1941 At the beginning of the year, Britain stood alone against Germany and Italy. The war in Africa dominated the headlines, with huge swathes of the North African desert changing hands continually. At sea, Germany’s Bismarck sank HMS Hood, but was soon sunk herself, while Fortress Britain endured night after night of heavy Blitz and the horrors of the Luftwaffe’s incendiary bombs. The first turning point of the war came in June, with Operation Barbarossa – Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union – opening up a second front in the east. The next would not come till December, when the war moved from beyond its European and African front lines to become a truly global conflict. Japan awoke the sleeping giant that was the USA with a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Simultaneous attacks on Hong Kong, Malaya, the Philippines and Indonesia saw huge parts of Asia firmly under Japanese control by the end of the year.

John Christopher and Campbell McCutcheon tell the story of 1941 at war using many rare and often unpublished images, showing the rapidly changing nature of the conflict, as well as its impact on the everyday person.