From the outset the British generals knew they had their backs against the wall in resisting the planes of the German Luftwaffe who not only outnumbered the planes of the RAF by four to one, but were furthermore controlled by the best-trained pilots in the world. Therefore, the British command knew they had to create every advantage possible and make them count. From the outset the British command employed the tactic of different commanders running different squadrons. With each squadron within the RAF controlled by different sets of command, this gave the RAF flexibility as any decisions within each squadron could be made a lot easier and a lot quicker and the commander in control of the squadron would on hand to asses any situations as they arose and not at a distant office. Also, the commanders would have been able to get to know the pilots better and this would have built up a commeradership within the squadrons. This would have created friendship within the squadrons and this in turn would have created a better and more productive workforce. For example, in the air if a pilot saw one of his companions under attack he would warn him and possibly help to defend him.
The climax of the Battle of Britain came on the 30th-31st August, 1940. The British lost 50 aircraft compared to the Germany's 41. The RAF were close to defeat however, there was one event and change of tactics that would transpire to alter the whole direction of the conflict, if not the war and greatly aided the British. On , one off-course German bomber dumped his bombs so he could have a better chance of getting home and accidentally bombed London, which the Germans were under orders not to do. The British didn't know this, and , the new head of Bomber Command, ordered a counter strike on Berlin, which understandably upset the Germans. Göring and Hitler believed such raids could never happen. In repliance, the head of the Luftwaffe - Herman Goering, ordered an end to the raids on radar bases and strategic points of British interest, as he believed that they were too unimportant to matter. Albert Speer - a leading Nazi throughout the war - claimed in his book "Inside the Third Reich" that a number of important decisions were made based on Goering's ignorance. As Goering did not understand the importance of something, it was dismissed as unnecessary for success. As a result of this, the radar station at Ventnor on the Isle of Wight functioned throughout the battle and gave Fighter Command vital information regarding German targets. This change of tactics made by the Germans was crucial in deciding the outcome of the battle; it could be argued that this is what cost Germany the battle. Goering and the Germans did not realise how close to defeat the RAF was at this time in September. It is now believed that Fighter Command was perhaps only 24 hours away from defeat when the attack on the cities occurred. Although horrific, this could not have been better for the RAF. The breathing space this gave Fighter Command was crucial but also made the British more defiant and determined to hold out. The change to bombing the cities to launching the Blitz also gave Fighter Command time to recover from its losses and for pilots to recover from the many hours a day they operated which took many to the brink of exhaustion. It gave the RAF time to regroup, repair airfields and train new pilots. Once they regrouped, the RAF could continue to hit the Luftwaffe without sustaining anything like the damage they had been suffering. They could keep hitting the Germans until they could no longer afford to take any more damage. It is understood that the Germans were also provoked into attacking cities as Britain had been attacking German cities anyway. From August 23rd to September 6th, the Luftwaffe started night time bombing raids on cities. The RAF was also badly hit with 6 out of 7 main fighter bases in south-eastern England being put out of action. Biggen Hill inparticular was wrecked. However, for all this apparent success, the Luftwaffe was losing more planes than the RAF was - 1000 German losses to 550 RAF. Therefore, German morale and determination would have been decreasing at this time, as would have their stocks of planes, while British morale on the other hand would have been increasing as they were managing to hold off the German attack and were managing to sustain fewer losses than Germany and retain most of their planes. This was vital because when the battle commenced the Luftwaffe outnumbered the RAF four to one so the RAF had to make the most of their resources.
It soon became clear to the Germans that they were not going to destroy the RAF, and the Germans had suffered far more damage than they ever thought they would. As a result, Operation Sea Lion was indefinitely postponed on the , and despite further minor raids by the Germans, the Battle of Britain was effectively over.
It is clear that by the time September came round, the RAF had the upper hand over the Luftwaffe in terms of morale, determination and damage sustained. The RAF had furthermore managed to hold the Germans to the point where winter was approaching. This was an important tactical endeavour made by the British command because the bad weather would make it hard to attack and it was hoped that this would deter the Luftwaffe. On September 15th came the last major engagement of the battle. On that day, the Luftwaffe lost 60 planes while the RAF lost 28. The morale of the German pilots now, who came into this battle under the impression that victory would not long be theirs would have plummeted and there hearts would no longer be set on the battle because of the damage they had sustained to the Luftwaffe itself and to their image. On September 17th, Hitler postponed indefinitely the invasion of Britain though the night time raids - the Blitz, continued. London, Plymouth and Coventry were all badly hit by these raids. The war was far from over, but the Germans had certainly got a bloody nose and suffered their first defeat. In four months, while Britain had lost 915 aircraft, the Germans had lost 1733. These figures indicate that Germany lost almost double the amount of planes than Britain and this may be the reason why Britain won the Battle of Britain as Germany lost far more planes. Recent research indicates that Hitler’s heart was not in an attack on Britain but that he wanted to concentrate his country’s strength on an attack on communist Russia. Therefore, without Hitler’s full attention, Germanys stance could have been incredibly weak. On 15th September 1940 the German air force came by daylight. Also, at this time there was a lot of propaganda going on to boost British citizens moral. On many radio broadcasts it was reported that more German planes were shot down than actually were. In some cases three or four times as many. This would keep the pilots morale high and they would in turn retain their determination.
From the point of view of morale the battle was very important, however. Churchill was able to use it and the Blitz to bolster the determination of the British people. He later used it to attract support from the USA and to encourage resistance in occupied countries. The Battle of Britain was therefore a key factor in helping to encouraging the US Congress to agree to the Destroyers for Bases deal in 1940 and the Lend Lease Act in 1941.
The technology introduced by both sides in the Battle of Britain would furthermore have played an incisive role in determining the outcome of the battle. First of all Britain had the advantage of the radar system, or, early warning system which gave us early warning of the approach of the German planes. Designed by Robert Watson-Watt, it worked by bouncing a radio wave against an object and measuring its travel to provide targeting information. By the spring of 1940, fifty-one radar bases had been built around the coast of southern Britain. Although unreliable, it allowed the British to track the German raids and send the fighters to where they were needed. The British fighters could stay on the ground until the last minute, so constant patrols were not needed and the Germans lost the element of surprise, which in many ways made up for the lack of numbers on the British side. The Germans were never able to successfully take out Britain's radar chain, and this plays a big part in why they were never able to get the better of fighter command. The radar system was obviously an important and significant acquirement to the British effort and provided the RAF with a huge advantage over the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.
The main fighter planes of the RAF were the Supermarine Spitfire and the Hawker Hurricane. The Germans relied primarily on their Messcherschmitt fighters and their Junkers dive-bombers - the famed Stukas. At this time these aircraft were the best the respective sides could produce. Britain had a number of advantages over the Luftwaffe. The Hurricane and Spitfire were exceptional planes - capable of taking on the might of the Luftwaffe. In the Battle of Britain the RAF could have won because our fighter planes, the Spitfire and the Hurricane proved to be better then the German Messerschmitts. They easily outmatched the Luftwaffe’s fighters. The Spitfire was faster and more manoeuvrable but the Hurricane carried slightly more ammunition, proposed a more stable gun platform and was lethal against the German bombers.
At the start of world war two, Germany had 4,000 aircraft compared to Britain's front-line strength of 1,660. By the time of the fall of France, the Luftwaffe had 3,000 planes based in north-west Europe alone including 1,400 bombers, 300 dive bombers, 800 single engine fighter planes and 240 twin engine fighter bombers. At the start of the battle, the Luftwaffe had 2,500 planes that were serviceable and in any normal day, the Luftwaffe could put up over 1,600 planes. The RAF had 1,200 planes on the eve of the battle, which included 800 Spitfires and Hurricanes - but only 660 of these were serviceable. The rate of British plane production was good - the only weakness of the RAF was the fact that they lacked sufficient trained and experienced pilots. Trained pilots had been killed in the war in France and they had not been replaced. At the time the Battle of Britain took place, the German Luftwaffe had the best-trained and most experienced fighters in the world. Germany had been training 800 new pilots a month while Britain had been training only 200. Prior to the Battle of Britain the pilots of the Luftwaffe had gained valuable experience in the bombing of Spanish cities in the Spanish Civil War in 1937 in which Hitler assisted the leader of the right-wing rebels General Franco in order to test out his new acquired weaponry. The Spanish city of Guernica inparticular was totally destroyed as a result. In comparison, many of the British pilots of the RAF were reservists and part timers. They had not received anything like the training the German pilots had.
However, the RAF had many advantages over the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, which could be reasons to why Britain won the Battle of Britain. First of all in the Battle of Britain the Germans fought too far away from their bases so refueling and rearming was impossible. Therefore, they had very limited time which they could spend over Britain before their fuel got too low and they had to go back to base to refuel. In actual fact German fighters could only stay over Britain for around half an hour. British fighters on the other hand could land, refuel and rearm and be in the air again very quickly. This was obviously a critical advantage. The RAF also had the advantage of being closer to their airfields so pilots could land at any time anywhere and be back in the air in little time. The Royal Air Force also had good reserves of planes so if planes were damaged in battle they could land and be repaired and a replacement plane could take its place. Moreover, British fighter planes could spend more time in the air over Kent and Sussex as we could easily land for fuel whereas the German fighters could not. German bombers could fly for longer distances than their fighter planes could cover and therefore, the bombers could not always count on fighter cover for protection. The German fighters were also limited in that they could not reload their guns if they ran out of ammunition while over Kent or other areas. Our fighters could. Without sufficient fighter cover, the German bombers were very open to attack from British fighter planes and in battle the British fighter planes could have exploited this and made their advantage count.
Planes were useless without pilots; however, Britain still had few of those. Around 445 pilots had been lost in the battle to save France, and even before the Battle of Britain began, they were still 360 pilots short of being fully operational. Training new pilots at that time took almost a year, and the RAF was still regarded as something of an old boys club. Things did begin to change following what happened in France, but with the Battle of Britain looming, there simply was not time to train pilots properly. Training was shortened even further as the battle intensified until new pilots began to arrive for operations having had only hours of training. Such inexperience would show in the air and would also reflect in the numbers of RAF losses. This makes the British achievement in the battle even more amazing and raises the question as to whether the battle was won because of the pilots or in spite of them. But what they did took amazing bravery and underlines the fighting spirit and determination of those involved, to still take to the air knowing they faced almost certain death, but knowing the alternative would be even worse. Despite the problems the pilots faced, it is amazing just what can be achieved when there really is nothing left to lose. With this in mind this could be one of the main reasons why Britain won the Battle of Britain.
Propaganda was used throughout the Battle of Britain in both countries in order to keep up the morale of the civilians and the pilots of their respective Air Forces. In a continuation of the propaganda war, the British government claimed that the RAF had shot down 2,698 German planes. The actual figure was 1,100. The RAF lost 650 planes - not the 3,058 planes that the Luftwaffe claimed to have shot down - more than the entire RAF! The morale of the Royal Air Force was high partly because the pilots knew the Luftwaffe was losing far more planes as illustrated by the previous figures. It would have been boosted further by Winston Churchill’s propaganda, which vastly over exaggerated the figures of how many planes the Luftwaffe was losing. Therefore, this combined with their patriotic feelings may have given the pilots of the Royal Air Force the edge when at battle and would have encouraged their determination. Another major factor on Britain's side was that they were fighting over friendly territory. Shot down pilots who survived could return to the battle, but German pilots shot down were lost, so although numerically stronger, they were bound to lose more men than the British.
Even the organization and preparations of both sides could also have played an important role in how each side faired in the Battle of Britain.
The importance of factors such as determination, fighting spirit, and even organization cannot be underestimated as important factors in Britain's victory. If there is one thing that the British have been renowned for, it has to be organization. On the eve of the Battle of Britain as well as throughout it, they faced two major problems though: a lack of qualified pilots and a lack of planes. A lot of the RAF's strength had been used up in France. So in stepped Lord Beaverbrook, the newly appointed minister for air production. He began to turn things around by reorganizing airplane production and repair units. Productivity soared, and according to the historian Peter North, the repair units provided almost 60% of the planes used by the British in the battle. This allowed the RAF to equip all its operational fighter squadrons and at least keep in touch with meeting the mounting losses it would face. The organization was in place to keep the RAF in the air and fighting, and that was vital if Britain was going to win.
In further preparation for the battle, people in Britain were asked to donate scrap metal for new planes. This metal would just have been dumped though, because metal was plentiful, pilots were not. Before the battle started Britain also had good reserves of planes so this was useful in preparation for the battle. The defence system was backed by the Royal Observer Corps (ROC), which used such basics as binoculars to detect German planes from various look-outs. By 1940, over 1000 ROC posts had been established. They also used anti-aircraft missiles, barrage balloons, which prevented low-level attacks, and powerful searchlights. Important Intelligence information was also provided by the organization Ultra.
The personnel of both sides would obviously play an important role in the outcome of the Battle of Britain.
The Luftwaffe was led by Herman Goering, a former World War One pilot who was placed in this role after the outbreak of the Second World War. He took credit for the quick defeat of France, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in the summer of 1940. However, he failed to stop the British evacuation of Dunkirk. However, Goering was a poor leader. He had become addicted to his medicinal drugs which he had been taking after he was wounded in the Munich Putsch. This led to some erratic decisions, such as his critical decision of changing his tactics and launching the Blitz. This could ultimately have cost the Luftwaffe the Battle Of Britain and placed victory in Britain’s hands.
It was furthermore brought up in research that Hitler was not fully committed to Britain and had his sights on Russia. Therefore, without Hitler’s full attention and a poor leader in Goering, it could have been the case that Germanys case in the battle of Britain was incredibly weak because it did not receive the full attention of the Fuher of Germany himself and was instead led by a man with insufficient tactical knowledge in Goering and an army of pilots who carried the wrong attitudes towards the battle.
Britain on the other hand had a good chain of command, headed by the able and respected commander-in-chief, Air Marshal Dowding, and his second-in-command, Air Marshal Park. Dowding had previously designed the Spitfire and the Hurricane - the two
Planes Britain was using in the Battle of Britain and had encouraged the development of Radar. This was the important technology that could have swung the Battle of Britain in Britain’s favour.
The tactics being employed by and , head of Fighter Command came into question in the Battle of Britain. Some took the view that RAF fighters should be sent out to meet the German planes before they reached Britain. Park and Dowding rejected this strategy as being too dangerous and argued it would increase the number of pilots being killed. From the outcome of the Battle of Britain it is obvious that their choice of tactics were correct. Therefore, these men played important roles in the British success.
Furthermore, The RAF had a lack of qualified pilots and a lack of planes. A lot of the RAF's strength had been used up in France. So in stepped Lord Beaverbrook, the newly appointed minister for air production. He began to turn things around by reorganizing airplane production and repair units. Productivity soared, and the repair units provided almost 60% of the planes used by the British in the battle. This allowed the RAF to equip all its operational fighter squadrons and at least keep in touch with meeting the mounting losses it would face. Therefore, Lord Beaverbrook’s contribution was invaluable in the Allied effort.
Also, the British pilots played an important role for Britain. They had higher morale than the Germans who were sustaining more losses and were motivated to defend their own country. This morale of the British pilots cannot be underestimated when asking why Britain won the Battle of Britain as they had nothing to lose and they gave it their all. The pilots were amazing. There was a desperate shortage of trained pilots but those we had fought with bravery and great effectiveness. They were also very efficient; they were ready to take of at a moments notice. At the height of the battle, they would be fighting practically all day. Just landing for fuel and ammunition. They fought with real passion and determination and this was a very important factor concerning the British effort. At the end of the battle, Winston Churchill said: " Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" – meaning the pilots saved Britain and they are the ones who should be praised.
The Germans on the other hand were expecting an easy battle. As we know Britain on the other hand was prepared and was ready for the long haul. After realizing that it would take them longer, German morale would have plummeted. Therefore, the Luftwaffe could have in effect caused their own downfall. This too is an important reason for the British success.
It has to be remembered, though, that the British did not fight alone, survivors from European air forces such as the French, Dutch, , and Czech all arrived in Britain to fight for the RAF. Likewise, other pilots came from Commonwealth countries including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as well as a few from the United States. All played important roles, and despite the obvious language problems, provided vital experience that helped give the British the fighting chance they needed. This was an important and valuable contribution and would have furthermore helped the British to success.
In the end, Britain had a lot to be thankful for. The skill and determination of her pilots could not be underestimated, but luck played an even more important role. The weather, so often derided in England, caused more problems than the Luftwaffe could cope with. Yet, it was the unfortunate action of one German pilot that altered the whole pattern of the war, but saved the RAF. Hitler's ego got in the way and changed Germany's tactics just when they had the British were they wanted them. Ultimately, I think this was the main reason for Britain’s success. Britain was apparently only twenty four hours away from defeat yet this incredible change of tactics gave the RAF time to regroup, repair airfields and train new pilots. Once they regrouped, the RAF could continue to hit the Luftwaffe without sustaining anything like the damage they had been suffering. They could keep hitting the Germans until they could no longer afford to take any more damage. Ultimately, it could be argued that the Germans lost the Battle of Britain rather than the British winning it because of this. However, while the Germans made tactical errors, it still took the bravery and ability of the RAF to exploit these mistakes and defeat the Germans for the first time in the war. The Battle of Britain was a turning point in the sense that it was the first time that German forces had been defeated. The survival of Britain meant that it could later be used as the staring point for the liberation of Europe. However, some historians now regard it as being of less importance from a military point of view. Hitler may well not have been able to invade Britain even if the Luftwaffe had been able to defeat Fighter Command. The German armed forces were completely unprepared for an invasion and Operation Sealion was opposed by all of the German High Command. Hitler lost interest in Britain in 1941 when he ordered Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.