Second World War

Escape to the Country

An Essex farm built on religious and political ideals in a war-torn world.

The U.S. Navy battleship USS Maryland (BB-46) alongside the capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37) at Pearl Harbor. The USS West Virginia (BB-48) is burning in the background.

Did the Attack on Pearl Harbor Cost the Axis Powers the War?

Four historians consider the consequences of the ‘Day of Infamy’ on 7 December 1941, and whether it was the ultimate reason for Germany, Italy and Japan’s defeat.

Una Marson broadcasting to British troops in the West Indies from a London theatre, February 1942.

‘Manless Climbing’

Breaking into the masculine public sphere of the interwar years.

Staged photograph of a ‘milkman’ in a street devastated by a German bombing raid, Holborn, London, 10 September 1940.

Beneath the Bombs

Understanding the immediacy and confusion of the Blitz.

In October 1943 the Allies liberated the area around the infamous volcano in the Bay of Naples. Its sudden eruption in March 1944, as war in Italy raged, stretched the resources of the combined services to the limit. What followed was an exemplary emergency operation.

Lobby card for the film ‘Spitfire’, released in 1943 in the US; re-edited from the 1942 British film, ‘The First of the Few’.

Is the Story of ‘The Few’ More Myth Than Reality?

Eighty years on from the height of the Battle of Britain, four historians confront the nature of this key episode in the Second World War.

The Man The Allies Ignored

The Polish volunteer who infiltrated Auschwitz.

It Can't Happen Here

A personal interpretation of France under two occupations, reissued as a Modern Classic.

The Free Frenchman

A proud, pious aristocrat, loyal to General de Gaulle, Philippe Leclerc found a kindred soul among Britain’s wartime elite.

A Well-Trodden Road

An admirable retelling of the traditional history of appeasement.