Transcript Unit 3: Battle of Britain

Today…
1.) The Phoney War
2.) Battle of Britain
3.) Clip of Battle of Britain
The Phoney War
This was also called the ‘Sitzkrieg’
► After Germany’s invasion of Poland there
wasn’t any fighting until the spring of 1940
► Both sides were preparing defensively
► The people of Britain were also preparing
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► movie theatres would not let people in without a gas mask
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400 million sandbags were put around homes and shops
the London Zoo put down all posioness snakes
there was a wedding boom
women were urged to support the men and the home front
But Unfortunately the Phoney War
Ended…
► In
April 1940 the Nazis launched their
blitzkrieg against Denmark and Norway
► On May 10 Holland and Belgium were
attacked and the invasion of France began
The Battle of Britain
► On July 10, 1940 Hitler let loose a savage air attack on
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Britain
The Royal Air Force (RAF) was only half the size of the
German Luftwaffe
The future of the British people depended on the success of
just a few fighter pilots
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Throughout the summer of 1940, the RAF fought fiercely
against the Luftwaffe
At first the Luftwaffe was successful by knocking out
airfields and supply factories
But then the Luftwaffe blundered…
Two pilots mistakenly dropped bombs on London and
Churchill ordered bombing raids on Berlin
The bombing raids on Berlin pushed Hitler to change their
successful strategies and attack London
But now the RAF knew where the Luftwaffe was going to
attack and were prepared
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1000 Luftwaffe bombers
and 700 fighters flew over
London on September 15
in a daylight raid
RAF Spitfires and
Hurricanes attacked back
The Luftwaffe losses that
day were enough to
convince Germany to
cancel their attacks
PHASE ONE – JULY 10th to AUGUST 7th
PHASE TWO –AUGUST 8th to SEPTEMBER 6th - The Pressure Grows
PHASE THREE – SEPTEMBER 7th to OCTOBER 5th – The Blitz
PHASE FOUR – OCTOBER 6th to OCTOBER 31st
The German Luftwaffe lost to the RAF – 1,733
planes to 915
► This was the first battle that was completely in
the air
► Canadian pilots were part of the RAF and the
Royal Canadian Air Force
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⦁ “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been
owed by so many to so few.” ~ Winston Churchill
Why did Britain win the Battle of
Britain?
► The
British had developed a radar system to
help warn them of approaching enemy
aircraft – this allowed them time to get their
own fighter aircraft into the air
► When Churchill ordered a bomber raid on
Berlin, Hitler was outraged and began
daylight bombings on London – this allowed
the RAF to regroup
The Spitfire...
The Hurricane...
Messerschmitt BF 110
Time for the movie clip…