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The British start
defence preparations in readiness for the "Battle of Britain"
During the time between Dunkirk
and the "Battle of Britain" the British
Government prepared a multi-level strategy to deal with the problem, lookouts
were positioned to report enemy activity at all potentially suitable
landing sites, also obstacles were placed on the threatened beaches
including anti-tank and anti-landing craft devices, some beaches
were heavily mined and the ringing of church bells was banded to
allow
their emergency use as an invasion warning, this was a fallback
system in case conventional
communications were disrupted by German Forces, additionally road
signs were removed to make navigation harder for an invasion force
and the LDV "Local Defence Volunteers" (a.k.a. "Home Guard"
or "Dads
Army" -) was formed using those to old to be conscripted or in
reserved occupations. The manufacturing of the RAF's latest
modern monoplane fighters, the Spitfire and Hurricane, was given the highest
priority utilising the UK's car industry as it's industrial
manufacturing base. The British top secret Radio Detection and Ranging network
(RADAR) called "Chain Home" and "Chain Home Low" was expanded and
calibrated as much as possible, the phone lines which connected the
radar operators to their operation rooms were buried deep underground and protected with
concrete against bombing (Radio links could be easily jammed of
monitored). Prior to The Battle of Britain the ROC (Royal Observer
Corps) established over 1000 observation posts to report enemy
aircraft formations altitude, direction, aircraft type and
magnitude. These ROC reports proved invaluable as the primitive
"Chain Home" radar network used in the Battle of Britain was limited
in resolution and was potentially it's self a major target for the
German Luftwaffe bombers during the "Battle of Britain".
Civil defence
measures implemented prior to the start of the "Battle of Britain"
To protect the British civilian
population from possible terror bombing by the German Air-Force
(Luftwaffe) during the Battle of Britain, children were evacuated from
Cities and other areas considered at high risk into safer areas,
often into the countryside, pre-fabricated corrugated iron air-raid
shelters called "Anderson shelters" were issued on request by city
councils to city houses, gas masks were issued to everyone (even
babies!). Black out procedures were initiated at night to make
cities less obvious to Luftwaffe bombers and aid raid wardens
empowered to enforce them. Volunteer "Fire Watchers" were tasked to
look for fires from observation posts on the top of high buildings during air-raids and
report their observations to the fire and rescue services by phone.
Winston Churchill
makes contingency plans in case the "Battle of Britain" is lost
Fall back strategies were also formulated
should the "Battle of Britain" be lost and the German invasion be successful, these
consisted of moving the Royal Family and Government to
the colonies to continue the fight from the colonies with the
protection of the Royal Navy who would still
be effectively "ruling the waves",
additionally supplies of weapons, ammunition and explosives were
cashed secretly, their locations made known only to a chosen few,
these were people not intended to fight directly against an invasion
force, but fight a gorilla war of attrition against the German forces
after they had actually completed their occupation of Great Britain.
Germany plans
operation Sea Lion - The invasion of Great Britain by sea
We can look back now and see that
the logistics of a successful landing by the German forces were
highly unlikely - the logistics needed for operation overlord were
in fact far beyond the Germans ability at this time, however, this did not
seem to be so at the time by either side, the German Blitzkrieg methods
which had so rapidly overrun Europe were strongly based on the
unprecedented rapid, and to a degree, unexpected attack by panzer
divisions supported by the Luftwaffe. The German forces had the most
modern aircraft and tanks in the world, and as a result of their
involvement in the Spanish civil war, their armed forces were battle
experienced and had been honed to a high level of readiness. The
unbelievable speed the had conquered mainland Europe and all it's
armed forces had given most the impression that they were unstoppable and
invincible, consequently many Britons and Germans thought that Great
Britain would loose the "Battle of
Britain" !
The English Channel
and the strength of the Royal Navy results in the Battle of Britain
becoming an air war
Unfortunately for the Germans the
English Channel, although narrow, presented an almost impossible barrier, the German
Navy could not remotely hope to land a sufficiently large invasion
force with their existing ships against any serious opposition from
naval or airborne forces. The Germans excellent submarine U-boat force was
of little use in the shallow and relatively narrow English Channel
and the German navy lacked the numerous landing vessels required. The German response to
these obvious problems was to scour occupied Europe for barges and
convert them into landing ships, some had their bows hinged so they
could carry tanks and other vehicles, many of the barges were un-powered and would have to be towed
coast to coast, the plan required very calm waters and
therefore had a limited window of opportunity as the winter weather
would make the plan impossible. Once the German forces were gathered
and sufficient barges were available Herman Goring was ordered by Adolf Hitler to destroy the RAF in
the "Battle of Britain" in order to make the dangerous trip
across the English Channel possible for an invasion force and to do so before the winter weather
made operation "Sea Lion" impossible.
The "Battle of
Britain" begins as Field Marshal Herman Goring executes operation
"Eagle Day"
The "Battle of
Britain" had two distinct phases, initially in the "Battle of
Britain" an attempt was made to destroy the RAF and it's support
info-structure, this was initiated by the execution of operation
Eagle Day and marks the beginning of the Battle of Britain.
Operation "Eagle Day" was meant to cripple the RAF in days giving
the Luftwaffe air superiority over Great Britain, and totally
destroying the RAF within two months. The reality of the opening
period of the Battle of Britain for the Luftwaffe was not as
expected, the RAF was still effectively intercepting German bomber
formations and for the first time ever the Luftwaffe was suffering
unacceptably heavy losses, they were in fact considerably worse than
the RAF's. The massive air-battle that followed had no precedent and
was later to become known as "The Battle of Britain" and the RAF
pilots who fought in the battle known as the "The few" following
Speeches made by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The
inability of the Luftwaffe to win a quick decisive German victory in
the "Battle of Britain" presented new problems which had not been
evident before, experienced RAF fighter pilots and aircrew who
successfully bailed out of their aircraft during the "Battle of
Britain" could be flying again the same day in new aircraft, their
close escape often leaving them better prepared for the next "Battle
of Britain" engagement. A German pilot, or his aircrew,
bailing out over Great Britain during the "Battle of Britain" was
destined to spend the rest of "Battle of Britain" and in fact
the rest of WW2 as
a prisoner of war, new replacement pilots and air-crew normally had
less experience than their predecessors and were even more likely to
be shot down themselves in the "Battle of Britain" air war.
It is of note that the most
successful RAF squadron was the famous Polish 303 squadron based at
RAF Northolt, their
success rate was far better than any other RAF fighter squadron
destroying at least 126 German aircraft during the Battle of Britain and
their loss rate was one third that of any other RAF fighter squadron . 303
squadron were not just defending Great Britain but seeking
retribution for what had happened to their homeland, it is known
that six of their aircraft made a head on attack on a formation of
150 German aircraft only opening fire at about 100 yards even though
the closing speed was approximately 600mph. We can never be certain
of the true effect on the outcome of the Battle of Britain of 303
squadron or indeed the other 15 Polish squadrons, but it must have
had a physiological effect on the German aircrews that witnessed and
survived the Polish pilots fearless and determined attacks.
Luftwaffe losses
result in the "Battle of Britain" having "Blitz" terror bombing
added
As German losses increased in the
"Battle of Britain" , and air crew losses got worse, a switch in
targets and tactics was initiated. RAF targets were replaced by
civilian ones and the terror bombing of cities began, there was also
a switch from daylight bombing to night bombing in an attempt to
reduce Luftwaffe losses. It was thought by the Germans that the
terrified populace would force the Government of Great Britain to
surrender, this proved to be a big mistake, the terror bombing
merely strengthened the British resolve never to surrender, the
British people soon began calling these new terror air raids at
night the "Blitz". The reduced pressure on the RAF's airfields and
aircraft factories gave the RAF time to make good it's own losses
from the first phase of the "Battle of Britain and prepare to take the offensive for the first time.
The "Battle of
Britain" is won and the 1940 German invasion plan is cancelled
As the winter approached Adolf
Hitler had to delay operation Sea Lion until the next year following
the Luftwaffe's failure in the "Battle of Britain", however, by 1941
Great Britain was clearly on an offensive footing and invasion of the
British isles was clearly less practical than it had been in
1940. Once Russia And the USA entered WW2 the chances of a
successful German invasion of Britain had changed from difficult to
unlikely to imposable. The "Battle of Britain" proved to be the
turning point for Nazi Germany, the rapid and decisive Blitzkrieg
attacks being replaced by a gradual but continuous retreat and the
eventual total surrender to Allied forces.
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