Battle of Britain

For other uses, see Battle of Britain (disambiguation).

Battle of Britain
Part of the Western Front of World War II

A German Luftwaffe Heinkel He 111 bomber flying over Wapping and the Isle of Dogs in the East End of London at the start of the Luftwaffe's evening raids of 7 September 1940.
Date10 July – 31 October 1940[nb 1]
(3 months and 3 weeks)
Location
British airspace, English Channel
Result British victory
Belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Units involved
Strength
1,963 aircraft[nb 4] 2,550 aircraft[nb 5][nb 6]
Casualties and losses
  • 2,585 killed
  • 735 wounded
  • 925 captured[11]
  • 1,977 aircraft destroyed[nb 9]
23,002 civilians killed
32,138 civilians wounded[12]

The Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht um England, lit. 'air battle for England') was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. It was the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces.[13] The British officially recognise the battle's duration as being from 10 July until 31 October 1940, which overlaps the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz, that lasted from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941.[14] German historians do not follow this subdivision and regard the battle as a single campaign lasting from July 1940 to May 1941, including the Blitz.[15]

The primary objective of the German forces was to compel Britain to agree to a negotiated peace settlement. In July 1940, the air and sea blockade began, with the Luftwaffe mainly targeting coastal-shipping convoys, as well as ports and shipping centres such as Portsmouth. On 1 August, the Luftwaffe was directed to achieve air superiority over the RAF, with the aim of incapacitating RAF Fighter Command; 12 days later, it shifted the attacks to RAF airfields and infrastructure. As the battle progressed, the Luftwaffe also targeted factories involved in aircraft production and strategic infrastructure. Eventually, it employed terror bombing on areas of political significance and on civilians.[nb 10]

The Germans had rapidly overwhelmed France and the Low Countries in the Battle of France, leaving Britain to face the threat of invasion by sea. The German high command recognised the difficulties of a seaborne attack while the Royal Navy controlled the English Channel and the North Sea. On 16 July, Hitler ordered the preparation of Operation Sea Lion as a potential amphibious and airborne assault on Britain, to follow once the Luftwaffe had air superiority over the Channel. In September, RAF Bomber Command night raids disrupted the German preparation of converted barges, and the Luftwaffe's failure to overwhelm the RAF forced Hitler to postpone and eventually cancel Operation Sea Lion. The Luftwaffe proved unable to sustain daylight raids, but their continued night-bombing operations on Britain became known as the Blitz.

Germany's failure to destroy Britain's air defences and force it out of the war was the first major German defeat in the Second World War. The Battle of Britain takes its name from the speech given by Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons on 18 June: "What General Weygand called the 'Battle of France' is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin."[17]

  1. ^ a b Foreman 1989, p. 8
  2. ^ Haining 2005, p. 68
  3. ^ Peszke 1980, p. 134
  4. ^ a b Bungay 2000, p. 107
  5. ^ Wood & Dempster 2003, p. 318
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Bungay p. 368 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Ramsay 1989, pp. 251–297
  8. ^ "Battle of Britain RAF and FAA Roll of Honour". RAF. Archived from the original on 17 May 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2008.
  9. ^ Wood & Dempster 2003, p. 309
  10. ^ Overy 2001, p. 161
  11. ^ a b Hans Ring, "Die Luftschlacht über England 1940", Luftfahrt international Ausgabe 12, 1980. p. 580.
  12. ^ Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015, 4th ed. McFarland. p. 440. ISBN 978-0786474707.
  13. ^ "92 Squadron – Geoffrey Wellum." Battle of Britain Memorial Flight via raf.mod.uk.. Retrieved: 17 November 2010, archived 2 March 2009.
  14. ^ "Introduction to the Phases of the Battle – History of the Battle of Britain – Exhibitions & Displays – Research". RAF Museum. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  15. ^ Overy 2013, pp. 73–74.
  16. ^ Bungay 2000, pp. 305–306
  17. ^ Stacey 1955, p. 18


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