Second World War battles

An illustration depicting the battle of Naseby, arguably one of the most significant land battles in British history. (Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

20 important battles that shaped Britain

A view of Valletta during the Second World War, showing its harbour filled with naval hardware. (Photo by Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Library Britain's island weapon: Malta in the Second World War

British soldiers on the front of El Alamein. (Photo by Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

El Alamein: The British empire’s last hurrah

Industrial might: Blenheim bombers in production in England, late 1939. The Allies’ combined industrial strength proved too much for the Axis. (Getty Images)

Second World War

The Library The world in flames

'Tirpitz' hiding in a Norwegian fjord in 1942. “She outclassed anything in the British fleet,” says Patrick Bishop. (Getty Images)

The Second World War: sinking the Tirpitz

Guy Gibson (centre) with members of his squadron. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

The triumph of the Dambusters

English soldiers in the ruins of Palmyre in charge of taking over the Syrian Territory occupied by Vichy’s France. (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

The untold Second World War

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Back to school and Hitler’s schemes for war . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Clean-up crews salvaging what they can from the ruins of buildings in Hornsey, a north London suburb, 1944. (Photo by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

Hitler’s secret weapon

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Operation Barbarossa, which began on 22 June 1941, saw more than three million German troops surge into the Soviet Union along a front of more than 1,000 miles. (Photo by Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Barbarossa and Britain . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

In search of the Dunkirk spirit

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The Library Old and new - a look at the Merchant Navy and modern-day western supremacy . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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British evacuees from Dunkirk walk off their rescue vessel land in Britain. (Photo by Corbis via Getty Images)

Where history happened: Dunkirk . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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The Battle of Marathon plus Dunkirk and WWII refugees . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Adolf Hitler makes plans at his headquarters in Bruly-de-Peche, Ardennes, Belgium. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Library The fall of France: Hitler’s greatest gamble