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THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN 59

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LUXEMBOURG

With Britain reeling after the fall of France (see pp.54–55), Hitler

expected to impose a negotiated peace on his own terms. However,

when Churchill made it clear that this was not an option, Hitler

determined to force the nation to capitulate. Plans were drawn

up for Operation Sea Lion—a coordinated shipborne assault on

England’s south coast. To make this happen, Hermann Göring,

chief of the Luftwaffe, promised to eliminate Britain’s Royal Air

Force (RAF) within four weeks. The plan failed. In the years leading

up to war, Britain had enhanced its air defenses with innovations

such as radar and better coordination of aircraft from the ground.

Meanwhile, signals intelligence including the top-secret Ultra

decryptions (see pp.170–171) gave the RAF some advance

knowledge of German plans—and, ultimately, Britain’s Spitfire

and Hurricane aircraft proved more than a match for German

Messerschmitts in the dogfights over the Channel.

Thwarted in his attempt to subdue Britain’s air defenses, Hitler

turned instead to a strategy of bombing raids on British port cities,

launching the nighttime Blitz on London and other industrial centers

(see pp.60–61) as part of his air-sea blockade. However, Hitler’s failure

to defeat the RAF was perhaps his first major setback of the war,

dealing a blow to his reputation for invincibility.

THE BATTLE

OF BRITAIN

After the fall of France, the British Empire stood alone

against Nazi Germany. With his offer of peace rejected,

Hitler planned an invasion of England. For this, he

needed first to control the sea-lanes in the English

Channel—and that meant commanding the skies above.

The Hurricane entered service in December 1937, and by August 1940

more than 2,300 had been delivered to the RAF. In the Battle of Britain

they outnumbered Spitfires by almost two to one. Highly maneuverable,

they brought down more enemy aircraft than any other British planes in the

course of 1940. Over the following two years they were gradually replaced

as dog-fighters by the more modern Spitfires.

RAF Fighter Command group headquarters

Other RAF airfield

RAF OPERATIONS

AUGUST 13–SEPTEMBER 16, 1940

More than 2,900 RAF pilots based at airfields

around the UK served in the Battle of Britain:

many were from Commonwealth countries or

expatriates from territories occupied by the

Nazis. Over four weeks of intensive activity,

the RAF lost 915 aircraft, but more than 1,700

Luftwaffe planes were destroyed.

5

A SWITCH OF TACTICS SEPTEMBER 17, 1940

Hitler set a deadline of September 17 to determine

whether to put his planned sea invasion of England

into effect. As that date approached, it became

clear that Göring’s promised aerial supremacy had

not been achieved, so Operation Sea Lion was

indefinitely postponed. Instead the focus of the air

war was switched to Britain’s port cities as part of

a strategy of air-sea blockade. The Blitz had begun.

6

THE WAR IN THE SKIES

For a month in the summer of 1940, Britain

withstood an onslaught from the Luftwaffe,

seeking to take out the nation’s air defenses

in preparation for a seaborne invasion. The

outcome of the battle put a halt to Hitler’s

plans for expansion in the west.

High-level radar range

Low-level radar range

Royal Observer Corps

Anti-aircraft battery

KEY

TIMELINE

1 2 3 4 5 6

JUN 1940 JUL AUG SEP OCT

▷ The scramble

RAF Spitfire pilots rush to

their aircraft in 1940. As

well as British servicemen,

many of the RAF’s pilots

were from a range of

countries including

South Africa, Australia,

New Zealand, Poland,

and Czechoslovakia.

THE HAWKER HURRICANE

Germany

Axis allies/occupation

German fighter range

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