Battle of Britain - The Few Who Saved Britain
9:00 PM // 0 comments // sb blogger // Category: War , Weapons , World War II //By Rob Atherton
The summer months of 1940 saw World War II reach the English skies as the Royal Air Force heroically fought off the endless attacks of Hitler's Luftwaffe. After a phase known as the 'Phoney War', Hitler had ordered his forces to invade several other European countries and they met minimal resistance in Belgium, Holland or France.
Operation Dynamo saw about 300,000 men of the BEF plucked to safety by a flotilla of boats who made crossing out of England to Dunkirk over a number of days. So now Hitler had his sights on England. The white cliffs of Dover were clearly in view as the German High Command gazed across the English Channel from Calais.
Having said that, until the skies over England were under German control, Hitler couldn't authorise Operation Sealion - the invasion of UK. With America being reluctant to participate in the war at this stage and her Allies vanquished, Britain would need to face the Germans on their own.
Could Britain hold on until the autumn after which the weather would ward off the Germans from crossing the Channel? The country's hopes was in the hands of the fearless airmen of the RAF, "The Few" as Churchill later referred to them. It was not exclusively British pilots in the Royal Air Force, the Commonwealth was represented with airmen from an assortment of colonial outposts such as South Africa and Rhodesia as well as Poles and even a couple of Americans.
Hitler sent the Luftwaffe over to hammer UK into submission however crucially, their fighter escorts only had the fuel for only a few minutes combat before they would have to go back leaving the bombers unprotected. For the first time, the Luftwaffe came up against firm resistance and there was to be no repeat of their speedy victories on the Continent. Britain's airfields in the south east were suffering a beating until one night in August 1940, a German bomber got lost and dumped its bombs over London before heading home. In retaliation, the RAF launched an air raid on Berlin.
Hitler was livid and instructed his bombers to bomb London in place of the Royal Air Force airfields. This was a pivotal turning point as it brought the RAF some much called for respite. The German Air Force was unable to achieve the initiative at any point and in mid September, Hitler indefinitely postponed Operation Sealion. The threat of attack was gone and Churchill spoke of the contribution of Fighter Command in a famous speech "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few".
The number one fighter ace was Sgt Frantisek from the Czech Republic with a total of seventeen kills. He piloted a Hawker Hurricane which was the real workhorse of Fighter Command although almost everyone remembers the legendary Spitfire. Sgt Frantisek was killed in action in October 1940.
The Battle of Britain was the first time the Germans had experienced a military defeat in World War II.
Operation Dynamo saw about 300,000 men of the BEF plucked to safety by a flotilla of boats who made crossing out of England to Dunkirk over a number of days. So now Hitler had his sights on England. The white cliffs of Dover were clearly in view as the German High Command gazed across the English Channel from Calais.
Having said that, until the skies over England were under German control, Hitler couldn't authorise Operation Sealion - the invasion of UK. With America being reluctant to participate in the war at this stage and her Allies vanquished, Britain would need to face the Germans on their own.
Could Britain hold on until the autumn after which the weather would ward off the Germans from crossing the Channel? The country's hopes was in the hands of the fearless airmen of the RAF, "The Few" as Churchill later referred to them. It was not exclusively British pilots in the Royal Air Force, the Commonwealth was represented with airmen from an assortment of colonial outposts such as South Africa and Rhodesia as well as Poles and even a couple of Americans.
Hitler sent the Luftwaffe over to hammer UK into submission however crucially, their fighter escorts only had the fuel for only a few minutes combat before they would have to go back leaving the bombers unprotected. For the first time, the Luftwaffe came up against firm resistance and there was to be no repeat of their speedy victories on the Continent. Britain's airfields in the south east were suffering a beating until one night in August 1940, a German bomber got lost and dumped its bombs over London before heading home. In retaliation, the RAF launched an air raid on Berlin.
Hitler was livid and instructed his bombers to bomb London in place of the Royal Air Force airfields. This was a pivotal turning point as it brought the RAF some much called for respite. The German Air Force was unable to achieve the initiative at any point and in mid September, Hitler indefinitely postponed Operation Sealion. The threat of attack was gone and Churchill spoke of the contribution of Fighter Command in a famous speech "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few".
The number one fighter ace was Sgt Frantisek from the Czech Republic with a total of seventeen kills. He piloted a Hawker Hurricane which was the real workhorse of Fighter Command although almost everyone remembers the legendary Spitfire. Sgt Frantisek was killed in action in October 1940.
The Battle of Britain was the first time the Germans had experienced a military defeat in World War II.
About the Author:
Defeating Nazi Germany in the Battle of Britain meant that Britain and her Allies would carry on with World War II
with Nazi Germany.
with Nazi Germany.
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