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Facts

Item: Battle of Britain
#1 

0
Date 10 July - 31 October 1940
Image
Location United Kingdom airspace
Country (present day) United Kingdom
Result Decisive British victory
Wider conflict World War II
Belligerents United Kingdom
vs.
Germany
Italy
Commanders Hugh Dowding, Keith Park, Trafford Leigh-Mallory, C. J. Quintin Brand, Richard Saul
vs.
Hermann Göring, Albert Kesselring, Hugo Sperrle, Hans-Jürgen Stumpff, Rino Corso Fougier
Type of forces involved Aircraft
Description The Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht um England) is the name given to the sustained strategic effort by the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) during the summer and autumn of 1940 to gain air superiority over the Royal Air Force (RAF), especially Fighter Command. The name derives from a speech made on 18 June, 1940 in the House of Commons by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He said: "The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin...."

The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces. It was the largest and most sustained bombing campaign up until that date. The failure of Nazi Germany to reach its objectives—to destroy Britain's air defence or to force Britain out of the war by forcing an armistice or surrender—is considered both its first major defeat and the crucial turning point in the war. Germany's plan was to gain air superiority, then launch Operation Sealion: the amphibious and airborne invasion of Britain. Initially, RAF airfields were attacked. As the battle progressed, operations were extended to the strategic level: systematic destruction of aircraft production centres and ground infrastructure. Eventually the Luftwaffe resorted to attacking areas of political significance and terror bombing tactics.

The British date the battle from 10 July to 31 October, 1940, which represented the most intense period of daylight bombing. German historians usually place the beginning of the battle in mid-August 1940 and end it in May 1941, on the withdrawal of the bomber units in preparation for Operation Barbarossa, the campaign against the USSR, which began on 22 June 1941.
Map location england kent
Wikipedia link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_b
ritain
Tags: Batttle of Britain, WWII

+more info

Ratings

Overall rating:
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Strategic importance in wider conflict
Local political impact
Global political impact
Advancement of military tactics
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Overall Rating:

Reviews

Total: 3 Latest: 17/03/2010 09:29:41 by mellifluous

reviewed by mellifluous
09:29:41 | 17 Mar 2010
It had Spitfires, two thumbs up!
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0
reviewed by Winston
09:59:32 | 6 Mar 2010
Couldn't have put it better myself...
Most definitely our 'finest hour'
0
0
reviewed by DJ
20:38:08 | 25 Jun 2009
Chruchill summed it up...
In Winston Churchill's address to the House of Commons in August 1940, he encapsulated the essence, the gravity and the spirit of the struggle in immortal words:

"The gratitude of every home in our island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world except in the abodes of the guilty goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unweakened by their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of world war by their prowess and their devotion.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
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0

Recent comments in The Top 100 Historical Battles

England's finest victory, perhaps?
DJ 07:40:16 | 11 Apr 2011
The beginning of the end of Persian power...!
DJ 08:13:09 | 20 Feb 2011
Not a devastating battle for either forces, but a critical step in a sequence of events that stretched King Harold's armies and defensive capabilities in the run up to the Battle of Hastings.. and the rest, as they say, is history!
DJ 07:47:02 | 24 Dec 2010
Always wondered where the term 'Pyrrhic victory' came from...
DJ 08:25:24 | 7 Nov 2010
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