As Britain's survival hung in the balance in 1940 and 1941 against Germany's relentless Blitz air campaign of World War II, scrappy defenders on the ground forged a fragile network of radar, telephones, civil defense, and radio communications. It triumphed despite messy human realities such as equipment delays, squabbling, and political interference.

Structured around key moments in the German air campaign, Marcus Jones, U.S. Naval Academy history professor, explores how the Chain Home radar network, centralized operations at Bentley Priory, and real-time telephone communications created what would now be recognized as a command-and-control system, the first of its kind used in warfare. At the same time, the limitations of these technologies when factored into human contexts—decision frictions, equipment delays, political interference, and the misallocation of interceptors—affected their outcome. The Blitz was both an assault on cities and a test of Britain’s ability to organize knowledge, labor, and machines into an effective defense, and a systems drama that foreshadowed the information age of warfare.

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