In June 1940 Nazi Germany overran France and forced the British army to evacuate at Dunkirk. Severely lacking in military equipment, Britain and its Empire now stood alone against Adolf Hitler's forces. But new Prime Minister Winston Churchill refused to agree to peace terms, forcing Hitler to plan an invasion - codenamed Operation Sea Lion. To stand any chance of crossing the English Channel, Germany would have to crush the Royal Air Force and gain control of the skies during that summer. The Battle of Britain, the first major battle to be decided entirely by air power, had begun.
The last great battle of the Second World War was fought on the island of Okinawa. After 83 blood-soaked days, almost a quarter of a million people lost their lives. The death toll included thousands of civilians lost to mass suicide - convinced to do so by Japanese propaganda. I invited Saul Dav...
Dan talks to Richard van Emden about his new book - Missing: the need for closure after the Great War. The backbone of the book is based on the best single story of World War One that he has found in 35 years of research. It is the story of one woman’s relentless search for her missing son’s body...
In this part of our #RAF100 season Dan learns from Ian Castle about the conception of the RAF.
