The victory and resilience of the British people during the battle marked a significant change in US opinion to the war. Before this time, many US people shared the view of the US ambassador in London, Joseph Kennedy, that British defeat was inevitable. In an attempt to gauge British resilience and ability to withstand Germany, President Roosevelt sent reporter William Donovan to investigate the British war effort. Donovan was impressed by resilience of the British people and the efficiency of the war economy. This created a sense of confidence in British chances and consequently Donovan urged that they should be helped. The US was to become a significant force in the allied defence, so their encouragement by the British spirit can be seen as detrimental to Nazi Germany.
Air superiority was seen as the key to victory in the Battle of Britain, it was of crucial importance that Britain achieved this in order to survive. If the Luftwaffe had ever achieved air superiority then an invasion would not have only been highly likely but also probably successful. Due to the significant losses the Luftwaffe suffered during the Battle of Britain, they lacked the resources to pursue ‘Operation Sealion’ to the full desired effect. A suggested reason for this is that the Nazi’s underestimated the RAF, thus the unexpected damage caused was a significant psychological blow to Germany. In total, there were 638 German causalities, 967 Luftwaffe pilots become Prisoners of War and 1733 German planes were destroyed. If this figure is contrasted with the 915 RAF planes damaged, the Luftwaffe were more depleted as a result of the Battle than the RAF. Furthermore, the change of tactics to the Blitz allowed the Commander of RAF Fighter Command, Dowding, to recoup and make good use of the excellent British production: therefore quickly rebuilding the RAF. In contrast, it was not until 1944 that production levels in German aircraft reached required output levels. This undoubtedly hampered the Luftwaffe strength subsequent to this stage in the war. Consequently, the failure of future German military campaigns can be attributed to the Luftwaffe defeat in the Battle of Britain, which had destroyed much of the essential air force. Not only had the success of the RAF proved that the Nazi’s could be defeated, therefore damaging German morale, it also severely weakened the physical strength of the German air force. Losses of aircraft and experienced aircrew meant that campaigns such as the attempt to take over North Africa and the Suez Canal was not as successful as it may have been had the Luftwaffe at been at full force.
However, it may be dangerous to over-emphasise the impact of the failure of the Battle of Britain on the overall Nazi strategy. Not only was Britain a small priority for Hitler, the Luftwaffe continued to launch attacks on Britain in ‘The Blitz’. This can be seen as a particular success for Germany with an estimated 30,000 casualties and three and a half million British homes destroyed. Moreover, many argue that Hitler’s decision on the 17th of September to postpone Sealion until further notice was fuelled as much by the Russian priority as it was by the perceived failure of the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain. In 1941 Germany was quick to gain air superiority on the eastern front, despite Russian aircraft severely outnumbering that of the Luftwaffe. This suggests that the Battle of Britain was a blow from which the Luftwaffe did recover and perhaps the failure of Operation Barbarossa should be attributed to the weaknesses of Germany on the ground rather than in the air.
Although German aircraft had suffered more losses than the RAF, the strength and size of the Luftwaffe was greater before the Battle, with German aircraft outnumbering the British one to two. Therefore, its numbers were still superior to the RAF’s after the defeat and many historians have offered varying statistics on the Luftwaffe losses suggesting that perhaps the defeat was not as disastrous as perceived.
Furthermore, it can be considered that it was not the defeat of air force that caused eventual German failure, but the tactics employed by the Nazi leadership. For instance, the strategy of Eagle (the German air offensive) was in itself independent and obstructive to the planned ‘Sealion’ invasion. The Luftwaffe targeted airfields and harbours which would have been of use to the army once it invaded. There was often much indecision on whether to allow Luftwaffe fighters to destroy British fighters before bombing major cities and many grossly underestimated the strength of both the RAF and British resilience. It is this public resilience, spirit and morale which proved a strong advantage in British eventual victory. Despite public opinion greatly improving as a consequence of the Luftwaffe defeat, it was more a psychological defeat than a physical blow to the Germans. To Hitler, Britain was never a priority. She was never in a position to cause real damage to Hitler’s long term plans, and while the Battle of Britain was a serious setback, the invasion had been a relatively unimportant addition to German strategy. There is evidence to suggest that the failure of Germans on the Russian Front had a much larger impact on the final outcome of the war. With 9 out of 10 German servicemen killed on the Eastern front, it can be argued that it was the Russians who succeeded in determining the outcome of the war.
In conclusion, there is argument that other factors were more important in determining the ultimate outcome of the war. The eventual allies of the Russian and US armies were more significant than British forces in winning the war. However, at the time, Britain was the only opponent against the Germans and the RAF success was extremely significant in restoring confidence in the Allied nations, not only in other countries but also in the British people. With German aircraft outnumbering the British one to two and the strength of the vastly experienced Luftwaffe pilots, it is arguable that Germany should have defeated Britain. It is in this sense that it can be argued that the Battle of Britain was a loss from which the Luftwaffe never recovered; there had been the first defeat of Hitler’s military forces, the ‘few’ had managed to overcome the might of the Luftwaffe. This was an embarrassing, damaging and unexpected loss which the Luftwaffe was not able to recover from or forget.
Rebecca Titus-Cobb