Battle Of Britain Research Paper

First of all, it was a common sight to see hefty bombers from both sides being flanked by their swift fighters for protection. However, at the beginning of the war, surprisingly, Great Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command believed that bombers would be well-armed enough to protect themselves without an escort through enemy skies. As the war dragged on, it eventually became clear that fighters were needed to assist the bombing runs. Secondly, unlike popular belief, aviation was most often used as aerial reconnaissance during the onset of the war. It was evident that the Germans saw aerial reconnaissance as an essential tactic for winning the war. By 1939, Germany’s Luftwaffe had created 23 reconnaissance squadrons, each with a photograph developing laboratory. (32) In addition, Germans “carried out at least 500 reconnaissance overflights in the 8 months before Hitler’s armies finally struck in the West in May 1940.” (Harwood, 38) Lastly, the German air force was backed with 860 Me 109's and 350 Me 110's for combat, whereas France’s I'Armée de I'Air had only 552 relatively modern fighters, and Great Britain’s Royal Air Force originally had roughly 48 outdated Gladiator biplanes and 168 Hurricane fighters. Despite having such a large number of aircraft, the Luftwaffe's planes were limited. The Me 109 had little endurance and would have to be fitted with an

Battle of Britain is the name given to the effort by the German air force, run by Luftwaffe to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF). The Battle of Britain was the first major battle to be fought entirely by air forces. It was the largest and most sustained bombing campaign to be attempted, as well as the first real test of vital bombing theories developed since World War I. The failure of Nazi Germany to destroy Britain's air force or to break the spirit of the British government or people is considered the Third Reich's first major defeat. Neither Hitler nor the German Army believed it was possible to carry out an assault on the British Isles until the RAF had been overcome. Secondary ideas were to destroy aircraft production and ground infrastructure, they looked to attack areas of political importance, and to terrorize the British people into wanting to surrender. British historians usually date the battle from 10 July to 31 October 1940, which showed the most intense period of bombing. German historians usually place the beginning of the battle in mid-August 1940 and end it in May 1941. With the royal air force having superior aircraft, and more intelligent technology, the RAF was able to overcome and defeat the German air force.

The Germans used a strategic operation in bombing from the RAF base to London. The Luftwaffe bombed London for 57 consecutive nights and more than one million houses were destroyed with over 40,000 civilians killed. This was almost half of the population in London. The ports and industrial which were outside London was also attacked and destroyed with major Atlantic sea port of Liverpool. This caused almost to 4,000 deaths within the Merseyside area. Coventry and Birmingham were heavily destroyed because of the Spitfire and tank factories there. The British wanted to control the air during the war so, they forced Adolf Hitler to postpone and cancel the operation Sea Lion, which was airborne invasion of Britain. But Nazi Germany failed to achieve its aim of destroying Britain's air defenses because they forced the Britain to negotiate an armistice or to surrender

In September 1940, Germany was dangerously close to capturing Britain. Germany had captured France and looked to bomb Britain to oblivion. In the process, Germany pushed Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) to its limits during the Battle of Britain. However, in the end, Britain came out on top. Hugh Dowding, commander-in-chief of the RAF, was vital to this victory in many ways.

The Battle of Britain is regarded as the most famous military engagement of World War II. The fall of France in June 1940 to Nazi Germany not only left Britain as the only European power working actively against the Germans but also left them vulnerable to bombing campaigns launched from Northern France, having only to travel twenty-five miles across the English Channel to reach targets in south-east England1. The quick surrender of France allowed German forces to direct their attention towards Britain. Although Hitler had publicly stated a desire to negotiate peace terms with Britain, preparations had been made for an amphibious invasion of the British Isles, codenamed Operation Sealion2. German High Command was aware of the fact that

Hitler wished to take Southern England and wipe out the british air force and destroy all plains industries. Hitler believed that it was necessary to do this so that he could invade Britain. The name of this operation was “Operation Sea Lion”. There was one problem that hit the German air force. The problem being that there was only so far that the planes could travel travel to and come back safely. So the british took advantage of this and moved all aircraft building factories behind the line of which the Germans could not pass. But the British also had another little advantage. This being Radar. The RAF had implemented it into everything meaning they could see the German fighters and so they could gun them down, this played a key part in the war. In contrast the Germans had discovered it and Hitler decided that he did not want it as he was prejudiced about defence measures. Even though both sides knew of the invention the Germans did not believe that the British had completely surrounded the country. The British again took advantage of something, they began to send fake telegrams that the germans would intercept and believe. One example of this is the carrot theory, though carrot do contain chemicals that help with eyesight, the Germans believed that this was the key to seeing in the dark. But after they moved the industry's back terror bombing came into

The Battle of Britain was the first major war campaign consisting of air forces. The forces of Germany had quickly and decisively defeated numerous countries throughout Europe and were now poised to invade, and ultimately Britain. The last major obstacle to Hitler’s plan was the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the British military in general.

Battle of Britain, during World War II, the successful defense of Great Britain against unremitting and destructive air raids conducted by the German air force (Luftwaffe) from July through September 1940, after the fall of France.[1] If Germany had been successful then it would have been possible for Germany to invade Britain. This would help Britain sustain through and to the end of World War

The RAF had it’s victory, defeating the Luftwaffe. They had obliterated one hundred and seventy-six German planes, while they had only lost twenty-five planes. When one hundred German planes were flying towards London followed by another fleet of German aircrafts, the Spitfire and Hurricane planes flew to meet them where most of the German aircrafts turned around without attacking. Although, Buckingham Palace was hit by two bombs, neither of them exploded. Two days later, Britain decoded a secret German message that stated that they wanted to stop the operation. They decided to end Operation Sealion because they were losing planes faster than they could resupply them (“1940:

World War II officially began on September 1, 1939 the invasion of Poland. Adolf Hitler was wanting to conquer all of Europe and its living space. A military tactic used in World War II was “Blitzkrieg” a tactic designed to create disorganization among enemy forces through the use of mobile forces such as planes, artillery and tanks. Blitzkrieg meaning “lightning war” was first used in the invasion of Poland and later on officially established in the Invasion of France, Netherlands, and Belgium. Not only did the Germans use the tactic of blitzkrieg they also had a powerful army that consisted of four groups the: Luftwaffe(Air Force) ,Weimar(Regular Nazi Army) , SS (Special Forces), and the SA(Racially superior soldiers). Hitler almost conquered all of Europe, but there were some mistakes in this war that costed him the win such as: Dunkirk, The Invasion of Russia and the Allies victories.

I am working on a study of the Battle of Britain in order to comprehend how Britain was able to defeat Germany, and the impacts of their decisive victory. One of the reason why the Battle of Britain is important is because it was the first battle between only air power. This conflict was to be decided between the Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force. Because of that fact, I find this topic to be extremely interesting. The Battle of Britain was a turning point in World War II, which I will attempt to prove in this paper, and it was fought between two of the most powerful air forces

The terrible air raids on London, also known as the Blitz, began in September of 1940 and were the beginning of World War II (“Worst Air Raid on London”). It was a devastating time for the English, especially with Adolf Hitler, the leader of the air raids, and his Luftwaffe was showing no mercy on anyone. Even though London faced a rough point in their lives, had no weapons or materials to fight back, and were loosing homes and loved ones, they somehow managed to pull through come out strong. The English always had each others back and came up with their own tactics of survival, and although London lost terribly against Germany, they never lost their will to pursue to fight and keep their heads held high. They made their own air raid kits,

Immediately after the defeat of France hitler ordered his generals to organize the invasion of Britain. However, hitler's generals were very worried about the damage that the royal air force could inflict on the german army during the invasion. In july 1940 the German air force began its mass bomber attacks on british radar stations, aircraft factories and fighter airfields. During the next three months the royal air force lost seven hundred and ninety two planes and over five hundred pilots were killed. This was the first battle to ever be fought completely in the air. The Battle of Britain drained the Luftwaffe of pilots because Germans that were shot down over Britain spent the rest of the war in prisoner of war camps. By September 1940, the Luftwaffe mistakenly believed it had destroyed the Royal Air Force. The Germans then stopped their strikes against Royal Air Force bases and began to bomb London and other civilian targets. They hoped to weaken civilian morale and force Britain to surrender. The bombing of London caused mass destruction to the area. London citizens found safety in subway tunnels during the nightly raids. Air raids known as the Blitz took place nearly every night through the fall and

A problem would be that on the coast if the attacks many would be shot down on the ocean making ejection would be hard but survivable, but being shot down in aircraft down in the ocean is when many casualties were in line. The Germans and British were going strong and as the Germans were at a turning point Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill gave a famous speech on rallying troops and people along with good decisions and a good and sure spirit towards the battle and war in overall lead Britain to victory. As Germany retreats and Hitler enraged as he faces his first defeat, the British try to clean up and protect their land and homes. Britain captured over 900 Nazis, over 700 wounded, killed over 2500, and destroyed over just under 2000 of germany's planes. On the other hand Germany killed under 600 British men, wounded just over 400, and destroyed just over 1600 german planes. The defeat of Germany became a loss in resources and men to the Nazis and became the last time Hitler attacked the British soil during World War

It was one of the most prominent battles of World War Two. One that tested the strengths and weaknesses of the Worlds top air forces, the formidable Luftwaffe, and the revered Royal Air Force. It was the Battle of Britain.