The Battle of Britain was the first large-scale military campaign in history to be fought exclusively in the air
and according to many leading historians the confrontation nearly brought Britain to its knees an outcome that undoubtedly would have had a
significant influence on the course of the Second World War
I'm Griffin Johnson the armchair Historian
and today I'll be explaining why the Battle of Britain was fought and how the British were able to best their German foes
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The angry buzzing of the planes increased and the bombs rained down literally rains down we hugged the side of the building
Now the fires appeared a large bomb dropped across the river burst and a brilliant orange and then spurted high into the air
There were warehouses over there. One by one they caught fire
The fire engines clang sharpened and then the air was filled with the great hissing as the water met the flames
This was the experience of Quintin Reynolds as recounted in Gavin Mortimer's book the longest night
Events such as these were commonplace by the spring of 1941
But by this time the Blitz as it came to be known was drawing to a close.
It had been seven months since air combat between Germany and Britain intensified and the situation was looking grim. Reynolds states that
London remained the center of the free world's resistance to Hitler's Germany
But it's all in together camaraderie was disintegrating
the city's civil defenses were chronically undermanned as the breezy enthusiasm of those who volunteered
in 1939 cracked under the incessant bombing. So how did Britain arrive at this point? Let's start at the beginning
Waging war on Britain was never one of Hitler's grandiose ambitions
he much preferred to make peace with the British even offering them the chance to keep their empire in return for aligning themselves with
Germany some elements of the British government jumped at the possibility to secure a ceasefire
But others namely Churchill were not so keen to do so we shall defend our island
We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields
And in the streets we shall fight in the Hills
We shall never surrender
Those that shared Churchill's sentiments ultimately came out on top and Hitler resolved to force Britain to pursue. Peace
shattering British morale was a prerequisite
since early June the German Luftwaffe had been launching reconnaissance missions over the British mainland and in July they began engaging
Convoys in the English Channel in an effort to hurt British shipping on July 16th Hitler and his senior command began planning
Operation sea lion with the intention of mounting a joint amphibious airborne
On Britain Hitler announced that when Napoleon failed I shall succeed
I shall land on the shores of Britain needless to say the plan was an ambitious one
but up to that point Nazi Germany had been
invincible on the battlefield the period that followed Hitler's Proclamation is known as Spitfire summer a fiery clash that pitted more than
1300 German fighters against just 700 British fighters
although the British Royal Air Force or RAF was almost invariably outnumbered in these skirmishes the British made effective use of
Radar this allowed the RAF to keep its fighters grounded until enemy targets were spotted
They could then be engaged with the benefit of foresight. As a result
Luftwaffe pilots often reported that it seemed that the British were always expecting them ahead of time on the 1st of August
1940 the Luftwaffe changed their strategy up until that point the German air force had mostly focused on targeting British shipping routes and
Ports in an attempt to starve Britain out now
It was bent on gaining total air superiority over the RAF launching upwards of 1,000 attacks a day
Later in the month. The Luftwaffe specifically honed in on RAF airfields and factories that produced aircraft parts
1270 German fighters and
520 bombers were directed to what became known as the Eagle attack
but radar once again kept Britain in the fight the
Industrial outskirts of London were regularly bombed
But London itself was not to be touched without Hitler's express approval in retaliation
against the German bombing campaign the RAF Bomber Command
conducted night raids that hurt German shipbuilding efforts making the prospect of a
Successful German amphibious landing even less valuable than it already was
Given the british royal navy's control of both the english channel and the north sea. 80 british bombers were also dispatched to raid the outskirts
of berlin targeting industrial and commercial targets but due to cloudiness some of the bombs fell across the city and
Resulted in civilian casualties. At this point Germany was losing the air campaign to the United Kingdom
the Germans did not do as much damage to British production as they
Suspected even by the middle of August the British were producing double the amount of Fighters than the Germans were furthermore
German fighters had limited range and could only
escort bombers flying over Britain for part of their missions often this resulted in bombers being left vulnerable and shot down by British fighters.
Moreover since the Luftwaffe was in enemy territory,
when an aircraft was shot down an entire
Trained crew was lost if a British plane was shot down on the other hand the crew could rejoin the RAF
There had been reported cases of RAF pilots being downed and rejoining the battle on the same day
Additionally Britain was also able to enlist the aid of experienced pilots from France, Czecho-
slovakia and Poland, especially. As a
consequence of these factors Hitler delivered a speech in which he denounced Britain and promised retribution to the German people
When the British air force drops two or three thousand kilograms of bombs, then we will drop in one night
150 250 300 or 400 thousand kilograms when they declare that they will increase their attacks on our cities
Then we will raze their cities sure enough a bloody revenge followed Saturday, September 7th
1940s was the beginning of the Blitz bombs spewed out of aircraft and fell with murderous intensity on London's East End
there were
430 dead as night edged in and elsewhere across
London people watched with bemusement. "Why" they asked each other, was the Sun setting in the east as well as the West
For the next 57 consecutive days raids continued day and night causing most people to take solace in
Air-raid shelters British air-raid sirens became a common sound for those living London and other major cities
But even those living in the countryside were not safe
One of the worst incidents to have occurred during the Blitz involved the destruction of a school that was used as an air-raid shelter
which resulted in
450 civilian deaths
some
2,700 Luftwaffe aircrew members had been killed over 1000 had been captured and more than 1,880
German aircraft were shot down by comparison British military casualties numbered to some 500
Aircrew killed and 60 captured. Throughout the campaign
The RAF was under the able leadership of the resolute and Ford looking air chief
Marshal Hugh Dowding who picked his battles wisely due to the Luftwaffe numerical superiority
German planes were not always engaged instead RAF planes were used sparingly to prevent Germany from gaining the air superiority
It's so desperately needed to defeat Britain the commander in chief of the Luftwaffe
Hermann Goering is considered by most historians to have been the
Inferior air commander and although many consider him to be dowdings equal and resolve Goering lacked doubting
Strategic foresight and innovative mindset the Battle of Britain is generally considered a watershed moment in the Second World War
culminating in Nazi Germany's first major military
defeat
Hitler's decision to put his invasion of the United Kingdom on hold and turn East to invade the Soviet Union was borne largely out of
A growing need for oil to fuel the German war machine
The decision gave Britain precious time to rebuild its military following allied defeat in continental Europe
it also served to sway public opinion in the United States at a time when the vast majority of
Americans opposed joining the struggle in Europe. We will conclude by quoting Winston Churchill who upon reflecting on the
confrontation eloquently asserted that
"Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few"
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