The Battle of Britain

Ah the battle of Britain! Who hasn't heard of this heroic stand against the unending onslaught of the Nazis. It was the culmination of months of attacks on Britain by the Nazis, and ultimately denied them the aerial superiority they so desperately needed to launch an invasion of the British isles.

By this point the Nazis had successfully invaded Poland and France, and had their eyes set on the one major nation left opposing them: the United Kingdom. But to launch an invasion of the UK, the nazis would need air and sea superiority in the English Channel. This meant they would have to weaken the Royal Air Force (RAF) to a point where the British couldn't resist any more, and that is exactly what they did. They bombed RAF airfields night and day, attacking their runways, maintenance hangars, factories, and any other targets they could find. At first it seemed to be working. The RAF crews were exhausted and undersupplied, and the collapse of the British areal defenses seemed imminent, but then one nightly german bombing raid went wrong. The plane was off course and running out of fuel, when they spotted a light off in the distance. Thinking they had finally found their target the bombardier released the bombs and turned the plane around. They had just inadvertently bombed the most populous civilian hub in the entirety of England: London. The British launched a raid on Berlin in retaliation. This infuriated Hitler who called an end to all bombing raids on the RAF and instead focused them on London and other civilian targets in the UK: they would crush the morale of the British citizens and through that defeat the entire nation. But morale held. The British citizens did not give up, and the break gave the RAF just the time it needed to revitalize its operations and get ready for the defence of Britain.

Using radar and other advanced warning measures along their southern coast, the British prepared for enemy attacks with time to spare. They had squadrons perpetually ready to get in the air within 5 minutes of an alert, and with increased fighter production were more than ready to meet the germans as they entered British airspace. This formidable defense, along with the general failure of Hitler's plan to bomb London into submission, led to a desperate final attack on London, a final attempt to crush the people of the United Kingdom. Short story: it failed.

The British were warned well in advance of the attack because of their radar, and knew exactly how many aircraft there were and where they were headed. This instantly helped them realize the scale of the attack and led to them scrambling as many squadrons as possible from all over England. The two forces collided over London as civilians rushed for cover. Junkers bombers could be heard diving in for their attack runs as Spitfires and Hurricanes chased, and often, shot them down. Larger bombers flew overhead, unleashing their devastating payloads upon London, but ultimately the RAF came out victorious. The early warning, quick reparation of planes, and relentless drive of the pilots repelling the Nazis once and for all. Hitler would not give up on his dreams of conquering Britain, but from that point on his only actions were minor bombing raids on the area. Never again would he attempt such a large campaign purely in the air. The people of Britain rejoiced, and the RAF crew were welcomed back to the ground as heroes. In the words of Winston Churchill: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

(Image of Hawker Hurricane IIC from the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center)

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