Charles River Editors - Decisive Moments of World War II: The Battle of Britain, Pearl Harbor, D-Day and the Manhattan Project

German Heinkel He 111 bombers flying over the English Channel , 1940

The Battle of Britain

The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world except in the abodes of the guilty goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unweakened by their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of world war by their prowess and their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. Winston Churchill, August 21, 1940.

At the end of August 2012, BBC ran a report about the commemoration of a young man who had been killed over 70 years earlier. A Battle of Britain pilot who was killed when his Spitfire crashed following a dogfight in the skies above Kent has been honored. Flying Officer Oswald St John Ossie Pigg lost his life in the crash at Elvey Farm on 1 September 1940. The 22-year-old had been involved in an aerial fight with a Messerschmitt. A plaque was unveiled near the site by his niece Stephanie Haigh and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight carried out a flypast on Thursday.

Just 12 days before Piggs death, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had already immortalized the men of the Royal Air Force with one of the Wests most famous war-time quotes. But the sentiment and gratitude Churchill expressed back in 1940 is very much alive today. The sacrifice made by The Few, the British and Allied fighter pilots who won the Battle of Britain in 1940 , remains close to the hearts of the British public , and the piece by the BBC is typical of the national sentiment manifest ed in air shows, museums, TV programs and books. Even as the last of The Few pass on, it seems unlikely that the legend they helped to create will be forgotten anytime soon.

There are a number of reasons for that, chief among them the belief that it was this handful of men, many of them barely out of school, who prevented Nazi Germany from conquering Britain on their own. With the comfort of hindsight , historians now suggest that the picture was actually more complex than that , but the Battle of Britain, fought throughout the summer and early autumn of 1940 , was unquestionably epic in scope. T he largest air campaign in history at the time, the vaunted Nazi Luftwaffe sought to smash the RAF as a prelude to German invasion , leaving the British public and its pilots engaged in what they believed was a desperate fight for national survival. Thats what it looked like to the rest of the world too, as free men everywhere held their breaths. Could these pilots, many not yet old enough to shave, avoid the fate of Poland and France? The fate of the free world, at least as Europe knew it, hung in the balance over the skies of Britain during those tense months.

Thankfully, the RAF stood toe to toe with the Luftwaffe and ensured Hitlers planned invasion was permanently put on hold. The Allied victory in the Battle of Britain inflicted a psychological and physical defeat on the Luftwaffe and Nazi regime at large, and as the last standing bastion of democracy in Europe, Britain would provide the toehold for the June 1944 invasion of Europe that liberated the continent. For those reasons alone, the Battle of Britain was one of the decisive turning points of historys deadliest conflict.

Decisive Moments of World War II comprehensively covers the lead up to the battle and the fighting itself, as well as its aftermath and enduring legacy. Along with a bibliography, maps, and pictures of important people and places, you will learn about the Battle of Britain like you never have before, in no time at all.

The USS Arizona

The Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)

We won a great tactical victory at Pearl Harbor and thereby lost the war." Admiral Hara Tadaichi

All Americans are familiar with the day that will live in infamy. At 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, the advanced base of the United States Navys Pacific Fleet, was ablaze. It had been smashed by aircraft launched by the carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. All eight battleships had been sunk or badly damaged, 350 aircraft had been knocked out, and over 2 ,000 Americans lay dead. Indelible images of the USS Arizona exploding and the USS Oklahoma capsizing and floating upside down have been ingrained in the American conscience ever since. In less than an hour and a half the Japanese had almost wiped out Americas entire naval presence in the Pacific .

Less than 24 hours earlier, Japanese and American negotiators had been continuing their diplomatic efforts to stave off conflict in the region, but as they did, President Roosevelt and his inner circle had seen intelligence reports strongly suggesting an imminent attack - though they did not know where. The U.S. rightly believed that Japan would take action to prevent the Americans from interfering with their military activities in Southeast Asia, and American military forces in the Philippines were already bracing for a potential attack. However, as the negotiations were ongoing, t he powerful Japanese carrier fleet had been surging southwards through the Pacific while maintaining radio silence, preparing to strike the blow that would ignite war in an area spanning half the globe. Navy Commander-in-Chief Isoroku Yamamoto, whose code of honor demanded that the Japanese only engage enemies after a formal declaration of war, had been given assurances that his nation would be formally at war with the United States prior to the arrival of his planes over Pearl Harbor.

As it turned out, those assurances were worth nothing, and Yamamoto had been misled by extremists in his government just as the Americans were misled. In fact, the Japanese would infamously deliver documents formally cut ting off negotiations with the American government after the attack on Pearl Harbor had already been conducted. Far from a formal declaration of war, America was attacked without warning, plunging the worlds largest democracy into historys deadliest conflict.

Pearl Harbor was unquestionably one of the seminal events in American history, and given the nature of the surprise attack, the entry of the U.S. into the war, and the lingering controversies and conspiracy theories, the attack on Pearl Harbor continues to be a highly charged and heavily debated event. Decisive Moments of World War II chronicles th e history leading up to the surprise attack, including the negotiations between the Japanese and American governments, and the plotting of the attack itself. It also examines the attack, its aftermath, its lasting legacy and the controversies still surrounding it. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Pearl Harbor like you never have before, in no time at all.