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image: An abstracted aerial view of a wide flat landscape including the mouth of a river. Above the sky is full of contrails, and to the upper right aircraft can be seen flying in formation.

Image. An abstracted aerial view of a wide flat landscape including the mouth of a river. Above the sky is full of contrails, and to the upper right aircraft can be seen flying in formation. It is an oil paint on canvas. The frame is made of wood and it is glazed. There is a hardboard backboard as well.

Paul Nash's description of the painting, written for the War Artist's Advisory Committee: 'The painting is an attempt to give the sense of an aerial battle in operation over a wide area and thus summarises England's great aerial victory over Germany. The scene includes certain elements constant during the Battle of Britain - the river winding from the town and across parched country, down to the sea; beyond, the shores of the Continent, above, the mounting cumulus concentrating at sunset after a hot brilliant day; across the spaces of sky, trails of airplanes, smoke tracks of dead or damaged machines falling, floating clouds, parachutes, balloons. Against the approaching twilight new formations of Luftwaffe, threatening...' The painting majestically reveals the possibilities of art engaged with history. Its ambition and the scale of the setting immediately impress; we look down on a huge swathe of the English Channel and France beyond. Produced at the time of the battle, the painting encapsulates its scale and importance. However, this is not just an image of modern warfare, with its violence and destruction, or even an iconic victory; it is also a restatement of the value of art and the defeat of Nazism. Nash, a fierce critic of the way that fighting on the Western Front of the First World War had been conducted, was immediate and steadfast in his revulsion towards Nazi Germany and its culture. In the painting, defences rise up as if out of the very landscape of England to meet the fascistic machines of war; the regimented patterns of the Luftwaffe are broken and defeated by Allied fighter planes, they form great flower-like shapes in the sky, before plummeting into the very earth that has defeated them. Richard Seddon, pupil of Nash, viewed this work at Nash's Oxford studio. He advised Nash to include more black smoke trails and painted an example on the canvas. When the painting was exhibited in London, Seddon's black trail was still visible on the canvas. Margaret Nash presented Seddon with a 19th-century lithograph of a storm in Paris which Nash adapted to form the composition of the Battle of Britain. Nash delivered the work to the Committee in October and it went on display at the National Gallery in January 1942.

The painting is an attempt to give the sense of an aerial battle in operation over a wide area and thus summarises England's great aerial victory over Germany. The scene includes certain elements constant during the Battle of Britain - the river winding from the town and across parched country, down to the sea; beyond, the shores of the Continent, above, the mounting cumulus concentrating at sunset after a hot brilliant day; across the spaces of sky, trails of airplanes, smoke tracks of dead or damaged machines falling, floating clouds, parachutes, balloons. Against the approaching twilight new formations of Luftwaffe, threatening.

Paul Nash was one of Britain's best-known artists at the time of the Second World War. As a former official war artist he was a logical choice to fulfill the role again, particularly as a patriot who believed in utilising fine art for propaganda. Battle of Britain demonstrates this aspect of Nash's outlook. It presents an epitome of RAF Fighter Command's successful struggle against the Luftwaffe in 1940. RAF fighters sweep along the English Channel to break up advancing Luftwaffe formations in a summer sky filled with vapour trails, parachutes, balloons and cloud. The painting is an imaginative summary of the event rather than a literal one; Nash favours symbolism and allegory over factual accuracy. The barrage balloons and aircraft seen from above are not in proportion to the shadowy suggestions of vulnerable cities below. Geographically the painting suggests the Thames estuary, with the Channel and France beyond, but again the emphasis is on imaginative visualisation.

War Artists Advisory Committee Commission

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image: An abstracted aerial view of a wide flat landscape including the mouth of a river. Above the sky is full of contrails, and to the upper right aircraft can be seen flying in formation. Image. An abstracted aerial view of a wide flat landscape including the mouth of a river.

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Kenneth Rowntree, Foreign Service-men in Hyde Park, Early Summer, 1940, 1940. © IWM (ART LD 415)

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Anthony Gross was among the first artists to be commissioned as a British official war artist in the Second World War. He was also one of the longest serving. Given a temporary commission in 1940, Gross was continuously employed as a war artist from 1941 until 1945. He experienced everything from the London Blitz to fighting theatres in the Middle East, North Africa and Burma, producing over 350 artworks.

In 1944, Gross returned to Britain in time to witness the build-up to the momentous D-Day landings. Using his distinctive style of ink and watercolour drawing, he completed group portraits of British and American soldiers and officers assembled for the operation and the huge preparations involved. Gross sailed with the attacking troops during D-Day on 6 June 1944, setting foot on French soil after the beach-head had been secured and the fighting had moved inland. He stayed on in Normandy as the intensive fighting continued, his drawings often showing the debris left behind.

Gross followed the progress of the Allied forces through France, Belgium and the Netherlands, and later into Germany. He finally ended his period as an official war artist in May 1945, by which time Nazi Germany had been defeated in Europe.

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This War Artist Captured D-Day in Stunning Watercolours

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Anthony Gross was among the first artists to be commissioned as a British official war artist in the Second World War. He was also one of the longest serving. In 1944, Gross returned to Britain in time to witness the build-up to the momentous D-Day landings.

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St Paul's Cathedral : seen from Chiswell Street, near Moorgate Street, London

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St Paul's Cathedral : seen from Chiswell Street, near Moorgate Street, London

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The Blitz on London from September 1940 to May 1941 and the V1 flying bomb and V2 rocket attacks in 1944 caused a massive amount of damage. It is estimated that more than 12,000 metric tons of bombs were dropped on London and nearly 30,000 civilians were killed by enemy action.

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St Paul's Cathedral : seen from Chiswell Street, near Moorgate Street, London

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The Blitz on London from September 1940 to May 1941 and the V1 flying bomb and V2 rocket attacks in 1944 caused a massive amount of damage. It is estimated that more than 12,000 metric tons of bombs were dropped on London and nearly 30,000 civilians were killed by enemy action.

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70 years ago today, John H. Thornton wrote from New Caledonia to his sweetheart, Miss Nell Fagan in East Point, Georgia. He gently provides some very useful information to Miss Fagan regarding the composition of his eagerly-awaited Christmas package. Servicemen being scattered across the globe during WWII and the need to send packages months in advance is sometimes cited as the origin of the early Christmas shopping season.
Gift of M.A. Thornton, 2009.531.018
Thornton writes on page 2 of his letter:
"Darling, about the candy you want to send me, I would like very much to have some but I'm afraid it would ruin getting here, worms get in most of the candy that's sent out-they were in several pieces of that you sent for my birthday so I'd hate to see things like that ruin. I hate to say don't send it, because you might think I don't appreciate what you are trying to do. I appreciate it more than you can ever imagine also think you are very thoughtful and it make me proud to know that a girl like you loves me. I think it's best not to send the candy but I still want to thank you."
Post by Curator Kimberly Guise

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Letters Home: "best not to send the candy"

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70 years ago today, John H. Thornton wrote from New Caledonia to his sweetheart, Miss Nell Fagan in East Point, Georgia. He gently provides some very useful information to Miss Fagan regarding the composition of his eagerly-awaited Christmas package. Servicemen being scattered across the globe during WWII and the need to send packages months in [...]

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On December 25, 1944, Carroll Sammetinger began his Christmas postcard to his parents, "Am Safe, A Prisoner of War in Germany; do not worry." Thousands of Americans were captured during the Battle of the Bulge and ended up spending Christmas 1944, as prisoners of war. Lieutenant Carroll Sammetinger, from Lima, Ohio, served with the 46th Armored Infantry Battalion, 5th Armored Division. He was captured December 20, 1944, and was sent first to Stalag XIB and then to Oflag 79, where he stayed until being liberated on April 12, 1945.

In Sammetinger's journal, he wrote about his experiences, about foods he wants to remember (ice cream with Baby Ruth bars!) and recorded addresses of fellow POWs. Sammetinger's collection-which includes his handwritten diary, numerous telegrams and letters, two hand-carved cigarette boxes, and German insignia gathered as souvenirs-is one of many treasured collections received by The National WWII Museum in 2016.

Thank you to Sammetinger's daughter, Sara Hammond, for sharing these pieces with the Museum and the world. They are powerful reminders of the separation, distance, and uncertainty experienced by many Americans during World War II.
Post by Assistant Director for Curatorial Services Kimberly Guise.

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"Am Safe, A Prisoner of War in Germany..."

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On December 25, 1944, Carroll Sammetinger began his Christmas postcard to his parents, "Am Safe, A Prisoner of War in Germany; do not worry." Thousands of Americans were captured during the Battle of the Bulge and ended up spending Christmas 1944, as prisoners of war.

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Wedding Rings Removed by the Germans from Holocaust Victims

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This photograph shows a small sampling of the thousands of wedding rings that the Nazis removed from their victims during the Holocaust to salvage the gold. When U.S. troops liberated Buchenwald concentration camp, they found stashes of rings, watches, precious stones, eyeglasses, and gold fillings.

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Baby Leaving the Poston War Relocation Center

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During World War II, Japanese Americans were targeted and detained at internment camps, including the Colorado River Relocation Center in Poston, Arizona (also known as the Poston War Relocation Center). The original caption for this photograph reads: Colorado River Relocation Center, Poston, Arizona.

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Navajo Indian Code Talkers Henry Bake and George Kirk | DocsTeach

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Six years of war brought many changes to familiar festive rituals. Christmas celebrations during the Second World War often had to be scaled down or adjusted as restrictions and shortages took their toll.

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THE AUXILIARY TERRITORIAL SERVICE AT AN ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN SITE IN BRITAIN, DECEMBER 1942

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Six years of war brought many changes to familiar festive rituals. Christmas celebrations during the Second World War often had to be scaled down or adjusted as restrictions and shortages took their toll.

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View of St Paul’s Cathedral and the bomb damaged areas surrounding it in London.

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Six years of war brought many changes to familiar festive rituals. Christmas celebrations during the Second World War often had to be scaled down or adjusted as restrictions and shortages took their toll.

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Six years of war brought many changes to familiar festive rituals. Christmas celebrations during the Second World War often had to be scaled down or adjusted as restrictions and shortages took their toll.