The Battle of Britain

CHAPTER 4 · JUL–OCT 1940 · The War Room — WW2, 1936–1945

To invade Britain, Germany must first rule the air over the Channel. Through the summer of 1940 the Luftwaffe tries to break RAF Fighter Command — first the radar stations and airfields, then, fatefully, London itself.

The turn: The system holds, 15 September.

This chapter is one scene of an interactive atlas: the map repaints as the dates advance, campaigns draw themselves, and every chapter argues its causes and consequences — then a field exam asks you to prove it on the map.