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The Battle of Britain. June 18 th – October 31 st , 1940 By: Shannon LaPoint. Who Was There?. Great Britain The RAF The head of the RAF was Hugh Dowding. Germany The Luftwaffe The head of the Luftwaffe was Herman Goring. Germany had 4,000 aircrafts.
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The Battle of Britain June 18th – October 31st , 1940 By: Shannon LaPoint
Who Was There? • Great Britain • The RAF • The head of the RAF was Hugh Dowding • Germany • The Luftwaffe • The head of the Luftwaffe was Herman Goring
Germany had 4,000 aircrafts. 1,400 bombers. 800 single engine fighter planes. 300 dive bombers. 240 twin engine fighter planes. 2,500 planes were serviceable. At the Start of the War • Britain had 1,660 aircrafts. • 800 spitfires. • 800 hurricanes. • But only 600 of those were serviceable before the night of this battle. • The RAF also lacked experienced pilots because most of them had been killed in the war of France and had not been replaced.
The Luftwaffe mainly fought over southern England. The Luftwaffe had 2,800 aircraft’s stationed in France, Belgium, Holland and Norway after the fall of France. Germany relied mainly on Messcherschmitt fighters and Junker Dive Bombers. They used a new style of war fare called the Blitzkrieg. June 18th – October 31st • The RAF was split into 3 major groups. • No. 11 – defend London • No. 12 – defend eastern counties and midlands • No. 13- defend Scotland and northeast England • The RAF's main fighter planes were Spitfires and Hurricanes. • The RAF's plans were supplied with RADAR which played a big roll in German defeat.
What was the Battle of Britain? • After the fall of France, Hitler went after Great Britain in what is known as the Battle of Britain, a four month battle for air superiority. • All Hitler needed was control of the English Channel so that the British Navy could not attack German barges, but getting the Channel, they would need control of the air. • There were two things the British had that the Germans did not. • RADAR, which gave them early warning of approaching German planes. • The Royal Observers Corps (ROC), which used binoculars to do the same job as RADAR but only from the ground • By the end of July, the RAF had lost 150 aircrafts while the Luftwaffe had lost 268.
By August the Luftwaffe started attacking Fighter Command stations and RADAR stations. • The idea being that the RAF could be destroyed from the ground. • Bad weather stopped the Luftwaffe from daily raids in August. • From August 23rd to September 6th , the Luftwaffe started bombing cities and civilians during the night. • The RAF was badly hit with 6 out of 7 main fighter bases being destroyed. • By now the Luftwaffe was losing even more planes then the RAF was – 1000 German losses to 550 RAF losses. • The change to bombing cities gave Fighter Command time to recover from its losses and pilots to recover from exhaustion. • Soon Goering ordered an end to raids on RADAR bases, as they were “unimportant.”
On September 15th , the battles last major engagement, the Luftwaffe lost 60 planes while the RAF lost 28. • September 17th , Hitler postponed the invasion of Britain through night time bombings. • But the Blitzkrieg continued. • London and other places were all hit badly with these raids.
Works Cited Page Barker, Ralph. The RAF At War. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life, 1982. Print. "The Battle of Britain." History Learning Site. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/battleofbritain.html>. "Battle of Britain." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWbritainB.htm>. The Luftwaffe. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life, 1982. Print. "RAF - Page Not Found." RAF - RAF Homepage. 16 Feb. 2005. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/bacjground.html>. Rice, Earle. Strategic Battles in Europe. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2000. Print.
