Transcript THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
Simone Stubblefield
Steven Wright
Doug Perez
Lone Britannia
• Most of Continental Europe had fallen,
Britain’s army evacuated Dunkirk
• Britain’s Navy was scattered across globe.
• Britain’s air force outnumbered ten to one
• 1 Machine Gun for every 1,500 yards of
beach
• 1 tank for 1,000 miles.
Why Britain?
• Once Britain had fallen, Hitler would have
complete control over Europe.
• With the combined Force of Britain, France,
Germany, and Italy, Hitler could attack the east
coast of the United States.
German Invasion Plan Phase 1
• Knock RAF and it’s basses; get control of air
and sea lands across the channel.
• Destroy communication and Transport lines
with bombers. Above all, get command of the
air.
German Invasion Plan
Phase 2
• Pulverize coast line with dive-bombers.
• Drop parachute troops to take over airfields and
establish beachheads.
German Invasion Plan
Phase 3
• Operation Sea Lion. Under protection of Fighter
planes, German panzers travel across channel on
high speed barges.
• Send Spearheads to conqueror Britain.
Britain Prepares
• People of Britain worked up to 70 hours a week
to manufacture weapons.
• Butchers, Lawyers, Policemen and other citizens
formed a civilian army, Britain's home guard.
• Women would
put up Barrage
Balloons, Run the
railroads, ferry
the planes, and
carry the
dispatches,
The Legendary Spitfire
• An icon of the air war throughout the world
• Incorporated many new air technologies
• This was Britain’s main line of defense in the
battle
The Hawker Hurricane
• Build as a ground
support fighter
• Considered the
“work-horse” of
the air force,
accounting for
the most RAF
victories during
the Battle of
Britain
Radar Plays a Major Role
• Developed earlier, radar played a
large part in the Battle of Britain
• Radar could pick up enemy
positions, numbers, and altitude
• This gave the RAF a huge
advantage, because they could
coordination much easier
The Dowding System
• Britain divided into Groups and sectors
• Information from all sectors would be
channeled to Fighter Command, where
fighters could to dispatched
• Success came from the communication
and ground control
The Dowding System
Enigma Codes
• This was the code used
for transmitting secret
German messages
• The machine was
captured and code
cracked
• British had some idea
of German intensions
throughout the battle
The Battle Begins
• On 9 July, 1940, the battle
begun
• The beginning of the battle
was marked by the first raid
on shipping in the British
channel
• This battle was the decide
the fate of England, and the
world
Phase 1 - Kanalkampf
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
• Comprised of a series of raids of British
shipping and docks
• These battles tended to favor the Germans
• German’s were rather successful at destroying
British ships - the British had to stop convoys
through the channel
Phase 2 - Adlerangriff
• Lasted from 11 August to 23 August
• In this stage the Germans tried to knock out
coastal British airfields and air defenses
• These were largely unsuccessful, and
resulted in large German losses
Phase 3 - Inland Airfields
• Lasted from 24 August to 7 September
• Was the most intense part of the battle
• Day-raids were made on airfields in
southern England
• Losses were heavy on both sides
• The Luftwaffe was winning this
Phase 4 - Raids on
British Cities
• On 7 September, Hitler Luftwaffe to bomb
cities
• This was a relief for RAF, who could not take
more airfield attacks
• Day raids were repulsed by the RAF
• Luftwaffe switched the night raiding - threat of
Invasion was gone
The Bombing of London
• The hardest hit city was London
• German bomb attacks were
indiscriminate
• Germans dropped so many fire bombs
they caused the largest fire in recorded
history
London in Flames
The Battle Continues
• Battle of Britain ended on 31 October,
1940, when German plans for an
invasion were scrapped
• Although there was no threat of
invasion, German city raids continued
until May 1941
RAF Tactics
• Used “divide and
conquer” strategy on
bomber formations
• Dowding prefer to have
his fighter live another
day rather than frontally
attack Germans
• British strategy relied
much on the Dowding
system
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Luftwaffe Tactics
• Tactics were designed to knock out planes
• “Free sweeps” to knock out patrols
• Decoy forces with many fighters were lured
British
• Most fighters were used as escorts, not freeroamers
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (LZW) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
The After Math
• British lost 906 aircraft and had almost
60,000 casualities
• Germans lost almost 2,700 aircraft
• Showed that air-power alone could not
win battles
• Allowed Britain to survive and
eventually spring Operation Overlord
Why the Germans Lost
• Lost mainly because of Dowding’s
strategies used against the Luftwaffe
• Misjudgments at high levels
• Nazis met an equally determined free
people
“Never in the field of human
conflict was so much owed
by so many to so few”
-Winston Churchill
Sources
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_brit
ain
• http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do
?articleId=226140
• http://www.raf.mod.uk/bob1940/bobhom
e.html
• http://www.battle-of-britain.com/
The End
Video