The Battle Of Britain
The Luftwaffe was complacent under the command of Herman Goering who
believed or just boasted that the RAF would be destroyed within four days.
He may have had reason to think this as the Luftwaffe had more pilots and
planes but what was quantity when Britain had quality? The Spitfire was the
best battle plane as it was faster, could stay flying longer and had more
fire power. Britain had many other advantages over the Luftwaffe and these
were why we stood up to the Luftwaffe so well. We had radar and the Germans
did not, we could refuel more easily and we could reinforce up our small
number of pilots from parts Empire. For example, pilots were brought in from
the West Indies.
Between July and September of 1940 waves of German bombers accompanied by
Messerschmitt fighters attacked RAF bases in England, but due to the radar
system the attacks were known to be coming. Hurricanes and Spitfires
intercepted the German planes but losses were high with pilots being lost
faster than they could be replaced. The Germans bombed RAF bases such as
Duxford, Marston, Hendon and Biggin Hill. Hugh Dowding, the RAF commander,
realised that defeat was close but Hitler made a fatal mistake which insured
Britain's survival and eventual victory. He relieved the pressure on the RAF
by deciding instead to bomb the main British cities. This gave the RAF time
to re-group. Hitler's decision to change tactics may have been a result of
Eagle Day when the RAF shot down 183 German planes. (This number may have
been exaggerated). Although Hitler's tactic was good for the RAF it was a
disaster for the people as the bombs were often dropped quite
indiscriminately on the cities and major centres of population.. But if the
Blitz had not begun the RAF would have been defeated and if that had
happened then operation Sealion would have been put into action and Britain
most likely would have been defeated leaving Germany one last opponent in
Europe: Russia. Although our armed forces were not too well organised the
people of the cities were and that is why we survived the Blitz.
The Spitfire
The British government estimated that one million would die in the Blitz but
the actual number was sixty thousand and this was because we were so well
organised. The government realised that if too many people died we would
have severe trouble in the future with a shortage in the workforce and it
would face the blame. London was bombed on 75 out of 76 nights. People
built Anderson shelters in their garden or took refuge down the tube
stations. Although Anderson shelters could not survive a direct hit they
could protect families from nearby blasts. People were not completely safe
in the underground because if a bomb went down a ventilation shaft then most
people below would die. Coventry suffered the second worst attacks
especially on November 4th 1940 when a massive air raid caused 30% of its
buildings to be destroyed including the Cathedral. The government realised
there could be a major panic and to prevent this told the newspapers that
they could not print the full story. Liverpool, Glasgow, Birmingham,
Manchester, Dover, Canterbury, Plymouth and Southampton were all heavily
bombed. The Blitz happened mostly in 1940-41 but some air raids occurred
after this.
It was not just the air raid shelters that meant we survived the Blitz.
Massed air raids on civilians by the German airforce brought an early
response from the RAF. Children were evacuated from London and other major
cities to be taken to safer rural regions where they would be protected
against German bombers flying from air bases in Europe. For many evacuees,
it was very distressing to be made to live with strange people and in
unfamiliar places. In some bad cases children were abused by the people they
stayed with. The policy may have saved many children, but it could be
described as a little over the top.
Rationing of food and other goods was one of the minor frustrations of the
war. The population was issued with books of ration coupons for various
provisions, and currency transactions almost ceased for some products and
services. People often grew their own food, or sometimes bought illegal
goods on the black market. The cost of the war for the British economy was
so great that rationing carried on beyond the end of World War II as the
British government struggled to pay off its debts.
In 1940, when Great Britain faced its worst danger of the war and German
invasion was a possibility, the Home Guard was formed. It grew in time to
more than a million part-time soldiers, who received basic training and some
arms to defend their local areas against the Germans in the event of an
invasion.
Land girls were a way for women to help the War effort. They were brought
onto the fields to replace male agricultural workers called up into the
armed services. Food supplies were a considerable problem for Britain, with
its ocean links to its usual foreign food sources under constant threat from
German U-boats and bombers, and every effort was made to increase home
cultivation. The land girls and other women helped to sustain production
levels in every branch of the economy.
The Land Girls
One of the most important factors in Britain's victory was its leader,
Winston Churchill. Churchill succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister on May
10, 1940. During the awful days that followed-Dunkirk, the fall of France,
and the blitz-Churchill's rousing speeches united the British to continue
the fight. He urged the British people to conduct themselves so that "if the
British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years men will still
say: 'This was their finest hour." By successful co-operation with President
Roosevelt he was able to secure military aid and moral support from the
United States. After the Soviet Union and the United States entered the war
in 1941, Churchill established close ties with the other leaders of what he
called the "Grand Alliance". Travelling ceaselessly throughout the war, he
did much to co-ordinate military strategy and to ensure Hitler's defeat. It
must be said that without Winston Churchill Britain's people would have lost
heart and probably would have wanted to surrender but with his skilled
speeches, military tactics and outright stubbornness he kept the country
united and got Britain through the war.
Winston Churchill
One of the most important battles of the war for Britain was the Battle of
the Atlantic. This was a German effort to sink allied shipping using its
U-boats. The German submarines hunted in "wolf packs" and targeted almost
anything that floated as when U-boats sunk the passenger liner Athenia. The
reason for Hitler putting so many resources into this battle was that
Britain was an island and so had to get most of its supplies from other
countries. If Britain could be starved out with convoys from America being
sunk then she would have to surrender. Hitler did not put his resources into
battleships because Britain had such superiority in this area. Hitler's idea
of developing cheaper submarines would prove a very one for the first couple
of years of the war.
The German plan was to disrupt British supplies and to force it out of the
war. The German fleet was told to carry out attacks on merchant shipping in
the North Atlantic. If many ships were sunk the British navy would be forced
to tie up valuable resources defending merchant shipping. After the sinking
of The Graf Spee the German fleet was weakened and so a new plan had to be
used. U-boats were utilised in a policy of unrestricted warfare in which all
ships were liable to be sunk. By 1940, following his success on land, new
bases could be built in Norway and France and because of this two and a half
million tons of merchant shipping were sunk.
The Allies started grouping their ships into convoys hoping that there would
be safety in numbers but this did not improve the situation with even more
merchant ships being sunk because of the large number of U-boats. Churchill
set up a Battle of the Atlantic committee to look for answers to the U-boat
menace. Answers were found and this is why Britain won the Battle of the
Atlantic. The first solution was to develop refuelling facilities in
Iceland. This was important because previously convoys could only be
supported from the air near America and Britain but not in mid Atlantic. Now
convoys were given air support throughout the Atlantic. The next solution
was to develop anti-submarine frigates that could be added to the escort
groups. These frigates kept the U-boats submerged and so made them slower
and less effective. A major new weapon was developed to destroy the U-boats,
depth charges, which would be dropped on the submarines to depressurise
them. The development of the Asdic sonar device meant that the Allies knew
where the U-boats were in the Atlantic and so more attacks could be mounted
against them. As a further defence anti-aircraft guns were put on merchant
ships to defend themselves against long range German bombers.
The first eighteen months of the war were called the happy time for the
U-boats but by mid 1943, 109 of them had been sunk. German morale slumped
and as many of the U-boats limped back to port, most of these in base were
destroyed by the RAF. Only a handful of U-boats remained in the Atlantic and
so the threat virtually ended.
One other German threat in the Atlantic remained but this was easily dealt
with. Magnetic mines accounted for a large amount of British shipping being
sunk. With the use of new minesweeping methods and a degaussing mantle that
demagnetised the hull of the ships that German threat was eliminated. All
these solutions to German threats meant that convoys from all over the world
could now supply Britain with supplies and men and ultimately enabled the
Allies to go onto the attack and achieve victory.
Battle Of The Atlantic
When Churchill heard the news that Russia had been invaded by German forces
he was delighted, as it meant that pressure would be taken off Britain and
burdened on to Russia. Germany took 80% of its forces away from western
Europe and re-deployed them in the east. If Russia fell to Hitler then
Britain would be forced to surrender as it would mean Britain would be the
only country resisting in the whole of Europe. As in most of his other
invasions, Hitler boasted that the war would be over within six weeks and as
a result decided not to provide his army with winter uniforms, and so he
obviously believed what he had boasted. Although the world had been shocked
when the Nazi-Soviet Pact had been signed it was only a matter of time
before one party invaded the other. Hitler started the ball rolling with a
three pronged attack on Russia on 22nd June 1941. Some historians see this
attack as Germany's downfall because up to this point Germany had been in a
position of great strength.
It was always on the cards that Hitler might attack Russia because in his
book Mein Kamf he wrote that he believed the Russians to be a lower form of
life. He detested the Russian political system, Communism, and he also
wanted the Russians to become a slave labour force for the German
colonialists. Hitler famously said that 'We have only to kick in the door,
and the whole rotten edifice will collapse.' This was quite possible as the
Russian army was desperately short of good leaders after the Stalin's purges
in the years before. The Russian army was technically inferior to the
Germans but the soviet army still believed itself to be unbeatable. The
German army had initial success advancing twenty miles a day. It got to
within twelve miles of Moscow but then snow began to fall. Up to this point
the Russian army was in chaos and its air force destroyed on the first day
of the war. The lack of winter uniforms meant that the German army froze to
death. The battle was ground to a halt until winter was over.
Meanwhile Britain was given a brief respite to prepare herself and to
recover from the previous German onslaught. Morale improved and as a result
of the Eastern Front people realised that the German army would be severely
weakened. The pressure of organising two fronts on the German army was
immense and the dilution of German troops across such a large area left the
country without much of an army in the West. Should Germany be defeated in
the east, which it was by the Soviet Union, then it would be the turning
point of the Second World War in which Germany would find itself close to
defeat. All it took was a push from Britain and America and then Hitler was
defeated.
The Russian front reopened when winter was over but to Hitler's horror he
discovered a fresh soviet army bolstered by troops from Siberia. The
Russians had learned how to defend themselves against Blitzkrieg tactics.
The resulting defeat meant 200,000 German troops were captured or killed.
This left Germany with it's eastern border open to the Russians as they
advanced towards them. The soviets had no mercy on the Germans and in the
end got revenge for the awful things that the Germans had done to the
Russian people. This German defeat was brilliant news for Britain and became
the turning point of the Second World War.
To ensure victory in World War II Britain needed a constant supply of oil
that could fuel our machinery and weapons. Germany had aimed to get its
supplies from the Russian oil fields but because of their failure to conquer
Russia Germany had to find its oil from some other source. The best option
was to go to the Suez Canal where a constant supply of oil came from Arabia.
Britain controlled the Suez Canal and Germany needed to capture it. Britain
had initially fought Italy over the oil but Italy's army was poor and so it
was easily defeated. Hitler got tired of Italian failures and so sent in his
African Corps to try and beat Britain to the oil. The German forces were
called the 'Desert Foxes' while the British were called the 'Desert Rats'.
The German General in charge was Rommel who was considered the best German
general while the British forces were under the control of Bernard
Montgomery.
Montgomery made his defences at El Alamein while Rommel tried to capture
Cairo. In the eleven days a massive tank battle started, and although
Germany had better tanks, Britain had more of them. Rommel ran out of oil
because the British navy controlled the Mediterranean. Britain had air
control and Hitler was sending his best equipment to Russia, not Africa. As
a result of Britain's victory in Africa, oil supply was insured and so
Britain could comfortably fuel its war while Hitler had problems with this
vital commodity. This was just another reason why Britain survived and won
the war!
El Alamein
In my opinion the biggest influence in Britain's survival from 1940-43 was
America's intervention and help. The USA had signed a strict neutrality
agreement but realistically Britain and the US were always working closely
together even when there was not actually any physical support from America.
The neutrality agreement ended inevitably when US marines took over from
British troops in Iceland. The two countries were now free to talk freely on
how to defeat Germany and to eventually prepare for battle against Japan.
Churchill regularly visited the US to meet with President Roosevelt.
America's first big role was in taking over from the British navy in
patrolling the mid- Atlantic and protecting the convoys. This took the
pressure off the British navy and left them to fight elsewhere. Although the
Americans did not actively fight alongside the British until later in the
war they still helped in other ways. By using its enormous and
well-developed economy the US could churn out military hardware at an
unbelievable rate. The US Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act and
appropriated an initial $7 billion to lend or lease weapons and other aid to
any countries that the president might designate.
Britain profited most from this scheme and used it extensively to equip its
armed forces. The greatest factor for Britain in winning the campaign in
North Africa was having masses of tanks produced by America. Although they
were of poor quality compared to Germany's, the sheer number of them meant
that Britain won in North Africa. America loaned us all kinds of equipment
such as Liberty ships, bombs, guns, planes, medical equipment etc. When
American forces did eventually arrive in Britain with its men and machinery
Britain had its help in bombing Germany's cities and military targets.
Simply having the moral support of America helped to improve the morale of
the British people. In the end it was probably America's help that insured
Britain's survival between the war years of 1940-1943.
To conclude, Britain did not find the survival of 1940-43 easy and in the
end it suffered masses of deaths and destruction. Survival could often be
put down to enemy failings such as when Hitler decided not to bomb the RAF
but instead bomb British cities. Not putting Germany's best equipment into
North Africa meant that Germany could not fuel its army so easily. American
intervention meant that we could equip our army with the masses of military
hardware the Americans produced. German invasion of Russia took the pressure
off us and military planning and scientific skill meant that the German
threat in the Atlantic was put to rest. The grit and determination of the
British people meant that we survived the Blitz. Although as a result of the
Second World War this country was in massive debt and had work to do to
build itself up again, the factors from 1940-43 caused Britain's eventual
victory over it's enemies and enabled future generations to live their lives
freely and peacefully. Just think what could have happened?