Dan Snow's History Hit8 Mars 2023

The Women Who Organised the Battle of Britain

In a suburb of North-West London, among housing estates and residential streets lies a secret bunker, you may never have heard of it but it's one of the most important World War Two sites in Britain. Here, deep underground, the RAF built its Uxbridge headquarters where it commanded the defence of the country in the Battle of Britain. The pilots who fought in the skies are rightly hailed as heroes and affectionately known as 'the few', but they wouldn't have been able to do what they did without the many women behind them and under the ground gathering intelligence and commands, distributing them at lightening speed under the intense pressure of active battle.

Dan goes down into the earth with Dr Sarah-Louise Miller, who brings their stories to life in the room where the Battle of Britain was organised, overlooking the very maps that show what happened there during that decisive summer of 1940. Dr Sarah-Louise's new book 'The Women Behind the Few' puts the Women's Auxiliary Air Force back at the heart of Britain's war, exploring what they did- collecting and disseminating vital intelligence- that led to the Allied victory.

You can also visit the secret RAF bunker in Uxbridge, find out more about the Battle of Britain Bunker Museum here: http://battleofbritainbunker.co.uk/

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.

If you'd like to learn more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad-free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe to History Hit today!

Download the History Hit app from the Google Play store.

Download the History Hit app from the Apple Store.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(1546)

The Battle of Stamford Bridge Explained

Dan explains how England’s last great Viking invasion met its brutal end. At Stamford Bridge in September 1066, King Harold Godwinson’s army faced Harald Hardrada, the most feared warrior of his age, ...

10 Sep 31min

The Battle of New York Explained

Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Hudson, the East River - today, these are the very heart and soul of New York City. But in 1776, they were the battlefield on which the American Revolution nearly died. Today ...

7 Sep 1h 42min

The Rise & Fall of Babylon

Babylon has a PR problem, and it's 2,600 years in the making.The Bible remembers it as the ultimate city of sin, the place that crushed Jerusalem and dragged the Jewish people into exile. But if you l...

3 Sep 48min

Templar's Tunnels, HMS Victory and Troy: History's Best Historical Sites with Dan Jones

The two great Dans of history - Dan Snow and Dan Jones - team up to explore the stories behind some of the world's best historical sites. Dan Jones explains the mysteries of the Templars' Tunnels in ...

31 Aug 32min

The Brutal History of The First Warplanes

Flying aces, flaming wreckage and deadly dogfights in the skies defined the First World War’s brutal air war. From fragile reconnaissance planes to lethal fighter aircraft, aerial warfare evolved at a...

27 Aug 50min

Medieval Krakow

In the Middle Ages, Krakow was one of Central Europe’s greatest cities: a thriving crossroads of kings, merchants and legends, crowned by a royal castle and haunted by tales of dragons. But in 1241, c...

24 Aug 1h 2min

Was Henry VIII England's Most Evil King?

This is the turbulent reign of that infamous Tudor monarch, Henry VIII. His spectacularly complicated love life, break with Rome, political executions and ruthless pursuit of power. Today we examine h...

20 Aug 48min

The Making of Osama bin Laden

A deep dive into the rise and fall of Osama bin Laden, from his affluent childhood in Saudi Arabia to his assassination during the biggest manhunt in modern history. For this, Dan is joined by Jason B...

17 Aug 1h 7min