75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain
75 years ago, on 10 July 1940, with the British forced to withdraw all forces from the European continent, the Battle of Britain or Luftschlacht um England, began. Its purpose was to destroy all British defences to gain complete air superiority. This would then allow ground, sea and air forces to invade Britain unmolested. It effectively ended at a conference 14–17 September 1940 during which Hitler concluded that air superiority had not been established and that the invasion of Britain, Operation Sea Lion, was to be postponed indefinitely. Here are a few facts I enjoy!
1. The best ‘British’ pilots were Polish.
There were 16 Polish squadrons who evacuated to Britain when Poland fell to the Germans. With the even better British-built aircraft, their training in Poland and action in both Poland and France, they scored more hits than any British squadron. Indeed, the top three squadrons were all Polish, with No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron shooting down 126 German aircraft in only 42 days.
“Had it not been for the magnificent material contributed by the Polish squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry, I hesitate to say that the outcome of the Battle would have been the same.”
— Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, who led Fighter Command during the battle
The Poles formed squadrons of all different types and by the German surrender 5 years later, they had 15 different squadrons, supported by 14,000 airmen and airwomen. Polish fighters destroyed 957 enemy aircraft with 58 men claiming five or more victories. Polish squadrons in Bomber Command and Coastal Command dropped a total of 14,708 tons of bombs and mines on enemy targets.
Sadly, at the Yalta Conference, Churchill made the error of trusting Stalin when he said he’d keep his hands off Poland, with perhaps one of the best of his quotes in the whole War: “Poor Neville Chamberlain believed he could trust Hitler. He was wrong. But I don’t think I am wrong about Stalin.” Poland didn’t have free and fair elections until 1990, 51 years after the German and Soviet invasions.
2. German vs British guesstimating
Although both sides exaggerated the number of the enemy they had shot down to their citizens, by equally large amounts I might add, the Luftwaffe consistently underestimated the British fighters and their serviceability whilst the RAF consistently overestimated the size and productive capacity of the German aviation industry. This meant that the Germans believed they had pushed Fighter Command to the brink of destruction, while the British assumed that the threat of the Luftwaffe was far larger than they faced and that forces were being held in reserve. This led the British to plan for more nightmarish contingency plans and the Germans to become complacent in their attacks, assuming the RAF was virtually eliminated, which leads to my third favourite fact…
3. German intelligence kills civilians, but loses them the battle
A well-known fact of the Battle is that the Germans switched from targeting the RAF airfields and Radar towers, to targeting the centres of population around the UK, although most famously in London. This switch gave the RAF the breathing room they needed to launch, effect repairs and rest in relative safety, whereas previously all RAF personnel and materiel would have been under constant threat of bombardment. As mentioned above, this German complacency allowed for the pilots to launch and attack the bombers with little direct pressure on their airfields. This was a clear mistake on their part, especially since the Luftwaffe were losing more pilots over enemy territory and were not afforded training or rest rotations like the British. Personally, I think it also begins to show the error in bombing Dresden in February 1945 — bombing the population only hardens their resolve and will to win.
4. What about the Navy?
Finally, one thing that is often left out of the defence of Britain during this battle is the strength of the Royal Navy. Without naval superiority as well as air superiority, there was little chance of the Germans managing to land large numbers of ground forces on Britain to complete an invasion, and the Royal Navy remained intact throughout this period.
“It was sea power that ruled the day in 1940, and fortunately Britain had a sufficiency. The air situation was, of course, important, but by no means fundamental. Without doubt the five hundred or so section, flight and squadron commanders in Fighter Command earned their laurels. But the real victor was the Royal Navy, the Silent Service.”
— Wg Cdr H R Allen, one of ‘the Few’
Conclusion
Historians argue about Hitler’s resolve on the invasion or the mistakes made by commanders on both sides, but there is consensus on the inability for the Luftwaffe to destroy the RAF. In the end Britain was not invaded and provided a staging point for attacks on the continent culminating in the D-Day landings almost 4 years later during which the reverse invasion of the continent was successfully launched. That must have been quite a vindication for the hard work and sacrifice of everyone living and fighting in Britain at the time, something most of us can be thankful of never having experienced.
Worth reading:
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/the-polish-air-force-in-world-war-2/polish-squadrons.aspx
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/the-polish-air-force-in-world-war-2/polish-air-force-casualties.aspx
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain#Attrition_statistics
http://someinterestingfacts.net/facts-about-the-battle-of-britain/
Originally published at www.dcxiii.com.
