In the summer of 1940, Britain's army had been driven ignominously from France, her allies had collapsed and the population was seized with invasion panic. It seemed only a matter of time before Britain was forced to surrender to Germany's terrifying and efficient fighting machine. In this terrible moment, up stepped Winston Churchill and the fighter squadrons of the RAF. In the fierce fighting that followed in the skies of southern England, earlier ideas of chivalry and fair play gave way to a ruthless battle to the death. The story of how Britain survived the rest of that year to inflict on Hitler his very first defeat is about tactics, aircraft, leadership, propaganda and the politics of both the British and the German high commands. But above all, it is a story of heroism and endurance, not just of the British pilots who so valiantly defended their island, but also of the ground crews, the support systems and the civilians whose homes were being bombarded. This is the story - told from both sides - of this pivotal point in the Second World War.