Battle of Britain- Overview

The Battle of France is over the Battle of Britain is about to begin.

the Battle of Britain was a major air campaign fought largely over Southern England in the Summer and Autumn of 1940 after the evacuation of the British expeditionary forces from Dunkirk and the fall of France. Germany planned to gain a superiority in preparation for an invasion of Great Britain.

The pilots of the RAF fighter command flying iconic aircraft including the hurricane and Spire was supported by the vast network of ground crew during the battle ultimately the luftwaffe was defeated by fighter command forcing Adolf Hitler to abandon his invasion plans.

Adolf Hitler had expected the British to seek a peace settlement after Germany's defeat of France in 1940 but Britain was determined to fight on Hitler explored military options which would bring War to a quick end in order ordered his Armed Forces to prepare for an invasion of Britain code named Operation Sea Lion but for the invasion to have any chance of success the Germans needed to First secure control of the Skies over Southern England and remove the threat posed by the Royal Air Force.

the sustained Air Assault on Britain would achieve the decisive Victory needed to make sea line a possibility the battle Britain was ultimately a test of strength between the Luftwaffer and the RAF.

The RAF had become an independent branch of the British arm forces in 1918 although it developed slowly in the Years following the first world war it went through a period of Rapid expansion in the later half of the 1930s largely in response to the growing threat of Nazi Germany in July 1936.

Fighter command was established under the leadership of air marshall Hugh Dowding, Germany had been banned from having an Air Force after the first world war but the Luftwafffe was reinstated by the Nazi government and by 1940 it was the largest and most forbid Air Force in the world.

it had suffered heavy losses in the Battle of France but by August the air fleet that would carry out the assault on Britain were a full Readiness the RAF met its challenge in some of the best fighter aircraft in the world the Hawker hurricane and the supermarine Spitfire. The British developed an air defense network that would give them a critical advantage over the Battle of Britain the Dowding system named for fighter commands commander-in Chief Sir Hugh Dowding.

It brought together Technologies such as rador ground defenses and fighter aircraft into a unified system of Defense the RAF organized the defense of Britain into four geographical areas called groups which were further divided into sectors the main fighter field in each sector, the sector station was equipped with an operations room from which the fighters were directed into combat radar gave early warning of Luftwaffle raids which were also tracked by Observer Corp information on oncoming raids were passed to the filter room at fighter command headquarters at Bentley Priory.

once the direction of the raid was clearly established the information was sent to the relevant group headquarters from there it was sent to the sector stations which would scramble Fighters into action the sector stations received an updated information as it became available and the further directed Airborne Fighters By Radio the operations room also directed other elements of the defense network including anti-aircraft guns, search lights and barrage balloons the Dowding system could process huge amounts of information in a short period of time it allowed fighter command to manage its valuable and relatively limited resources making sure they were not wasted.

Battle of Britain took place between July and October 1940 the Germans began attacking Coastal targets and the British shipping operating in the English Channel they launched their main offensive on the 13th of August attacks moved Inland concentrating on airfields and communication centers. Fighter command offered stiff resistance despite coming under enormous pressure during the last week of August in the first week of September in what would be a critical phrase of the battle. The Germans intensified their efforts and destroyed fighter command and their fields, particularly those in the Southeast were significantly damaged but most remained operational on the 31st of August.

Fighter Commander suffered his worst day of the entire battle but the Luftwaffe was overestimating the damage it was inflicted and wrongly came to the conclusion that the are was on its last legs fighter command was bruised but not broken. on the 7th of September the Germans shifted weight on their attacks away from the RAF targets onto London this would be an era of critical import importance.

The Raid had devastated effects on London residents but it also gave the Britain's defenses time to recover on the 15th of September fighter command repelled another massive wave assault inflicting severe losses that were becoming increasingly unsustainable for the Germans. although fighting would continue for several more weeks.

it had become clear that the Luftwaffer had failed to secure the air superiority needed for The invasion. Hitler indefinitely postponed Operation Sea Lion, nearly 3,000 men took part in the Battle of Britain those who Winston Churchill called ‘the few’ While most of the pilots were British fighter command was an international Force. Men came from all over the Commonwealth and occupied Europe from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Belgium, France, Poland and Czechoslovakia there were even some pilots from neutral USA and Ireland.

Many people in the additions to Churchill's few worked to defend Britain ground crew including riggers, Fitters, armorers, repair and maintenance Engineers looks after the aircraft, Factory workers help keep aircraft production up, The Observer core tracked incoming raids and its tens and thousands of volunteers ensured that the Thousand observation posts were continuously manned, anti-aircraft gun, search life operators and barrage balloon Crews all played a vital role in the Britain defenses.

members of the women's auxiliary air force (the WAF) served as radar operations and worked as plotters tracking raids in groups in the sector's operation rooms, the local defense volunteers later turned into the home guard had been set up in May of 1940 as a last line of defense against German invasion. By July nearly 1.5 million men had enrolled in the RAF. It was organized into different commands based on functional role including the fight of bomber and Coastal commands while victory in Britain in the Battle of Britain was decisively gained by fighter command, defense was carried out by the whole of the RAF.

Britain's most senior military personnel understood the importance of the bomber in the air defense they wrote on the 25th of May we cannot resist Invasion by the fighter aircraft alone air striking force is necessary not only to meet the Seaborn Expedition but also to bring direct pressure to Bear upon Germany by attacking objectives in that country. in other words RAF bomber command would attack the German industry, carrying out raids on ports where Germans had assembled an invasion Fleet and reduced the threat posed by the RAF by targeting airfields in air aircraft production.

RAF Coastal command also had an important role it carried out anti-invasion patrols provided vital Intelligence on the German positions along the European coast and occasionally bombed German shipping in the industrial targets during the battle of Britian the Luftwaffe was dealt an almost lethal Blow from which it never fully recovered although fighter command suffered heavy losses and was often outnumbered during actual engagement but the British outproduced the Germans and maintained a level of aircraft production that helped them withstand their losses.

the Luftwaffer with its lack of heavy bombers and the failure to fully identify the critically important Target never inflicted to strategically significant damage it suffered from constant Supply problems largely a result of the underachievement in aircraft production.

Germany's failure to defeat the RAF and secured control of the Skies over the Southern England made The Invasion all but impossible British victory in the Battle of Britain was decisive. But ultimately defensive in nature in avoiding defeat Britain secured one of its most significant victories in the second world war it was able to stay in the warnand live to fight another day