At the beginning of the war, Hitler did not want to be hostile towards Britain and its invasion was not part of his plan. His main aim was to expand eastwards toward the Ural Mountains in the USSR, without any threat from the west. Therefore he needed to force Britain into neutrality, requiring Britain to ‘Sue for Peace’ and come to the conference table. Churchill did not wish to comply with Hitler’s peace offer and so Hitler felt that he had to invade Britain in order to relieve himself from the pressure Britain would create if he invaded Eastern Europe.
For ‘Operation Sea lion’ to happen, Hitler had to gain control of the skies and of the Channel, as he needed a way to send many men and artillery across to Britain. This did not happen because Hitler’s generals were completely against an invasion and the shipping needed to carry an army across the Channel was not available, but at the time Britain was not aware of this. Therefore, the Battle of Britain began in July 1940 and at first the RAF managed to defeat the attacks by the German Luftwaffe, but by the end of August the tide began to turn. In the first week of September, the Germans began to get the upper hand.
This was demoralizing for Churchill, so in order to appear as if something was being done to counter the German attack. On 25th August 1940 Britain bombed Berlin, the capital city of Germany. This attack was in retaliation to the 100 bombers that attacked London on 24th August. This infuriated Hitler, and humiliated him in front of his people. The difference was that Berlin was a city with many civilians, whereas the areas that Hitler was bombing were not heavily populated areas. This was the trigger to the Blitz.
Hitler was preparing for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the USSR, and so he became impatient and called off the attacks on the RAF to reduce the loss of German life and aircraft. Instead of these attacks, he ordered night time bombing raids on London in the hope of forcing Britain to surrender.
There was the hope of destroying Britain’s infrastructure, such as ports, roads, and government buildings. Government buildings were important targets for the Luftwaffe because if Britain’s government is incapacitated, there is no-one to organise defences, attacks, or even run the country. In London the docks were attacked regularly. By doing this, Hitler aimed to seriously damage the British economy.
Hitler also intended to disrupt wartime production to give the advantage in the war; if you destroy Britain’s bullets and guns, they can’t fight the war. They targeted lines of transport, because this would stop weapons being taken to the army. Across Britain the Luftwaffe tried to hit railway lines and junctions, power stations and ports. They also bombed weapons factories themselves, to stop the source of the firepower.
In addition, Hitler wanted to destroy the morale of the British people, especially the Londoners, who were bombed nightly, because this would have a direct effect on government policy. If people do not like the war and do not think it is worth fighting for, then they will simply not support it; men would ‘dodge the draft’, people would be weakened, and spending could be seriously affected, which would reduce government income through taxation. The government needed this support, which is why Hitler attempted to strike the confidence the British people had in their country’s management.
