Battle of BritainJune, 1940

Hitler’s Attack on Britain Hitler expected Britain to surrender after the fall of France.

When Britain refused, Hitler planned to subdue Britain.

Operation Sea Lion

Defeat of the Royal Navy in the invasion area required control of the air

Hitler’s conditions for Sealion:

The RAF is to be "beaten down in its morale and in fact, that it can no longer display any appreciable aggressive force in opposition to the German crossing".

Basic German Invasion Plan… Operation Sea Lion

Construct a Naval corridor cordon off the shortest

straight line between France and Britain

line it with minefields and subs, and ferry the German army across…

Churchill claims that Britain could have torn this minefield up, destroyed the subs, and crushed this invasion

Doubtful it would have worked

The Odds Churchill estimated that at the beginning of the Battle of Britain the

German Air forces outnumbered the RAF 3-1, but there was considerable home field advantage for the British Partly this is because of fuel… The German air forces only had about

10 minutes of fighting time over England before having to head back to refuel.

Also, radar allowed Britain to track incoming German war planes which gave them time to become airborne and attack back or sound the alarm for citizens.

Churchill describes the need to defend a long coastline in Britain meant to set up forces on the perimeter that would stall the enemy and then the largest possible reserve for quick counterattack… (what he accused the French of not doing in the Battle of France… )

Battle of Britain Air Order of Battle

RAF Planes Hurricane… first RAF plane with a top speed

of over 300 mph… 8 machine guns in the wings… (gets rid of

synchronizing gear) It is estimated that its pilots were credited

with four-fifths of all enemy aircraft destroyed in the period July-October 1940.

Hurricane…

Hurricane…

Spitfire

“The Spitfire has always attracted more attention than the Hurricane, and is undoubtedly one of the most famous aircraft ever built. Its graceful lines combined with outstanding handling qualities to produce a "dream plane" extremely fast, and in comparison to contemporary types was second to none.”

8 machine guns in wings

Spitfire

Spitfire

German Air Force Messerchmitt 109 2 machine guns in the nose and two in the

wings The various strengths and shortcomings of

the Messerschmitt, the Hurricane, and the Spitfire largely cancelled out in combat.

ME-109

Stuka Dive Bomber Won great success in battles of Poland and

France, but in the Battle of Britain proved to be almost helpless without fighter cover

Stuka

German Bombers

Heinkle He 111

Junkers Ju 88

Battle of Britain: Phase I

• Attacks on Channel Ports and Shipping

• 12 July – 10 Aug.

Battle of Britain: Phase II

Attack on Fighter bases and Radar

•12 Aug to 6 Sept.

Air battles (Phase I and Phase II) between the German Air Force and the RAF occurred through the late summer and fall (1940)

Operation Sea Lion would have to be launched by late September or it would have to wait through the winter…would the RAF hold out

RAF started to crack because of damage to its fighter command….then, Germany mistakenly bombs London RAF retaliates Hitler infuriated, changes focus to civilian bombing

Significance: Gives RAF breather

Churchill Luck?

Battle of Britain: Phase III

Daylight Attacks on Cities & Industrial Areas

7 Sept – 5 Oct.

The London Blitz

The bombing of Berlin caused a change in tactics The Germans altered their focus from an attack

on British air power to an attack on England’s civilian population

tried to bomb the Brits into submission through terror bombing of London ..

London was bombed after this for 57 consecutive nights…

Many children moved to countryside (Narnia)

Battle of Britain

Turning Point

Sept 15, 1940

Massive daylight raid on London

• Largest to date

56 German aircraft lost versus 28 RAF fighters

Germans switch to night raids on cities

Considered the turning point of the battle

RAF used every fighter in 11 Group (didn’t hold back)

The Battle of Britain had two Main phases The attack on the RAF (was working/putting

extreme pressure on British RAF) And

The attack on London, known as the London Blitz (actually turned the tide in favor of RAF)

Battle of Britain

The Bombing of London were a ‘Relief’ to Churchill

“London can take it.” RAF is being reconstituted By October, Hitler gave up on the bombing of Britain

Too late to launch Sea Lion Instead, Hitler decided to deal with England via the

War in the Atlantic Starve the British out using U-boats

Hitler will now turn his attention East! Will violate the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.

Battle of Britain1940

LossesRAF German Air

ForceSingle-seat fighters

Twin-seat fighter

Bombers

Maritime patrol

1,023

376

148

520

1,107

357

1,014

2,600+

}

Pilots Lost

Battle of Britain

Factors

British use of radar (command & control)

German underestimation of RAF strength

British “home field” advantage

German loss of focus (Change of Objective)