Welcome back to the Randomizer!
You know what I haven’t done in a while? Something about
History, since my Christmas special just seven months ago. Oh dear I can only
apologise. Let’s turn back 75 years ago to 1940, and the Battle of Britain.
June 1940. France along with Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg
has fallen to Nazi Germany in only six weeks, and now Germany has conquered
most of Western Europe. All the way from the Pyrenees to Warsaw, they created a
makeshift empire that could have made the Italians jealous (and probably did),
and changed the old saying to, ‘All roads lead to Berlin’. There was one tiny
problem: A country that lay just opposite the English Channel, called ‘Great
Britain’.
Only this one country was all what remained behind of the
Allies fighting against the Nazi Blitzkreig, with Winston Churchill leading the
helm in the fight against them. A voicebox who, after the British Expeditionary Force and some French
soldiers retreated to Dunkirk, and evacuated over a week back to Britain, said “What
General Weygand has called The Battle of France is over…The Battle of Britain
is about to begin”.
Despite Hitler at first believing that Britain would sue for
peace, plans were drawn up to invade this little island code-named ‘Operation:
Sealion’. It soon became a battle for supremacy of the air, the only campaign
in the world to be fought in such a manner. The Luftwaffe with as much air
power as they could muster flew over to bomb cities, airfields and shipping
alike. But they were met with three letters: R, A and F, intent on defending
Great Britain at all costs, despite being just like the Luftwaffe the only ones
capable of defeating them.
For over three months, British Hurricanes and Spitfires
fought the German Heinkels and Messerschmitts for control of the air, as the
Germans switched tactics every now and then to different bombing targets, with
the British airfields taking the brunt of it. On 15th September, the
British surprised the Germans as they flew over to bomb London and neighbouring
towns, and effectively sent the Luftwaffe scattering through different
directions in and around the skies. ‘Battle of Britain Day’ was the effective
end for Hitler to postpone his invasion plans, and first real defeat in the
war.
The Battle of Britain stands out amongst the campaigns of
World War II as our greatest tests of defence, and most likely seen around the
world as our final hurrah in a war despite other victories to come. The romantic
nature of the young pilots dogfighting against the imposing threat of the Nazi
Blitzkrieg as they came to destroy our mountains green (apologies for the
Jerusalem pun). So how did the RAF defeat the Luftwaffe?
Despite the romance on the front of it, The Battle of
Britain was on closer inspection not so ‘plucky’ as we see it. In fact, that is
what I’m going to talk about today. Looking into different aspects, I can try
and paint a picture that has admittedly been talked about in historical circles
over again. Speaking of painting pictures, I will be including different
artworks and photos from the time to illustrate how people viewed the war, and
how the airmen possibly viewed themselves.
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| 'An Aerial Battle' by Francis Dodd |
So be like that cat and stare into the impeding air-trails
about how the Battle of Britain was won.
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…Or maybe change one word of that question: How the Battle
of Britain was LOST.
After France was conquered, the German navy (Kriegsmarine)
were the only ones whom had any sort of plan for an invasion of Britain. ‘Sort
of’ because neither part of the German Army, Navy or Air force had any sort of
planning ready for such an invasion. They really believed Britain would need to
surrender to them in a bid of hopelessness. When we didn’t, Hitler finally took
interest in the idea and the army had their own invasion plans, and became
derisive of the navy’s plan. Both sides agreed that air superiority was vital
to the invasion being a success, and dumped the problem onto Herman Goering,
Commander of the Luftwaffe. Pessamistic of the chances of success in an
invasion, he was convinced that the Luftwaffe by itself could knock Britain out
of the war.
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| 'Ja ja mein fuhrer, we'll be eating our Christmas dinner in London!' |
Eventually a plan was formulated during the battle itself,
after many arguments between army and navy: 9 divisions of 200,000 men would
land in areas between Folkestone and Brighton, supported by two airborne
divisions. Either side were not happy at the result. The army believed the
fleet too small, and the navy thought the size too big to protect. Though both
still relied on the Luftwaffe to knock out the RAF, which itself was not happy
about the pressure of planning despite Goering’s optimism.
The Luftwaffe itself seemed wholly unprepared and untrained
for a complete air battle. Adolf Galland, former Luftwaffe Squadron Pilot,
believed that “the plan was not serious…and our preparations were about ridiculous”.
In the past, ‘Bliztkrieg’ tactics had worked because of the close knit support
everyone in the army, mechanical and air gave together on land in quick movements
before encircling the enemy. Emphasis: ON LAND. NOT SEA. Unless Germany had
some means of transporting across sea with magical means like they seem to do in every video game,
no clue was given. Nor f***s for that matter.
In addition, the Luftwaffe was more or less based in France
for most of the duration of the battle. Nothing wrong with that except a limit
in fuel, because then they could only stay in a limited range of targets
including London with a small load of bombs anyway, and the fighter escorts
that went along could only really stay for 10 minutes to half an hour. The RAF
could easily refuel and re-join the dogfights if necessary. Plus, the use of
radar in the RAF helped defend Britain greatly because then they could move
quickly into position and attack the Luftwaffe fast. Those factors presented
big issues for Goering in general, as well as himself.
Goering’s change in tactics only worked properly in one
respect. The Luftwaffe had originally attacked merchant conveys and the
harbours in the south of England. Dover became a particular target, soon
becoming called ‘Hellfire Corner’ as bombers attempted to destroy the ships
close by, with not so much particular success except to impress BBC news
reporters at the scene. Seriously, check out Charles Gardner on Youtube, there
should be a clip.
On August 13th, Goering switched his targets to
the airfields and radar stations to destroy RAF Fighter Command. Despite
maintaining significant damage against the airfields and stations, inflicting
over 100 casualties and wounded in the last week of August and first week of
September, bringing down 6 key airfields and destroying 500 fighters quicker
than they could be produced, and knocking Fighter Command almost to its knees,
Goering believed the fighter planes were still hampering his forces. He changed
tactics again, to attack London. It would be the end of preparation for
Operation Sea-Lion.
It would also be his costly mistake for being a daft bugger.
In doing so, partially influenced by the fact that Berlin was bombed by the RAF
in the second-to-last week of August, Goering would give the RAF an opportunity
to regain their strength in fighters and pilots as the Luftwaffe began ‘The
Blitz’ on Londoners. In one week, London burned and Goering gathered that
opposition had been wiped out, regardless of resistance still being maintained
somewhat by pilots fighting the onslaught.
On the 15th September, the Luftwaffe launched a two wave attack of 250 bombers each to bomb London, expecting hardly any opposition. The RAF surprised them and the replacement Hurricanes and Spitfires broke the formations apart, shooting down 61 planes and forcing the bombers to drop their bombs far and wide, making their impact less harmful to London. Many Londoners watched the battle unfold in the skies, and were probably all too happy to tell the Germans to piss off while doing so.
'Good moaning Brotoin. Would you luke your oggs fred or scombled?'
On the 15th September, the Luftwaffe launched a two wave attack of 250 bombers each to bomb London, expecting hardly any opposition. The RAF surprised them and the replacement Hurricanes and Spitfires broke the formations apart, shooting down 61 planes and forcing the bombers to drop their bombs far and wide, making their impact less harmful to London. Many Londoners watched the battle unfold in the skies, and were probably all too happy to tell the Germans to piss off while doing so.
Two days later, Hitler realised the unattainability of the
situation and postponed Operation Sea-Lion, even having doubts beforehand of
any realistic chance of invading Britain. For Britain, it was now a case of defending
London from the bombers in night-time, which the fighters couldn’t easily do.
But the threat of invasion was over for the moment. Britain remained on high
alert until 1941, Churchill hearing reports that landing craft had been
dismantled in Holland and secretly decided that invasion was no longer
impossible. Whatever the case, The Battle of Britain was won.
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| 'Hmm I guess it's true. They really don't like it up them' |
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Let’s talk about the RAF side of things now, and how Britain
managed to fend off the Germans in all.
During the capitulation of France and the Low Countries
(Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg), and even before that during the Spanish
Civil War, Germany was using aerial bombing to devastating effect on military
targets and civilians, creating a psychological effect to create panic among
people as they fled from the planes. Such tactics had been used before during
World War I, though with the addition of the ‘Trumpets of Jericho’ to the Stuka
Bombers, it created a more damaging mindset.
That hadn’t gone unnoticed by Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh
Dowding, Head of Fighter Command, and he was busily creating an efficient radar
system in an attempt to keep the Germans at bay, provided he had enough planes
from the capitulation of France. Eventually an effective system was created. A
chain of radio stations with observational posts moved information along to
Fighter Command, who passed the important information onto group headquarters,
who could then scramble pilots into the air to the relevant positions on the
maps. That make sense? I hope it bloody did, because I can sort of understand
it myself! Radar was the effective weapon the British had up their sleeves.
Without it, their defensive methods would have been less efficient if it were
standing to see any planes approaching, and more prone to attacks regardless of
resources on the German side.
'I wonder if I turn that knob this way, I will get Glenn Miller...
As I’ve said in the last section, The British had home
advantage. If in the midst of battle they were running out of fuel or damaged in
anyway, they can simply land back at base and get themselves fixed up before
quickly flying back into the fight once more. The airfields too were not easily
knocked out, easily repairable themselves and up and running in no time, before
the kettle would be boiled no doubt. Plus the production of planes, 100 every
week, helped Dowding regather his forces together to fight back after fighting
in France.
But the British lacked many big issues too. One was air-sea
rescue. Their preparations for as such were woeful at best. Consisting of hopes
that cross channel boats would see the pilot and rescue them from the cold
water, or a lifeboat would do the same if none were available. Even in summer,
the Channel is freezing cold and the RAF clothing did nothing to help protect the
airmen from freezing outright. With life jackets as well, there was the risk of
being injured or in shock. Because of the pilots lost at sea, rescue operations
were switched to local naval authorities on 22nd August, with
Fighter Command lending planes to help look for them. Overall, 200 pilots were
lost as sea, with no proper air-sea rescue formed until a year later.
Another major issue was the tactics they used. They flew in
tight vic (V) formations of three planes in four sections, with only the
squadron leader able to see the Germans ahead while the others kept station.
Because this left squadrons vulnerable to attack, Fight Command knew the
weaknesses well, but didn’t change tactics because inexperienced pilots were
not well trained, and it was felt they needed strong leadership to keep them in
formation. Front line pilots used a compromise where they used looser formations,
with the inexperienced pilots behind and above to increase observation and
protection from behind. It wasn’t any better since the pilots were still shot
down without the others knowing they were even under attack.
One tactic used to the best effect was by Group Commander
Keith Park, who commanded the south east of England. He would dispatch
individual groups to attack bombers continuously, and break the German
formations apart. Once they did, those groups would take down the stragglers
one by one, and engage the front of the bombers, which was not always achieved.
In the midst of battle, Hurricanes and Spitfires would accidentally usually swap
places in attacking bombers (Hurricanes’s job) and the fighter escorts
(Spitfire’s job). As I mentioned, it didn’t stop the casualty list rising,
especially during the last week in August and first week in September as the
Germans attacked the airfields and stations maddeningly.
Retaliation soon ensued from
Britain, not in the form of fighters, but bombers themselves. When a German
bomber, possibly unintentionally, dropped its load over central London, Winston
Churchill ordered a return strike on Berlin, duly delivered in 24 hours by over
70 to 80 craft…and hardly any damage was done. Avoiding the flak of
anti-aircraft guns, they dropped their loads in different places, from fields
to residential areas, with little casualties in tow. The planes themselves were
not damaged either. It did embarrass Goering and Hitler who, when the raids
continued, promised at one of his rallies to raze cities to the ground. Thus
giving Britain a great advantage in refreshing itself as ‘The Blitz’ began, and
led to the ‘Battle of Britain Day’ a week later, when 61 German planes were
brought down. Whoops.
'They came, they saw, they scurried'
With that loss, the Luftwaffe
could not command control of the air from that day onwards, and subsequently
Hitler postponed Operation Sea-Lion, but continued to bomb London during the
night-time for 76 days afterwards. Britain would sigh relief for now and laugh
at their lucky escape for the most part, even in the face of the Nazis bombs
dropping on them. The German army had their first loss, and Britain stood tall.
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To sum up, it is clearer now how the battle was won and
lost.
Effectively, the Luftwaffe shot themselves in the foot when
it came to the end. They were very close to pulling off a great feat against
Britain, but Goering believed otherwise, that the RAF were still fighting back
in great force and to destroy the industrial cities and break the morale of
Britain. Despite as such, they simply could not break Britain down. It’s
debated, among historians, if the invasion could have been pulled off in the
first place. It’s possible that even if the Luftwaffe had continued the tactic
of destroying the RAF stations and airfields though their resources were
limited, the Kriegsmarine were more pessimistic about their own chances of
defeating the Royal Navy, due to the loss of many of their ships during a
preceding campaign in Norway.
'Hallo Luffy. Gut luck with the raids'
'Ja...Danke Marine'
But the British were close to losing through their own means
too, despite how they tried to counter their own useless tactics against the en-mass
of bombers and fighters, and of course through the Germans attacking the
airfields and radar stations. It was partly through pure luck that most likely
saved Britain from being invaded thanks to the German bombing raids, and in
September the British army had recovered some armed divisions along the coast
in case of invasion. I don’t mean to take away from the victory at all. The
British were prepared to fight in many ways, Radar being the major factors in
helping see the threat come their way. But sometimes in war a good bit of Luck
does go a long way, even where you wouldn’t probably want it to go.
Especially if you had a Spitfire.
Many historians believe that perhaps the planning really
wasn’t that serious, that Hitler was simply planning on intimidating the
British to surrender. On doing this blog, I’m not sure that really would be the
case. If Hitler was really dancing around if to invade Britain, surely that
would have come up in conversation somewhere between him and his generals. Of
course he did grow wary of the idea of invading Britain as early as August 13th,
and postponed the idea two days after ‘Battle of Britain Day’, eventually abandoning
it later on when planning to invade Russia.
In the end, despite the inexperience, tactics and lucky
escapes, The Battle of Britain showed that there WAS one country who could be
the bastion of hope against the Nazi Blitzkrieg. Allied soldiers from France,
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Canada, Irish etc, all came together in this one place
to show that they would never surrender to the Germans at any cost. This was a
country that would have more likely have to have been destroyed entirely, rather
than sue for peace. Many pilots gave their lives to defend their freedom,
homeland or not, to make a stand against Hitler and would not be moved out
willingly or by force, and succeeded at doing that. This was the true start of
where the line was, in that blue sky above Britain. Hear me out, I’m sound
patriotic! I am happy I have managed to do this article, because it makes my
understanding of it a little clearer. This isn’t just about history, this is about
WHO we can be, and WHO we owe our own freedoms too.
I will end with this simple quote from Winston Churchill: “Never
was so much owed by so many to so few”
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That’s it for this month. Next month’s may come sooner or
later, depending on various situations ahead.
Randomizer out!
