The Battle Of Britain was an immense victory against the Germans as it virtually meant that the British had almost complete and total supremacy of the air throughout the rest of the war. On paper it looked like the British were in big trouble and should have lost, as the Luftwaffe outnumbered the British Air Force greatly, approximately 3,000 German aircraft against Britain’s 600-700. Yet in fact the Luftwaffe had not got as big advantage as first thought. They had many more aircraft than the British but only a few more fighters. If the British had lost other operations throughout the war would have been very difficult without the cover from air. It would have also made it very difficult for the American troops to cross the Atlantic, as there would have been no cover for them once they had left their own ‘safe zone’. The victory was very decisive and meant that invasion by the Germans was not on the cards, Operation Sealion, (an operation to try to invade Britain by coming across the channel), was called off by Hitler.
Another very important conflict was the Battle Of The Atlantic. The Germans wanted to control the Atlantic. They wanted to do this to stop food and other supplies reaching the United Kingdom from America and to prevent American troops from getting to Europe. This battle was long and lasted from the start of the war right until 1945. The main threats from the Germans were not the German battleships but were the greatly feared U-boats. It was vital for the allies to win this battle, as it would have meant that the American involvement would have been very limited had it been lost. It would have also meant that the Germans could have starved the British of resources. This would have put Britain under a lot of pressure, as they would have had a massive lack of guns and ammunition. It could have also meant that Britain could have been starved out and forced to surrender. One way that the British played a vital role in this battle was because they were able to decipher the Ultra codes by attaining the Enigma machine. The Germans used the Ultra codes to send messages to the U-boats. With the new invention of the ‘Huff Duff’ by the British they were able to defeat the German threat. This supremacy of the Atlantic greatly aided the ability to bring across American bombers. These factors were vital for the later Bomber Offensive to go through smoothly.
In the spring of 1942, the British bombing was not particularly successful as only 25% of bombs reached within five miles of its target, but by 1944 the bombing had destroyed 35% of German aircraft and 35% of German tanks. This was obviously a massive help in the war effort as it meant that much of Germany’s aircraft and tanks had been removed for the rest of the war. It also drew the aircraft away from the Eastern front as in early 1943, 70% of German fighters were in Western Europe. This greatly helped the Red Army, as there were only 500 German aircraft to an immense 13,000 Russian. In February 1942 Air Chief Marshall Arthur Harris started to build a sufficient Air Force to carry out the task of destroying Germany’s industrial areas. The bombing would have been very bad for the German moral and greatly halted production of weapons. The bombing offensive greatly relied on the British radar and communications, but the American mass production of P-51 aircraft was also very important. The bombing denied the German army of almost half their ‘battle front’ weapons. This bombing offensive was important because although it did not win the Allies the war, it did cause the Allies single greatest advantage of the war.
Another vital part of the war was the battle of North Africa. This was so vital because it was a major trade route for the British and was needed badly by the British army, especially the trade of oil. The war was very successful to start with for the allies as even though they were outnumbered ten to one they still managed to gain 800 km of Italian North Africa and 130,000 prisoners. The war went on and by 1941 the Germans had just invaded Russia and North Africa was not the main campaign any more for the Germans. This was important to keep the trade of oil in Iraq, Persia and Egypt flowing, but I do not believe this was the biggest turning point or victory for the British.
All of these points have affected the war but I think that the greater input of the war was from Russian and American troops. The input of America was massive, it gave many people and resources to the war cause when they were needed most, they also played a major part in significant operations such as the Bomber Offensive and the Battle Of The Atlantic. The Russians played major parts in the war and won vital battles in Kursk and Stalingrad. These were so vital as in these battles the Germans lost many tanks and men; they were also for the first time on their campaign, on the back foot. The British helped even these as Britain was a massive stepping-stone for the Americans and the bomber offensive left the Russians with not much air retaliation.
Some people think that the D-Day landings were the main contribution to World War Two because it made a breakthrough on land that the Germans had taken over. This invasion was called operation Overload, and this took place on the beaches of Omaha, Juno, Utah, Gold and Sword, these were all in Normandy. The British and Canadian troops were assigned the beaches Juno, Gold and Sword, and the Americans were set to invade Utah and Omaha. It was vital that the British succeeded as if they had not, the whole invasion would have fallen apart. The invasion was so significant because it enabled the allied troops to be able to capture many German troops. It also sent the German high command into panic. Dollman, commander of 7th Army, died suddenly on June 28, just after the surrender of Cherbourg and to add insult to injury Rundstedt confessed defeatism to Hitler, and urged him to make peace. Hitler did not accept the defeat and many high ranked officers were forced to resign, most significantly Rommel, who committed suicide shortly afterwards. Overall I think that Britain did play a big part in the war, only third to Russia and America. I think, had Britain lost the war early on or had Britain signed a peace treaty with the Germans it would have made a big difference to the outcome of the war. If the British had also lost the Battle Of Britain in would have been a lot harder to make the Bombing Offensive happen. This supremacy of the air really helped the other forces and for example the amount of freedom that the Russians had in the air at the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk really does show that Britain did make a big difference in the war against Germany.