The popular myth of the Battle of Britain quickly emerged during the early part of the War. However, not all later interpretations fully follow it. Why?

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The Battle of Britain

The popular myth of the Battle of Britain quickly emerged during the early part of the War. However, not all later interpretations fully follow it. Why?

Introduction

It was obvious that after France surrendered to Hitler on 17th June, Britain would be the next victim of the Blitzkrieg, but the Dunkirk evacuation, which was seen by the British public as a victory, enabled the Allies to prepare themselves for war. It is said that Hitler did not have big intentions on invading Britain. He really planned to invade Russia. This was shown when Hitler simply offered Britain a negotiated surrender in July 1940, Britain rejected it straight away, this meant that Hitler had to invade, he codenamed his plan Operation ‘Sealion’

The English Channel was the only obstacle for the Germans. Hitler realised he had to gain air superiority. Therefore it was up to the R.A.F. to defend Britain from the German invasion.

The German fighters started the battle by making intense attacks on the British shipping in the English Channel to clear the Channel of ships and to draw out and to destroy as many British fighters as possible before the full frontal attack on Britain itself. This intense bombing went on for weeks. As well as ships, the Luftwaffe destroyed almost 260 British fighters. The Luftwaffe felt that the time had come for a really massive strike to finish off the R.A.F., but what it did not know was that the destroyed British fighters were frequently replaced (late July to 11th August)

At this early stage of the war a popular myth about the Battle of Britain had emerged.

From the 12th August until the 23rd August Eagle Attack was launched upon Britain. Almost the whole of the Luftwaffe attacked a large number of targets all over the country; radar stations, airfields, factories and naval bases, at this stage the Luftwaffe had almost defeated all the British air force and left the targets brutally demoralised, but because the Luftwaffe had poor communication and they weren’t sure of direct plan so they picked parts to bomb, they did not actually realise that they had caused so much damage and that they were so near to victory. Herman Goring was in charge of the Luftwaffe, decided that attacking radar stations was not really worthwhile as they could easily be put back into services, but this was a fatal mistake because the radar system were quickly fixed and they played a vital part in wining the battle.

From the 24th August till 6th September came Goring’s decision to concentrate on airfields in South Eastern England. The R.A.F was frequently losing experienced pilots. Sir Hugh Dowding (commander-in-chief of Fighter Command) had to cut training period from six months to two weeks. But the Germans did not realise the poor state of the British pilots and to Britain’s luck the Germans once again made a terrible tactical mistake to turn its bombing to London, this enabled the airfields to be fixed and gave chance for the pilots to recover, this was the turning point.

 

In this essay I am going to use several interpretations from the beginning of the Battle of Britain to explain what the popular myth is and why it spread so quickly. This is the first part of my essay; in the second part of my essay I will use several interpretations from the end stages of the war and after the war. Finally I will conclude with my own interpretation of the Battle of Britain.  

Part 1

Why was the popular interpretation and why did it become so quickly established during the early part of the war?

A popular myth emerged about the Battle of Britain during the early stages of the war. The myth was based on ‘the few’ and their ‘finest hour’. ‘The few’ was a phrase used to describe the British pilots because they were greatly outnumbered by the German pilots. This phrase makes the pilots sound brave. Their ‘finest hour’ was a phrase used to describe the Battle of Britain as being the pilots ‘finest hour’. These two phrases were frequently repeated by Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister at the time). Also a few other general facts that made up the myth were that because the British prevented Germany from invading therefore the pilots were seen as heroic and it was the beginning of the end for the Third Reich (Nazi Germany) and that this was the turning point in World War two because the British saved the world from Nazism, also the civilians believed that the British were unstoppable.

The popular myth was spread very quickly through propaganda e.g. posters, newsreels, newspapers etc, also in Churchill’s speeches, which were put on the radio, or in the newspapers, this was so that everyone all over the country was aware of the myth. The myth kept on being repeated so that the public would believe it. It was important to keep the myth going because it boosted morale and it kept Britain believing that they were wining the War, although at one stage Britain was on its knees, the myth kept on going.

The first interpretation that I am going to evaluate is an extract from Churchill’s famous wartime speeches. His first speech was on the 18th June, which was before the battle had started and it had the quote ‘Their finest hour’ this confirms the myth. The second speech was on the 20th August during the battle, but before the outcome of the battle was known. ‘The few’ was a quote said by Churchill in his second speech. In his opening paragraph of his first speech, Churchill says ‘we have to think of the future and not of the past’ he wants the public and the troops to forget the Dunkirk evacuation, making it sound like it did not matter. Generally he is a bit negative, because he does not want to be overconfident about the on coming battle, because the British may not win. He confirms another part of the myth when he says ‘If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands’ this shows that the R.A.F. is under great pressure, yet they have the belief that they will prevail. The general message is that it the Allied troops won the battle then they would have saved the whole world from Nazism, but if the R.A.F. lost then Britain would fall to Nazism and slowly so would the whole world. In his speeches Churchill uses emotive, appealing and persuasive language and he glorifies the R.A.F..

These speeches were used mainly for propaganda and a way of boosting Churchill’s leadership and popularity, also to boost morale in the public to make people help in the War effort and tells people they are doing well in the battle to keep morale high. The speeches are by Churchill, so they should be quite reliable because he has access to information. The speeches are good propaganda for the government, also I know that Churchill remade the first speech on the radio and the second speech was put in the newspaper. As well as being good at speech making Churchill was trusted by the people-this was one of the many of spreading the myth. But his speeches don’t mention Dowding; this is because I know that Churchill did not agree on issues with Dowding. Churchill is biased and nationalistic in his speeches because at the end of the day he himself knows that they are a good form of propaganda. Churchill made his speeches before he knew the outcome of the battle and this affected the speeches reliability.

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The second interpretation is an extract from Richard Hillary’s book ‘The last enemy’ 1942. He wrote this book in the long months of his recovery from the terrible injuries, which he received as a pilot during the Battle of Britain. The general message is that the British Pilots are heroes and being a pilot is difficult. He is also making the Germans sound bad he also confirms the idea of ‘The few’. He may have written this book to justify his injuries, and to justify the killings of both British and Germans. After all he is a pilot and ...

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