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You are here: Home>Herts history>Topics>World War Two>Battle of Britain Exhibition

Battle of Britain Exhibition

The Battle of Britain: War Over Hertfordshire, July to October 1940

The Battle of Britain was a major air campaign fought over southern England in the summer and autumn of 1940. After the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk and the fall of France, Germany planned to gain air supremacy in preparation for an invasion of Great Britain.

The Luftwaffe began targeting airfields supporting industry, ports and infrastructure but Hitler became impatient with their lack of success and switched the bombing to cities and the civilian population, with London taking the brunt during The Blitz.

By mid-September Britain had effectively won the Battle of Britain and as the weather worsened, the Germans finally realised that the RAF couldn’t be defeated. Hitler postponed his invasion plans indefinitely. The Battle of Britain was over but the bombing of London and other major cities continued until 11 May 1941, as did random bombing and enemy attacks by lone German aircraft.

War over Hertfordshire

From July to October 1940, as the attacks intensified, hundreds of bombs fell over Hertfordshire, which left many homeless as houses were destroyed or left in need of urgent repair. As well as targeting factories and railways, rural areas of the county became a dumping ground for bombs. It disrupted lives of everyone, killing around 80 people and injuring many more in just a few months. Single incidences of raiders dropping bombs all over the county were common and hardly a town, village or rural farm escaped the mines, oil bombs, high explosive and numerous incendiary devices.

By the end of the War in 1945, 258 people had been killed by German weapons dropped or landing in Hertfordshire.

Please do add family stories and photographs in the special section for these. Alternatively you can add comments at the end of each section.

  • The Blackout
    The Blackout
    A nationwide effort to turn off all the lights
  • Air Raid Precautions
    Air Raid Precautions
    Protecting civilians from danger
  • Eyewitnesses
    Eyewitnesses
    Some local accounts
  • Pilots and planes
    Pilots and planes
    Some pilots with Hertfordshire connections and the Spitfire Fund
  • Bombs over Herts
    Bombs over Herts
    Four months of intense bombing takes its toll
  • de Havilland factory bomb
    de Havilland factory bomb
    Bomb kills 21 workers
  • Taking shelter
    Taking shelter
    How residents prepared for air raids
  • Unexploded bombs & the homeless
    Unexploded bombs & the homeless
    Bombs still a threat
  • Children's lives
    Children's lives
    The effect on children's education
  • Family stories about the Battle of Britain

    Family stories about the Battle of Britain (0)

World War Two
  • A German Spy in London Colney
  • A Hard Life But a Happy One
  • A Vital Link
  • An American in Tewin
  • An unknown wartime R.A.F. p.o.w.
  • And so the bells were silent
  • Baby Respirator
  • Berlin to Helmstedt Movement Order
  • Blackout Aids in Watford
  • Bombed in the war
  • Bovingdon Memories – At War
  • Boxmoor
  • Digging Shelters in Welwyn Garden City
  • Distribution of Gas Masks at Cheshunt School, 1938
  • Dog Respirator
  • Evacuees in Hertfordshire
  • Evacuees to Weston, nr Hitchin, Hertfordshire
  • Frank Smith
  • From London to Cottered in Wartime
  • Glebe Farm, Offley
  • Gwendoline Page – From Boreham Wood To Bletchley
  • Italian POWs from Royston Camp at Harvest
  • John Robert Scales
  • Knebworth during the Second World War
  • Leonard Frederick Butler
  • Letchworth Invasion Plan circa 1941
  • Liberator Bomber crash
  • Liberator bomber crash memorial
  • Liberator Bomber Crash Waltham Cross 1944
  • Lieutenant John D. Ellis
  • Living in St Albans during WW2
  • Living in St Albans during WW2 cont'd
  • London fire
  • Long Days and Hard Work
  • Markyate Home Guard
  • Memories of Thundridge Part 1
  • Mum's Story
  • My Teenage War
  • Notes for Assistance of Persons affected by War Damage
  • Photo of The War Memorial, Berkhamsted taken from The Court Cinema.
  • Potato Water
  • Preparing for war - 1938
  • Preperations for War 1938
  • Puttenham is Thankful
  • R.A.F Reserve School Pupils at Panshanger Aerodrome
  • Resources for Schools
  • Sergeant Stanley Henry Welch
  • Shelter in the Storm
  • Some Memories of Markyate during the 2nd World War.
  • Street Scene in Watford, September 1939
  • Tess Road Police Station WW2
  • The Bridge over the Kwai
  • The forgotten fireman cheats death by seconds
  • The Franklin Avenue, Ripley Way and Bakers Road VE Day Party
  • The last bomb to land on British soil.
  • The Observer Corps
  • The Women's Land Army in Hertfordshire
  • Unloading Anderson Shelter in Watford
  • V2 hits the Brush Factory at Waltham Cross
  • VE Day Party in Sandpits Road, WGC
  • War Time Colney Heath
  • War work at Ballito
  • Wardens surprised
  • Wartime Memories
  • Wartime Potters Bar
  • Was this a Hertford Man?
  • Watford in WW II
  • WOMEN'S LAND ARMY - during WW2
  • Woolmer Green Home Guard
  • WW2 Hertfordshire Air Raid Damage by District
  • WW2 Hertfordshire Air Raid Number of Casualties
  • WW2 Information Leaflets
  • WW2 Rationing & Recipes
  • Yvonne Maslinksa, War Intelligence Worker
  • Home Guard
  • VJ Day - 75th Anniversary in 2020
  • Air Raid Precautions
  • Battle of Britain Exhibition
  • VE Day
  • Evacuees
  • Wartime letters
  • Women's Land Army
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