THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

KEY TERMS AND PEOPLE

• Luftwaffe-German Air Force
• Hermann Goering- the head of the Luftwaffe
• RAF- United Kingdom's Royal Air Force
• Adolf Hitler- leader of Germany
• Winston Churchill- British Prime Minister

"...the Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin" -Winston Churchill,
June 18, 1940

HITLER TURNS TO ENGLAND

• France surrenders
• Hitler wants to invade England
• Had to have air superiority in order to invade
• Hitler wants to beat down RAF so it cannot attack

LUFTWAFFE VS RAF

• Luftwaffe-advantage on paper, actually evenly matched
• More planes, pilots, experience
• Disadvantage: short range of planes, enemy territory
• RAF- major advantage: RADAR
• Used radar to detect enemies

NEW TECHNOLOGY

• Radar- British
• Radio- British
• Supermarine Spitfire-British
• German planes:
• Fighter planes and Bombers

NEW GERMAN STRATEGY

• Stop coastal fight
• Hitler wants to bomb cities instead
• RAF close to defeat at this point
• Gave the coastal planes a much needed rest

DEFEAT OF LUFTWAFFE

• September 15, 1940-The Battle of Britain Day
• RAF was able to scatter German formations
• Remaining bombs were not dropped on cities
• 61 German planes shot down-most in over a month
• RAF lost 31 planes

DEFEAT CONT.

• Fighting in air continued for a few weeks
• Bombing was sporadic
• September 15- official defeat of Luftwaffe
• Night-bombing continued into May 1941

"Never was so much owed by so many to so few"
-Winston Churchill
August 20, 1940

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