How Far Was the Nazi Invasion Of 1940/41 Halted by the Battle of Britain?
By Daniel Prosser
In 1940 Britain faced a terrifying prospect, Nazi occupation. Operation Yellow had proved a giant success for Hitler, he had almost total control of Europe. Only one enemy remained for the Axis powers, The United Kingdom.
Many times has the story been told of how our heroic RAF fought fantastic odds to save our way of life and eventually the entire world’s future. Recently however a controversy has arose over the validity of this story. Did Hitler really call off the invasion due to the battle or were other factors at play?
To understand this argument we first need to understand the background history. It’s a well known fact that after Hitler had control over France he began to turn ever further west. The orders were given to drill the men on landing procedure, plans were drawn up and the craft were made ready. But how much of these moves were bluff and how much was a real threat?
On 16th July 1940 Adolf Hitler issued directive 16 that read “As England in spite of the hopelessness of her military position, has so far shown herself unwilling to come to any compromise, I have decided to begin to prepare for and if necessary to carry out, an invasion of England.” When we read this though, do we hear the voice of a man dedicated to a task or a man making a threat? To take a literary look at this directive seems to suggest that Hitler seemed apprehensive in his decision. The amount of times he personifies England alone seems to suggest that he feels respect for it and almost feels attached to it. His use of the line “I have decided to begin to prepare” also seems to suggest not only a total lack of preparation but also a feeling that he needs to state that he’s only “decided to begin to prepare” and not commit to invasion.
Britain expected Germany to at least attempt an invasion of Britain and the Nazi high command expected it to succeed. But the Nazi planners were suprisingly less optimistic, possibly because they had never been asked to plan such a move. Hitler had always said that he had no quarrels with England and saw no reason why they should declare war on Germany, somehow over the years it has however become thought that Hitler always planned to invade and saw England as a great prize. In fact after the armistice with France Hitler waited for a full month for peace to be offered to him by Great Britain. With no word of such a settlement from Britain and only signs of defiance after offering a treaty himself he told the Riechstag on Friday the 19th July “it was never my intention to destroy to even harm… I can see no reason why this war must go on… I… appeal once more to reason and common sense in Great Britain as much as elsewhere. I consider myself in a position to make this appeal since I am not the vanquished begging favours, but the victor speaking in the name of reason.” To read this passage suggests that Hitler simply wanted Britain and Nazi Germany to co-exist in peace, although this obviously could never have occurred. We can almost hear the voice of a man begging for a quick resolve to the conflict that he himself started. When Hitler heard of the British using copies of his speech as toilet paper he made his disappointment known saying that all he wanted was to avoid a “hard and bloody” battle. This once again suggests that he held respect for our relatively weak army.
