The Battle of Britain: August/September, 1940

Germany was just 24 hours away from winning the “Battle of Britain” when Goering made a fatal strategic error. He shifted their bombsights from Britain’s aerodromes to London’s civilian population, galvanizing the nation into exuberant cheerleaders for the Royal Air Force fighting overhead and support of Churchillian “Never Surrender” credo.

Seventy years ago this summer Great Britain and Germany were locked in deadly combat for the control of the air war in the Battle of Britain. Hitler planned a massive Cross- Channel invasion of England with Operation Sealion. The Luftwaffe had to control the English Channel airspace for a successful Operation Sealion invasion.

The Germans had a three phase plan to control the airspace. First, attack the ports, especially Dover; second, destroy the English aerodromes and planes; and third bomb the cities. The Battle of Britain began on July 10th, 1940. Against Hitler’s orders, by mistake one German plane bombed London. For this reason the English bombed Berlin. In response Goering switched into phase three before destroying all English aerodromes. It was the critical mistake of the Battle of Britain. The intense fighting was in August and part of September. On August 13th Germans declared “Eagle Day” and sent 1,485 daylight sorties. On August 15 there were 1,790 German sorties. On September 7th, 300 bombers with 600s fighter attacked London. On September 17th, Hitler postponed Operation Sealion, and in October Operation Sealion was postponed until 1941.

In July, 1940, Germans for the Battle of Britain had 3,000 planes- including 1,400 bombers, 300 dive bombers, 800 single engine fighters, and 240 twin engine bombers. Daily the Germans had 2,500 planes, but daily there were 1,600 serviceable planes. The British had 1,200 planes, including 800 Spitfires and Hurricanes, but only 600 were serviceable. The English lacked experienced pilots since many had been killed during the fighting in France. During the Battle of Britain Germans claimed they shot down 3,058 English planes, but the actual number was 650. The English claimed they shot down 2,698 German planes, but the actual number was 1,100.

The British won the Battle of Britain for several reasons. First , was the courage and resolve of the English fighter pilots; second the quality of English airplane designers; third, the fortitude of the English public; and fourth, Churchill.

Churchill became Prime Minister on May 10th, 1940. On June 4th he gave his famous “Never Surrender” speech. As early as 1935 Ralph Wigram in the Foreign Office gave Churchill a detail analysis of the German military buildup. Churchill had no illusions as to the coming battle. Churchill gave all support possible to Sir Hugh Dowding at the RAF Fighter Command. The RAF had primitive, but functioning RADAR; a national Spotter System; quality airplane maintenance support; and airplane manufacturing facilities.

Google “The Battle of Britain” for numerous references. Churchill’s “The Finest Hour” and Albert Speer’s “Inside the Third Reich,” are two of the numerous books on the Battle of Britain. In addition, there are countless contemporary magazines, newspaper articles, and films on the Battle of Britain.

Mathematically, the Germans, with their numerical superiority in planes and pilots, should have won the Battle of Britain. After the War, documents show that Fighter Command reported that if Germans had continued to bomb English aerodromes according to one estimate for another 24 hours and another estimate a few days, England would have lost the Battle of Britain. But the Germans switched from bombing aerodromes to bombing London and other cities. The German bombing of civilian targets gave Churchill the total support of the English public. With this support he was able to eliminate the German “appeasement” sentiment in Britain.

It was Britain’s FINEST HOUR.