okay
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Jaime I thought they'd got you
who me now I had me fingers crossed
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ministry communique the biggest bang
gear 185
enemy aircraft shut down and a message
of the 500 German planes that came over
that day more than one-third were shot
down in the 28 days of terror
from September 7th to October 5th the
Nazis dropped 50 million pounds of bombs
on the city killed 7,000 helpless
civilians and wounded 10,000 more bombs
fell on Buckingham Palace
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Westminster Abbey
the house the Parliament fleet-street
the center of a new st. Paul's Cathedral
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bombs blasting the historic past out of
the lives of Englishmen
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but in these 28 days the Nazis lost 900
planes and their crews the more they
sent over them always shut down the
British Spitfire had proved to be one of
the deadliest weapons ever put in the
hands of man if this kept up pretty soon
normal Luftwaffe the frantic Nazis had
to pull a new one they did on October
6th they changed to night attacks maybe
that way they could avoid those deadly
Spitfires and hurricanes maybe that way
they could crush the stubborn British
spirit never mind control of the air
never mind
phase 1 phase 2 phase 3 now to
concentrate on bombing the people
themselves into submission
and make them cry for mercy
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hostile rain
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the RAF wasn't much help at night this
was just German bombs against British
guts
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sad happy enough down there tonight
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the great docks of London were left
roaring infernos
homes were destroyed by incendiary
business blocks were aflame
till the people of London took night
after night they borrowed underground
and morning after morning they dug
themselves out of the wreckage
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jaunty device right here come on baby
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Mike's down
thanks boy Michonne sequel finding
wasn't right what about the one that
came down about two I'd appear it will
all get used around here
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do you think you better go away from
this for a bit of course not to take
more than this to get me out of my home
now go on you've got to get to work
the Battle of London was the backing of
the people of the city
in spite of bombs and fire and death
they got to their desks and workbenches
to spend another ten or twelve hours
working working working the British
spirit was stronger than ever
the RAF was flying higher than not only
higher but father sial operation for the
night
GP one five six - BP seven eight one ten
aircraft finally submarine yards in
there very good one taking the other
night Monday that's it there's a
submarine guys yes perhaps this is your
target for tonight it's a submarine and
shipbuilding yards at Bremen to Berkeley
important target and it's got to be hit
hard in the midst of this life-and-death
struggle the British found strength not
only to defend but to counter-attack
with fuck-you bombers they could get
together
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Oh Johnny airborne sir
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Kanna can you hear me I make a skipper
color operator everything okay
well it seems to be all here sir
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standby I'm hanging in a glide
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here was the RAF giving it back
Hitler cried night gangsters for this
crime I will exact a thousandfold
revenge all the available German night
bombers were put into the air
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the thousand for revenge was currently
on the night of November 14 a million
pounds of bombs were dropped on the city
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Coventry was smashed to status Warsaw
and Rotterdam
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the people of Coventry thought they
loved ones over the blasted room saw
them to the last resting place in a
common grave
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you
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Hitler could kill them but tend if he
could lick them they went back to their
lathes and machines or they knew the
machine bench was as deadly a weapon as
the rifle and in their hearts was a grim
determination that this enemy must be
destroyed that the day was coming when
they would strike back and how they
would strike back
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Christmas 1940
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Christmas season a peace on earth
goodwill toward men was the ironic quiet
before Hitler's great burst of rage
against the people who couldn't be
licked
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he couldn't bomb them into submission
so he would burn them to ashes
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millions of fire bombs rained down on
the great city of London
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in a matter of minutes more than 1,500
different sections of the city burst
into roaring flames flames that swiftly
merged into the greatest fire in
recorded history
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in the midst of all the fire and
destruction vital water mains were
shattered water pressure was almost
entirely cut off heroes of the night
were men of the London Fire Brigade who
stretched temporary hose lines out to
the center of the Thames River
struggling through mud and slide for the
Nazis had carefully picked the night on
which the Thames river had one of the
lowest ebb tides on record
and while London burned above them the
people of the city held on chin up and
thumbs up they knew this was the
People's War and they were the people
and the people that couldn't be panicked
couldn't be beat
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in the months to come the British were
to suffer many such bombings and
burnings but a nation that calls on cold
courage when hot courage runs thin may
die but it can't be defeated
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the Battle of Britain was one but not by
Hitler
[Applause]
Hitler had lost the battle he had lost
2375 German planes and their cruise for
the first time it was the Germans who
ate the bitter dirt of defeat gone was
the legend of their invincibility for a
solid year the Nazis struck Britain with
all their might they leveled thousands
upon thousands of homes and damaged
millions of others they killed more than
40,000 men women and children and
seriously wounded 50,000 more but not
one single Nazi soldier set foot on
British soil
but Hitler couldn't stop and in our next
film we will show how he had to turn to
the east again why did the Nazis lose
the Battle of Britain first because a
regimented people met an equally
determined free people and the free
people made them quit cold
we've been bombed dive bombed high-level
bombed machine-gunned been through to
invasion scares the last lot we had we
had the house down about our ears if
you're still sticking it and we're going
to stick it second because this was a
new kind of war and they RAF were the
men who could fight it these were the
men who belong to what Hitler called
those weak soft democracies the British
did more than save their country they
won for the world a year of precious
time it was not only for the people of
Britain but for the people of the world
at Winston Churchill spoke when he said
never in the field of human conflict was
so much owed by so many to so few
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you