The Battle of Britain was fought mainly in the skies over the places shown on the map.Places such as Denmark, Holland, the United Kingdom, and Germany. And as shown on the map, there are airbases in many locations on the map. The RAF AIRBASES(blue) are located mainly in the Uniited Kingdom, while the LUFTWAFFE AIRBASES(red) are much more spread out.
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Pre-war Times
After successful 'Blitzkrieg' invasions (lightning attacks) of many European countries such as Poland, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and France, by Adolf Hitler and his higher power. Hitler's armies were busy marching towards Paris getting ready to takeover them as well. After the successful invasion of France, Great Britain knew they would be next.
Germany's rapid attacks had an overwhelming effect on the other countries. Hitler and his followers believed that they could use the same maneuvers to be able to have a successful invasion of Great Britain; the only problem would be that the English Channel formed a natural defense between the Franch and the British so now they would have to be able to destroy the Royal Air Force. This was not seen as a big problem for the air force was suspected to be weak, Hitler believed that they could be destroyed in just three weeks. He gave him four weeks and made plans for an invasion of Great Britain by August.
The Battle Fought In The Air
Tha Battle of Britain took place during WW2. In fact, it was one of the first major battles that took place during this war. The B.O.B was very well known. This is because it was the only battle that was fought in the air, and is still the only to this very day.
Hitler believed the war was practically over and that the British would quickly be forced to come to terms with Germany. However, the British had rejected the German terms. This is when Hitler planned an invasion against Britain.
Britain had one advantage over Germany- RADAR, which gave warning of German planes that were approaching from a distance. But, by the end of July, we had lost that advantage because the Germans started to attack radar. Without radar, the RAF would be in a weak postion because they would not have the advantage of early warnings anymore. From August 23rd to September 17th, the Germans had the idea to start to bomb cities during nightfall.
On September 15th came the last major engagement of this battle. On that day, the Luftwaffe lost 60 planes while the RAF lost 28. On September 17th, Hitler postponed the invasion of Britain. The Germans had come to realize that the RAF could not be defeated. Although there were 1890 cassualties in total (1550 aircraft; 27450 dead, 32140wounded), the Battle of Britain was over. The British had taken a stand and won!
"... the Battle of France is over, I expect that the Battle is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends out own British life, and the long continuity of out institutions and our Empire."-Winston Churchill June 18, 1940.
The Battle of Britain was fought mainly in the skies over the places shown on the map.Places such as Denmark, Holland, the United Kingdom, and Germany. And as shown on the map, there are airbases in many locations on the map. The RAF AIRBASES(blue) are located mainly in the Uniited Kingdom, while the LUFTWAFFE AIRBASES(red) are much more spread out.
Details on the Battle
More details of the Battle
