What was the Battle of the Britain?

Answer 1

Battle of BritainThe Battle of Britain (10 July 1940 - 31 October 1940) was the conflict fought between the RAF and the German Luftwaffe, as bombing during the day in the late summer of 1940 attempted to destroy Britain's air defenses by attacking RAF airfields.

Huge numbers of bombers were destroyed without incapacitating the British fighter airfields permanently. A system of radar and dispersal from a command centre at Biggin Hill helped defend the nation and prevent the Luftwaffe from dominating the air in advance of a planned channel crossing invasion (Operation Sealion) which Hitler had to cancel after the RAF resisted and caused massive damage to the German air attack capability.

Short range prevented the German fighters from providing heavy air support except over the south coast and Kent, but the superiority of the British aircraft (numerically more Hurricanes than Spitfires) won the Battle.

Churchill described the success in a famous speech when he stated that "never in the history of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few."

The gallant RAF pilots were thereafter referred to as "The Few," and were made up of many Britons, Poles, Czechs, Free French, Canadians and even some Americans who had enlisted in Canada to fight. New Zealand and Australia had hundreds of pilots in RAF service also. Pilots were rushed through training, being desperately needed against a seemingly overwhelming German bomber force. Superior tactics (the use of radar to coordinate strength against in coming bombers) and the dispersal of aircraft to many small airfields and good early deployment, optimised the British effort. The fighters were also very capable in combat, even against the Me109 support fighters which could make it over the British coast. Many battles were fought over the Channel but had to be of limited duration because the German fighters had such limited range for combat flying.

AnswerThis was a battle between Germany and Britain.(From July 10-october 31 1940). It was started after Germany attacked France and Britain stepped in to help then retreated back to Britain where Germany attacked next. AnswerOne of the major campaigns of the early part of World War II, the Battle of Britain is the name commonly given to the attempt by the German Luftwaffe to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF), before a planned sea and airborne invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion). Neither Hitler nor the German Wehrmacht believed it possible to carry out a successful amphibious assault on the British Isles until the RAF had been neutralised. Secondary objectives were to destroy aircraft production and ground infrastructure, as well as terrorising the British people with the intent of intimidating them into seeking an armistice or surrender and attacking areas of political interest.

British historians regard the battle as running from 9 July to 31 October 1940, which represented the most intense period of daylight air raiding. German historians begin the battle in mid-August 1940 and end it in May 1941, on the withdrawal of the bomber units in preparation for the attack on the USSR. The failure of Nazi Germany to destroy Britain's air forces to allow for an invasion or to break the spirit of either the British government or people is widely considered the Third Reich's first major defeat.

The RAF recognises [1] 2440 British and 510 overseas pilots who flew at least one authorised operational sortie with an eligible unit of the Royal Air Force or Fleet Air Arm during the period 10 July to 31 October 1940. This group includes 139 Poles, 98 New Zealanders, 86 Canadians, 84 Czechoslovakians, 29 Belgians, 21 Australians, 20 South Africans, 13 French, 10 Irish, 7 from the United States, a Jamaican, a Palestinian Jew and a Southern Rhodesian. 498 RAF pilots were killed during the battle. The Battle of Britain was the first major battle to be fought entirely in the air. It was the largest and most sustained bombing campaign yet attempted and the first real test of the strategic bombing theories that had emerged since the previous World War.

The Battle of Britain was an aerial and marine conflict between Germany and Britain that lasted months. The Luffewaffe nearly lost all their planes and many thousands of pilots. Hitler also bombed industrial cities, London and Coventry, ship ports and radar sites. The Britains lost many planes and pilots but they prevailed the nightly bombings, dogfights and their efforts to bomb Germany. Germany lost much more than the Britons did.

I would like to thank the American Pilots who Risked Inprisonment by the US government in their valiant efforts in Joining the RCAF of traveling direct to the UK where the RAF formed 3 Eagle Squadrons 71, 121, and 133 squadrons 240 heroes who helped save my life in the battle of Britiantheir use caused them to adopt this attitude ( if a short life make it a merry one )

retired Warrant officer after 9 years RAF and 28 RAAF i salute you one and all
The defense against Germany's Luftwaffe.
Late summer 1940.

AnswerThis was a battle between Germany and Britain.(From July 10-october 31 1940). It was started after Germany attacked France and Britain stepped in to help then retreated back to Britain where Germany attacked next.
The Battle of Britain was the aerial conflict between British and German air forces in the skies over the United Kingdom in the summer and autumn of 1940. It was one of the most important moments in Britain's twentieth century history and a vital turning point of the Second World War. Royal Air Force Fighter Command defeated the Luftwaffe's attempt to gain air supremacy over southern England and saved Britain from German invasion and conquest.

Answer 2

The Battle of Britain was an air campaign waged between the RAF and the Luftwaffe during the Summer of 1940. France fell in May, and the Commonwealth of Great Britain stood alone against the seemingly invincible Nazi forces. Hitler hoped that Britain would sue for peace. He had no plan for a seaborne invasion prior to the fall of France. Herman Goering convinced Hitler that he could knock Britain out of the war through air power alone. Hitler approved, to give himself time to ready the amphibious operation, and, more importantly, to plan the land invasion of Russia. Goering began by bombing the Channel ports, but soon moved to attacking the fighter air fields around London. Luckily for England, its cryptographers had cracked the Enigma machine code with the help of expatriate Polish refuges. It also had a very advanced early warning system for its day, consisting of radar and human observers who alerted Fighter Command to the strength, direction, and speed of the incoming bombers, and a communications center, staffed mainly by women, who predicted the probable target of each raid. Armed with that information, although outnumbered in the beginning, Fighter Command could send up sufficient force to meet each threat as it materialized and regroup to meet the next. By fighting over its own territory, if shot down and uninjured, a British pilot could make it back to base and fly another sortie in a different plane that same day, whereas a German pilot, if he survived, was taken prisoner. The first line fighter planes were very nearly evenly matched, and, even though German fighter tactics were superior, and adopted by the allies later in the war, the British One-Two punch of sending the Spitfires to engaged the Me109s while the Hawkers attacked the bombers proved to be the right operational procedure for the engagement. By August, Hiler had switched to nighttime terror bombing of civilian populations, and Britain had weathered the strategic aerial onslaught. As Prime Minister Winston Churchill remarked, "Never in the course of human endeavor was so much owed by so many to so few."

Answer 3

The Battle of Britain was the air battle over Britain between the British and their allies and the Germans!