World War II - Battle of Britain Day - 15 September
Declaration of war:
Chamberlain's radio broadcast [extract]
3 September 1939
I am speaking to you from the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street. This morning the British ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by 11 o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.
The Few:
Churchill's Speech to the House of Commons [extract]
20 August 1940
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.