This day in history - The Battle of Britain

In September 1939 the troops of Nazi Germany invaded Poland. In April 1940 they invaded Denmark and Norway. In May of that year they invaded Belgium, Holland and France. Hitler's next target was Britain. But the English Channel stood in his way and Britain had a very powerful navy. But Hitler also had an advantage: his air force, known as the Luftwaffe. His plan was to bomb the British navy and the small British air force until his troops could cross the English Channel in safety. The Luftwaffe began by attacking convoys and radar stations. They then shifted their attacks to the airfields. But Hitler made two initial mistakes. One, he underestimated the British air force and two, he didn't realize the capabilities of the mysterious new British technology called Radar. Radar allowed the British to see when the German planes were coming long before they arrived which gave them time to scramble their fighters and attack the German planes before they bombed. But despite the attacks of the British fighters some bombers did manage to get through and many of the airfields and fighter factories were bombed. Soon the airfields were getting bombed faster than they could be repaired so the fighters had no place to take off from and the fighter factories were getting bombed faster than they could be repaired so the British fighters weren't being replaced as fast as they were getting shot down. A few more days like that and the British air force may have been destroyed and Britain may have eventually been conquered. But then Hitler made another mistake. The British had bombed Berlin in retaliation for several German bombers accidentally bombing London and Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to attack the British cities instead. This gave the British a chance to rebuild their factories, build more fighters and repair their airfields. The British soon began to shoot down bombers faster than the Germans could afford to lose them. Eventually the Germans had to stop their bombing attacks and ultimately Hitler had to give up his dreams of invading Britain. This series of battles in the air which lasted from July 10 to October 31 of 1940 was known as the Battle of Britain and it was the first battle to be fought completely in the air. Perhaps Prime Minister Churchill's words say it best:
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Here are some pictures of some of the planes used in the battle.

The Hienkel He 111, the main German bomber.




















The Junkers Ju 88, another German bomber.






















The Junkers Ju 87 Stukas, the infamous German dive bomber.





















The Messerschmitt Me 109, the main German fighter.






















The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, a German fighter which is lesser known but somewhat better than the Me 109.



















The Supermarine Spitfire, the British fighter known for winning the Battle of Britain.























The Hawker Hurricane, a British fighter which was more numerous but less famous then the Spitfire.