Drawing upon original documents and first-hand accounts, this text tells the story of Britain's anti-aircraft defenses on the home front during World War II: in the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, and the Luftwaffe's cruel campaigns against cathedral cities and coastal resorts. Commissioned to support English Heritage's initiatives to preserve England's wartime remains, this book is also a study of the everyday places where the battles were fought. Thousands of gun batteries were built during the war, and by exploring their design and patterning, the book offers a new perspective of Britain's defense geography and rediscovers the sites which were home to hundreds of thousands of men and, controversially, women. As the second volume in the series "Monuments of War," it makes a powerful case for selected examples to be preserved as historical monuments.