So why did Britain win the battle of Britain? Britain’s success can be attributed to a number of a reason. Britain had invested in Radar, this allowed the RAF to accurately pinpoint the size and position of the oncoming assault and acted as an advanced warning system meaning that we weren’t caught on the ground. Britain also had Ultra, which was an “Enigma” cipher machine, which allowed Britain to decode intercepted messages. The German fighters only had enough fuel to guarantee them 30 minutes over British airspace. This made it extremely impossible to maintain a solid attack. On top of this the Germans were fighting in inferior fighters, which were no match to the British hurricanes and Spitfires. RAF pilots who bailed out were able to return to duty while German pilots who did so became prisoners of war. I believe the main reason for the outcome was Hermann Goering (head of the Luftwaffe) inability to see through a winning strategy. If he had remained patient and stuck with attacking the Fighter bases the RAF would eventually have been crippled. His regular shifting between tactics confused his own pilots and many would have been unsure at what they were meant to have been doing. Although the battle of Britain may not be seen as an outright victory the courage and sacrifice of the British pilots saved not only Britain from invasion but also paved the way for the final victory in 1944.
In 1939 when Britain went to war with Germany, Britain had over 21 million tonnes of merchant shipping compared with the 13.5 tonnes owned by Japan, Germany and Italy combined. This was because Britain was a densely populated island, which relied on overseas supplies, mainly from the U.S.A and the British Empire. It was these so supplies which kept Britain afloat so without them the war effort would have been crippled. Hitler and Doernitz (German naval commander) realised this and in 1939 a campaign of terror was launched on the merchant ships using U-boats.
On the day that Britain declared war on Germany the submarine U-30 sink the British cruise liner “Athena” killing 1400 people. This was against orders from Hitler but within 3 months German U-boats were given permission to shoot British ships on site. The next 15 months were the 1st “Happy time” for Germany. They sunk 2 million tonnes in the first 9 months of the war and a further 2.5 million tonnes in the following 6months. This was because Britain pinned its hopes on asdic (underwater radar), which was unable to pin point the depth of a U-boat or a U-boat on the surface. The U-boat commanders cottoned on to this so would shadow the covey on the surface by day before attacking at night. Britain also did not have enough escort ships and were only able to escort conveys 300 miles of each shore. This left ships vulnerable in the middle of the sea where rescue was extremely difficult. Between January and June 1941 a further 2.9 million tonnes of shipping were lost. But during this period Canada agreed to help protect British conveys and for the first time the RAF and Navy worked closely together to protect he conveys, setting up “western approaches command. Between 1941 and 1942 was the German’s 2nd “Happy time”. In May 1941 a German submarine was boarded and an enigma machine and codebooks were found. These were taken to Bletchly Park where Ultra was finally able to decrypt the German messages. In 1941 German U-boats started hunting in packs. They would spread out covering a large area but once a convoy had been spotted they would regroup and launch a combined assault. This new tactic was extremely difficult for the convoys to defend even with the improved presence of escort ships. When America entered the war in 1941 German U-boats started to sink American ships. The merchant ships and navy were ill prepared for this and even failed to blackout their coastal towns which, meant many ships were destroyed before they’d even left port. America didn’t escort there conveys as they believed that no convey was better than an inadequate one and America was losing 400 thousand tonnes of shipping a week. America was being stretched, as it had to fight a war in two oceans. In February 1942 the Germans changed their codes using a new type called “wolf” which was followed by the Germans breaking the British codes in the summer of 1942. The Germans were now able to easily intercept our conveys knowing how much protection they had. June 1942 was the worst month of the war for the allies with 173 allied ships being sunk. The 2nd happy time ended when America began escorting convoys.
In 1943 the tides began to turn with the introduction of several new pieces of anti-u-boat equipment. The introduction of high-frequency direction finding equipment (huff-duff) which accurately detected and located u-boats up to 50 miles away finally enabled the convoys to see the hidden U-boat before it struck. The “Hedgehog” replaced the depth charge, as it was more precise and powerful. The Liberator aircraft closed the Greenland air gap, which had been nicknamed torpedo junction, as previously aircraft had not been able to cover this 300-mile long alley. They were diverted from bombing Germany to watching over what had been some of the most treacherous waters. The frigate was built as the first anti submarine ship to protect the convoys. It was a quick as a corvette and had the weapons capacity of a destroyer and was equipped with radar. All of these were introduced around the beginning of 1943. Slowly but surely the number of merchant ships being sunk decreased and the amount of German U-boats being sunk increased. By May 1943 Doernitz was forced to withdraw the U-boats as in a matter of weeks he had lost one third of his u-boats.
I believe that winning the battle of the Atlantic was a key step towards winning the war. This is because if Britain had lost the battle of the Atlantic she would have been crippled as it relied on imports for vast amount of its food. Also winning the battle of the Atlantic ensured safer passage for the American soldiers who would have to cross the ocean to get to Britain so that D-day could be launched. America would not have sent the vital troops if they did not have a safe passage.
Both battles protected Britain from nearly certain invasion. If we had lost either we would have been helpless and stranded with invasion inevitable. They were both the first two allied victories during the war and shifted the balance towards Britain and America. It was from these two victories that the allies gained a foothold from which they could launch their assault on the nazi-dominated Europe.
Bibliography: GCSE modern world history – Ben Walsh
The Battle of Britain and the Atlantic: Coursework Essay Material
Word count: 1648 words
