From 24th august to 6th September Britain was almost brought down completely with a German round the clock offensive (which was kept up for nearly two weeks). German nighttime attacks became very successful because of poor British observers.
On the 7th September the Lufftwaffe began its daylight bombing of London. It is still not clear why this happened- wither a tactical decision to draw out more fighters to finish them off, or an attack ordered in Hitler’s anger from the bombing raid on Berlin. This was successful at first and even though the British were running out of fuel and the morale was becoming increasingly doubtful they fought on. On the 15th September more German planes than ever were shot down and many of the invasion ships were destroyed on the French coast. Hitler was forced to delay operation “sealion” and then indefinitely. He turned his attention to Russia, and the RAF had won the battle of Britain.
The popular interpretation that followed this was that the battle of Britain was Britain’s “finest hour” and that the victory was due mostly to the efforts of the pilots who took part. They were dubbed “the few” after one of Churchill’s speeches.
From looking at interpretation 2 I know that this popular myth did arise from Churchill’s famous speeches. The first speech made on June 18th 1940 was when the battle of Britain was just about to commence. Churchill talked about Dunkirk and how the British survived that, stating: -
“ Anyone who looks at the photographs which were published a week or so ago of the re-embarkation, showing the masses of troops assembled on the beach and forming an ideal target for hours at a time must realise that this re-embarkation would not have been possible unless the enemy had resigned all hope of recovering air superiority at that time and at that place.”
The then explained to the British population that they were facing a tough battle and finally ended by saying: -
“If the British Empire and its commonwealth last for a thousand years men will say ‘this was their finest hour’.”
I think that this speech was made for propaganda especially knowing that it was later remade for the radio. It was obvious that Britain’s pilots were the minority and were going to be outnumbered by German pilots so therefore I think that this speech was also made to glorify the pilots and to keep the British public involved and interested in the war effort. It was probably also to boost everyone’s morale and mainly to sow how supportive everyone was being. Because the American’s were not yet fully and actively involved in being Britain’s allies this speech was probably broadcast over in America and would gain the support of them and to hopefully get them involved sooner.
I think that the reason therefore that the battle of Britain was known as “their finest hour” was because it was the last words that Churchill said in his speech. It is probably the thing that stuck in everyone’s minds after the battle had finished. I think that the weaknesses in this speech are that it was made for propaganda to raise the morale of the people. Also it is very biased in the sense that he was always saying how well Britain had done and never mentioned what the Germans were going at this time unless it was a bad point.
The second speech that Churchill made was called “the few”. The reason that this interpretation was popular was because again it was aimed at the British public who were now actively involved in the war and what the speech was saying was basically that there was a minority in numbers in pilots but the few very brave pilots that were trying to help were working very hard. Churchill was also pointing out that the battle of Britain was very important in helping Britain to win the war. One of the most popular sentences that were said in this speech was: -
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”.
I think that the strengths of this interpretation are that it is very effective in reacting the audience inspiring the people. Also that it is first hand evidence because he was the prime minister at the time he is going to be able to experience and know a lot of things concerning the war. I think that this interpretation is strength also because it reflects the mood of the public at the time. For example, they had just earned a hard “victory” with Dunkirk and now the battle proved to be ongoing. Taking all this into consideration however, the morale of the people was still quite high and therefore what Churchill was saying was reflecting the mood at the time. Using my own knowledge I know that the time is 1940 and we must not forget that the war at this time is ongoing so therefore it is highly likely to be used for propaganda.
Looking at interpretation 3, which is an extract from Richard Hillary’s autobiography published in 1942, I can see that Hillary is talking about his experiences in RAF training and in the battle of Britain. He writes of the friends he made in the RAF, many were killed. However, what makes this extract so convincing and believable is that he writes of his feelings about the war. I think that Richard Hillary wrote this for his own personal reasons and to show the public who do not have to experience what he had to what being a fighter pilot is like. As a pilot himself, this book therefore is bound to be well informed. Hillary, having gone through what he had to go through also felt that by writing about his experiences it makes him feel worthwhile and that he did actually contribute to winning the war-, which he did. I think this interpretation is a message to everyone to show how brave the pilots really were, but more than that, the feelings and emotions they went through and how it was just more than killing people to win the war. I think that this interpretation backs up the popular myth we know i.e. “the few” and “their finest hour” because it is first hand evidence because Hillary actually experienced the terrible tradjedys. It also makes us think that what Churchill was saying did have some element of truth involved because we do know that the British pilots were outnumbered and how well they did to win the battle of Britain. I also think that the popular myth did become so quickly established during the early part of the war because Churchill’s speeches were broadcast to the public while the war was still in action and also because so many of the public got so involved in doing their bit for the war that many of the things that were said i.e. The myth of the few etc were quickly believed at the time without judgement.
At this time a very popular way of keeping the people updated with the war were movie tone newsreels. These were very effective because at the time they were the only moving images that Britain got to see of the war without being involved in it. It would captivate the audience because they were shown as a preview at every cinema at the time and it was an effective way of getting the same message across to a wide audience and everyone does not have to be intelligent to understand what is going on because they are only pictures and music.
They were most likely to have been used for propaganda and they were authorised by the government. They were not too detailed as they had to appeal to a wide audience and they were being used all over lots of different countries. The strengths of these newsreels are that they were very informative and they showed the popular view of what was going on. It was also actual real footage so therefore it cannot be lying, plus there were statistics given very often. However the weaknesses were that they were very biased towards Britain they were also very simplistic and there was no real balance in what they were saying as regard to the Germans plans.
I think that the newsreels at this time were giving an overall impression that the British were winning the battle of Britain and that the pilots were working so hard to win the war.
Interpretation 5 is an article written for the daily express, which was edited by “lord Beaver Brook” who happened to be Churchill’s close friend. The message of this article was to ask the pubic what were they doing to help with the war, if nothing why not? And then there was information telling them what they could do to help. It was published on august 13th 1940- in the stages where Germany is attacking Britain and the reason it was written was probably because it was what people wanted to hear and is mainly for propaganda, as much of everything was at this time. I think that articles like this helped to establish the popular interpretation at the time because with so much propaganda it is inevitable that people are bound to be updated in everything about the war, and therefore the myth of the few would become more and more popular and well known.