To what extent were the Battle of Britain and the Blitz fought in the skies over England?
The Battle of Britain was an air battle in the early years of the Second World War from July 10 till October 31 1940. It was potentially one of the most critical battles fought by the British against the Third Reich (Overy 2). If British home islands (excluding the Channel Islands) were to fall and become occupied by the Third Reich, It has been argued that the British military would have been forced to join with Germany against America…show more content… From the above quote one can determine that Hitler originally had no intention of invading Britain, as he believed they would come to an agreement with Germany and since on such agreement was requested. Operation sea lion was created. Operation Sea Lion (originally created by the German Army) was the plan for an amphibious German invasion of Britain during World War 2 (see appendix 2), and was to be carried out by August 10 1940. The operation was dependent on the Luftwaffe, as air supremacy over the Sothern cost of England would ensure that the German invasion force was safely transported to the English cost. The invasion was postponed indefinitely on September 17 1940 as the Luftwaffe repeatedly failed to defeat the Royal Air Force (RAF) and gain air supremacy over England.
Hermann Göring was commander in – chief of the Luftwaffe until April 1945, and was therefore in charge of the Luftwaffe’s part in Operation Sea Lion. One of his early tactics in the Battle of Britain was to primarily target RAF bases, runways and factories in bombing attacks, It was hoped that targeting these areas would defeat the RAF and gain air supremacy for the Luftwaffe. It seemed that this tactic was unsuccessful as the RAF were still able to launch their fighter planes and intercept the German bomber…show more content… This period is known as the Blitz and during this time the city of London was bombed seventy-one times from September 7 1940 till May 21 1941; fifty-seven of the bombing attacks on London came consecutively. It seem however that the citizens of London could not be beaten by bombs, even after much of London was burned by incendiary bombs during an air raid on Christmas day in 1940.
London was not the only City bombed during the blitz. Several other cities including Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow were targeted and the entire country was evolved in the “Blackout”. This aimed to give some protection, as Luftwaffe bombers could not accurately target the cities during night bombings as no light was allowed to leave building after sunset. Even thought the blackout made life harder for the British people, some would say that their determination to beat the Germans meant that they would endure anything the Germans through at
