Explain the importance of the Battle of Britain as a turning point in the Second World War.
Explain the importance of the Battle of Britain as a turning point in the Second World War
The Battle of Britain is represented as one of the major turning points in the war and resulted in Britain winning the war. The heroic character of the pilots and the dedication of the grounds men resulted in the Luftwaffe being held back and the supposed invasion of Britain. However there are two major schools of thought that each have their own opinion of the event.
There is the traditionalist view that believes Britain was on the verge of defeat but Britain was saved by the heroic actions of the RAF, the British were out right superior to the Germans who made half hearted attempts at everything and the Battle of Britain was the major turning point in the war and resulted in Germany's defeat.
On the other hand there is the revisionist view which believes that Britain was actually rather strong compared to the damming traditionalist view of a "wounded Britain". They also believe that Germanys attack was not at full volume and they were only making a half hearted attack so the Battle was not that significant and Germany's loss of the war was due to other events throughout the war. It is still perceived to be a turning point in the revisionist view but as it was Hitler's first defeat it was not the event which saved Britain but other factors did like the arrival of the USA in the war, causing a more fundamental turning point than the Battle of Britain itself.
However throughout this 'Battle' it must be questioned as to whether it was that much of a turning point. This is answered by the question, 'how venerable was Britain in 1940?' After the heavy loss of life and equipment at Dunkirk and the loss of morale at the end of the spell of fighting in France in 1940 Hitler felt that he held an upper hand and that Britain would soon crumble under the increasing pressure and lack of factors to continue with a war. Hitler was not very concerned with Britain and was more interested in fighting other battles that had more pressing factors to them, also he wanted to find lebensraum for his people which resulted in more space for them and his superior race. Hitler offered Britain an easy way out, a peace settlement with the Germans. But Churchill refused to accept it and Hitler then began to create a pattern of attack against Britain this attack became known as "Operation Sealion".
This attack devised by the Germans involved a major primary wave of aerial attacks commanded by the Luftwaffe. This caused a problem for Britain as it was very low on aircraft after the battles over and around France. Britain had only 700 fighters to protect its skies as 500 were lost over France. However the Germans had a considerable upper hand as they had 2100 aircraft of all variations i.e. bombers, fighters etc. At the beginning of the battle Britain looked largely out numbered and doomed. It did seem like Britain was very venerable to attack and would only be able to put up a pathetic attempt at defence. Also Britain itself was an island resulting in it being even more venerable as u-boat blockade was easy so supplies could be stopped and due to Britain being an island supplies from an ally overland were not possible either.
However Britain may have looked venerable but Germany had problems with its invasion plan that may have been the cause to its failure. Britain had a factor that both helped and made them very venerable. The fact that it was an island meant that the Germans had to cross a large distance of water before they reached British shores. Germany had to gather large amounts of barges and troop carriers to enable the invasion, this took up time and money. The Germans once they had their troop carriers then have to cross the channel safely without being bombed or hitting mines etc. this was a difficult task as they were covering a very large area with many troop carriers. In order for the attack to be successful air support and superiority was vital. The Luftwaffe took this under their wing and would tackle the Royal Navy and coastal air bases so as to restrict Britain defence in a frontal wave before the troops and landings.
However Germany's plans were hardly secret and Britain was fully aware of Hitler's plans resulting in Britain having enough time to prepare for the attacks. The resulting changes were heavily protected beaches with barbed wire and guns and the creation of the Home Guard who did the armies jobs while they re-armed and rested after Dunkirk. If Germany did make a move then they would face a well organised defence that would hold them in place until the army arrived. These mean were once famously quoted by Churchill to be willing to "Fight them on the beaches, fight ...
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However Germany's plans were hardly secret and Britain was fully aware of Hitler's plans resulting in Britain having enough time to prepare for the attacks. The resulting changes were heavily protected beaches with barbed wire and guns and the creation of the Home Guard who did the armies jobs while they re-armed and rested after Dunkirk. If Germany did make a move then they would face a well organised defence that would hold them in place until the army arrived. These mean were once famously quoted by Churchill to be willing to "Fight them on the beaches, fight them in the fields and in the hedgerows".
The result was a win or lose situation for "Operation Sealion", in order for it to work the Luftwaffe would have top beat the RAF and Hitler believed this would be a push over. To add to Britain's disadvantages there were more problems. Germany had a psychological advantage over Britain in that it had beaten Britain before in battles and had just recently beaten them at Dunkirk. This meant Germany felt strong and Britain had low morale and felt weak. Also Britain was a loser to Germany in political terms as well. The had let Germany re-arm in the 1930's resulting in the war in some ways. They also failed in appeasement in the 1930's. The Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939 also meant Britain was isolated and had no allies to help her with munitions, men etc. The result was Germany could aim all her force on Britain. This was made worse by the fact that Britain had wasted time, money and effort on the "Phoney war" while they could have been attacking Germany while she was not prepared and taking out factories and suppliers. Instead the British tried to persuade the Germans not to go to war with leaflets, propaganda and talks. Thus wasting again time, effort and money.
Britain was also restricted by its techniques in warfare which were old fashioned and had not changed since the First World War. So when modern German war moves were incorporated, like the very effective blitzkrieg modern warfare, the French and British found it very difficult to counter attack. Due to these tactics Germany won the battle throughout France and pushed Britain away leaving behind her most valuable assets in a war, her weapons, severely weakening the army for a period.
Along with Britain's shortage in the army sector, again due to the battles over France the RAF was short on planes as well while Germany was perfectly well equipped with aircraft due to the re-armament regime in the 1930's. this meant Germany had the upper hand over Britain and could supply the air support needed to make "Operation Sealion" possible as protection and attack from air was accessible and easy.
Due to Britain's lack of allies support was low. Troops could not be imported from Britain's empire as the threat of invasion from Japan in these areas was high. The result was Commonwealth imperial troops being far and wide spread across Britain's empire. The result was Britain did not have a large number of reliable troops in any one place at any time.
Also Britain relied greatly on the Atlantic as a trade path and this was disrupted by German u-boat attacks that sank many merchant ships preventing Britain from getting some vital supplies. This again made them very venerable. The question now must be asked then how did the RAF beat the Luftwaffe against such damming odds?
The RAF success was down to a caldron of events that lead the disadvantage of the Germans. However the main reason was Britain's advantage rather than Germanys bad skills. The fact that British planes were fighting over home territory meant they had the advantage that they could land and re-fuel half way through dogfights and return to the fights within ten minutes, while German planes carried extra fuel making them less manoeuvrable and the had less time to fight and be able to return to their aerodromes. They often had only around twenty minutes fighting time before they had to return. The result was that the German bombers were often left unprotected on there final bombing run, the most important and venerable part of the attack, and this meant easy prey for the more manoeuvrable British fighters. Bombers were often only protected by weak chain guns compared to the 20mm cannons of such planes as the Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane and this resulted in the bombers being very easy targets. The Luftwaffe's tactics were also to blame for their defeat. There bomber squadrons were sent over in mass formations under the illusion that numbers would create safety. However these mass formations were picked up by Air Marshal Dowdings fifty one radar systems and he was able to know the number of aircraft coming, at what speed and how high. With this knowledge he was able to scramble his fighter aircraft at the exact right time to intercept and at what co-ordinate the aircraft were in. with this knowledge and the German fighters short range the bombers became easy targets. As the battle progressed so did aircraft production, from 270 planes per month in 1940 to just over 500 in the last months of 1940.
However the Germans made one vital mistake in there attack of Britain. As the war raged on planes and men were being lost at a rate that they could not be replaced. Planes could be replaced but men could not and the RAF was lacking from experienced pilots. With this increasing problem Marshall Dowding freely admitted that the RAF was only days away from demolition. But Germany made one massive mistake. From her original plan of bombing airfields and radar station the tactics were changed at the last minute to bomb Brittan's major cities in retaliation to Berlin being bombed. This was Germanys last nail in her coffin for the Battle of Britain. The Blitz had begun and this gave the RAF the time to recover they needed. When statistics are compared the RAF also came out on top over the Luftwaffe, considering the odds at the start, while the RAF only lost around 1000 fighters and thus around 1000 men the Luftwaffe lost around 2000 bombers with over three men crews resulting in many more deaths than the RAF conceived. The RAF had won the Battle of Britain and was now the supreme power throughout European skies. The win however was not just a straight win but a symbolic win as well. Once Britain and the RAF had beaten the Germans in war, it showed the rest of the world that Germany could be beaten and by a country with no allies but their own power. They proved Germany could be beaten.
However the traditionalist view at this point is brought in to question. They believe that Britain was defenceless against the mighty power of the Germans and that we won be pure British determination and patriotism. However Britain was not as defenceless as they liked to think. Britain had not been successfully invaded since 1066 due to one factor, that the country was an island and had a large moat around it like a castle. Unlike any other country in Europe that Germany wanted to invade, invading Britain would take a considerable amount more of effort. As before 'Operation Sealion' was formed, but it faced many problems. The first problem and the largest one would be getting troops on to British shores and overcoming the power of the Royal Navy which was one of the most supreme in the world. The Royal Navy had in its possession many more battle ships than the Germans had. The result was that the Germans planned to cross the channel in modified barges which travelled at around 5 knots ay maximum speed, the Royal Navy had proper ships which could double this speed and obliterate slow moving barges as they crossed the channel, in which case if the invasion took place nearly every vessel would be sunk before reaching British soil.
Also Britain at that point of the world had an empire consuming nearly quarter of the world. However stretched this empire may have been and its Commonwealth troops if Germany was going to invade Britain then it would have to beat the Empire as well. Britain combined with its Empire produced a large amount of man power and a large production rate which Germany could not match. If Germany was to take Britain it would have to be a quick affair which was clean and precise instead it was a long drawn out regime that suffered from attrition.
Britain was also helped by Hitler's keenness to take out Russia on the Eastern front. The result was that Germany was fighting a war on two fronts, meaning his supplies and attention was divided in two, thus in the long run causing a weakness and mistakes to be made. Hitler wanted communism to be abolished quickly and effectively. However the Russians incorporated their centuries old tactic in warfare and simply held their line until the Russian winter came along and let the winter kill their enemies which they were un prepared for unlike the Russians. Also Stalin purposefully built his munitions factories etc thousands of miles in to the centre of Russia, meaning the Germans would have to advance a massive distance before they could damage the Russian war effort. They were also protected by a shield which was the Ural Mountains, which held bad storms and weather. If Hitler's armies did make the advance and withstood the Russian winter then they would leave a hole behind them as they advanced in to Russia, which would become a regular flanking attack route for the Russians.
Britain also had another advantage, in that Dunkirk was successful in bringing back men. The evacuation removed 330,000 combat experienced men who were experienced and would be a great help in holding of invaders if need be. So Britain had a good majority of man power ready and waiting.
The traditionalist view is questioned even more by further evidence that indicates that the British were not as helpless as they thought.
It is often wondered if Hitler really did realistically plan on invading Britain in the manner of 'Operation Sealion' at all. Hitler appreciated and respected the British people and considered the British people to be very much like his German people and thought that they could join forces in war. An example of this is at Dunkirk. Hitler expected the British to agree to a peace treaty and maybe even fight with the Germans on rejoinal to the war. This is why Britain was not destroyed at Dunkirk, because Hitler believed that the British would eventually fight alongside Germans. Hitler also realised that an advancing force over the channel would meet the Royal Navy and would be destroyed even without air support. So if the RAF was destroyed the Navy would have to be defeated for 'Operation Sealion' to work. However the choice to postpone or even cancel the invasion was not primarily down to the defeat of the Luftwaffe. The invasion was a rushed affair and not ready for its initial date of departure. There was not enough barges ready for the channel crossing due to failed modifications. Ammunition and rations were short and not all troops were fully equipped for an invasion to take place. The channel was a hard place to cross at the best of times, but to cross it in overloaded modified barges was ridiculous and then add to that constant heavy shelling from the Royal Navy. The invasion didn't really have much going for it. However if it did take place and soldiers make it on to British soils the invasion would have to be very quick (which it would not be due to replenished troops from Dunkirk) because Hitler really wanted to take Russia and carry on with his ideological war.
The Battle of Britain was a massive moral booster for the British let alone the rest of the world and considering allies. However it is considered to be that the Battle of Britain was not that major a turning point in the war. It was now doubt a turning point at a crucial time but it was not that major as a turning point for the whole of World War Two. It proved Germany was not invincible but one defeat was not going to stop such a determined country and leader.
The war was really lost when Hitler invaded Russia in 1941. By doing this Hitler started a war that he had no chance of winning at all. Russia was much more robust for war, and fought properly instead of Germanys 'intelligent' war which got them in to more bother. This backed by Stalin's five year plans meant that Russia could supply the necessary needs for war quickly and efficiently without the other necessities for a country to exist being sacrificed. With this system, towards the end of the war Russia was producing more tanks a day than the Germans could knock out. Stalin also built his factories and industrial centres many thousands of miles in to Russia protected by the Ural Mountains meaning German troops would have to advance miles before capturing or damaging anything worthwhile that would affect Stalin's war effort. Stalin was very much a stronger and cleverer leader than Hitler throughout the war. By invading Russia Hitler condemned Germany to defeat and this can be seen because 70% of Germany's war loses war experienced on the Eastern front. Other more fundamental turning points include the introduction of America to the war in 1941 after Hitler declared war on her. The result was Britain was packed full of fresh troops with new technology and munitions and supplies to help the effort. Hitler now had to fight to major powers on either sides of his country with increasing loses. The D-Day invasions were a cumulative result of more important turning points combined together to result in one of the major turning points in the war compared against the Battle of Britain.
It can be concluded that although the Battle of Britain was a turning point in the war, it was not a major one that inherited massive changes to the worldwide war effort etc. It was a moral booster for the British no doubt, and proved the Germans could be beaten at a critical time, however it was no major turning point in a war that had so much power in it and so much longer to carry on and so much un finished business to finally be finished.
Bruce Thomas 11c
