MEMBERS of the Kingsbridge branch of the Royal British Legion laid a wreath to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

On Sunday, September 15, 1940, the Luftwaffe launched its largest and most concentrated attack on London, in the hope of drawing out the RAF. Over 1,500 aircraft took part in the battle, which lasted until dusk.

This action was the climax of the Battle of Britain, an attempt by Adolf Hitler to gain air superiority in preparation for an invasion of the UK between July and October 1940.

Not all the RAF pilots were British either. Of the 2,936 RAF pilots to take part in the Battle of Britain, 595 were non-British.

145 were Polish, 127 from New Zealand, 112 were Cana­dian and the others were from Czechoslo­vakia [modern Czech Republic and Slovakia], Ireland, Australia, Belgium, South Africa, France, America, South Rhodesia [modern Zimbabwe], Jamaica and Mandatory Pales­tine [modern Israel, Palestine and Jordan].

The heroic men who flew in the historic Hurricanes and Spitfires in daring dogfights in the skies above England, held off the Nazi Luftwaffe and prevented Hitler from gaining the air superiority over the RAF he required to launch a British invasion. The Battle of Britain was a turning point in the Second World War. In a speech to the Houses of Parliament on August 20, 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill said the immortal words: ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few’. The pilots involved have been referred to as ‘The Few’ ever since.

Following their defeat in the Battle of Britain, the Nazis had to re-think their strategy and Hitler gave the green light for relentless bombing of British cities: the Blitz. More than 40,000 civilians were killed and many areas were completely levelled.