page_title: White Cliffs of Dover
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: White Cliffs of Dover / History / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Blick auf die Weißen Klippen von Dover vom Cap Griz-Nez in Frankreich über den Ärmelkanal, der Straße von Dover. Neue Version: File:FranceGrisNez2Dover.jpg und image:DoverWhiteCliffs3sm_Sb.jpg English: View of the White Cliffs of Dover from Cap Gris-Nez (France) across the English Channel, Strait of Dover. (Focal length equivalent for 35mm Camera: 105mm). Dover is at the 11 o'clock direction from the people, app. 34 km distant. New Version: File:FranceGrisNez2Dover.jpg and image:DoverWhiteCliffs3sm_Sb.jpg Français&#160;: Vue des falaises de craie de Douvres depuis la France (Cap Gris-Nez, détroit du Pas-de-Calais). Nouvelle Version: File:FranceGrisNez2Dover.jpg et image:DoverWhiteCliffs3sm_Sb.jpg
context_page_description: The White Cliffs of Dover, part of the North Downs formation, is the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of 350 feet, owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint. The cliffs, on both sides of the town of Dover in Kent, stretch for eight miles. A section of coastline encompassing the cliffs was purchased by the National Trust in 2016.
  The cliffs are part of the Dover to Kingsdown Cliffs Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation.
context_section_description: The cliffs have great symbolic value in Britain because they face towards continental Europe across the narrowest part of the English Channel, where invasions have historically threatened and against which the cliffs form a symbolic guard. The National Trust calls the cliffs "an icon of Britain", with "the white chalk face a symbol of home and wartime defence." Because crossing at Dover was the primary route to the continent before the advent of air travel, the white line of cliffs also  formed the first or last sight of Britain for travellers. During the Second World War, thousands of allied troops on the little ships in the Dunkirk evacuation saw the welcoming sight of the cliffs.  In the summer of 1940, reporters gathered at Shakespeare Cliff to watch aerial dogfights between German and British aircraft during the Battle of Britain.
  Vera Lynn, known as "The Forces' Sweetheart" for her 1942 wartime classic  "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" celebrated her 100th birthday in 2017.  That year she led a campaign for donations to buy 170 acres (0.7 km²) of land atop Dover's cliffs when it was feared that they might be sold to developers; the campaign met its target after only three weeks.  The National Trust, which owns the surrounding areas, plans to return the land to a natural state of chalk grassland and preserve existing military structures from the Second World War.
caption: White Cliffs of Dover, seen from France
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