The Battle of Britain
Having already conquered the rest of the European continent, Hitler hoped that England would accept German control of the continent and seek peace. This was not to be however. Beginning on July 1, 1940 Hitler authorized the beginning of a series of attacks aimed at destroying any resistance from the R.A.F. (Royal Air Force) and the Royal navy. These attacks were to pave the way for Operation Sea Lion, the invasion of England, but ultimately became the Battle of Britain. From the beginning Britain's prospects appeared bleak. For while at the end of the First World War the R.A.F. had an operational strength of some 3000 aircraft backed by another 3000 in reserve it had shrunk to a mere 600 or so fighter planes with some 100 in reserve by 1940. This appeared to be no match for the German Luftwaffe consisting of a combined force of approximately 2600 aircraft and 1200 fighters out of that. Which begs the question of how did the R.A.F. manage to repel the Luftwaffe, but furthermore, how did this influence the outcome of World War II. The Battle of Britain was to be the first major air battle in history. The date upon which it is generally accepted that the Battle of Britain began is July 10t
3. D. Richards, R. Hough, "The Battle Of Britain: The Greatest Air Battle Of World War II," Norton & Company Inc., 1990, New York In England, September 15th is celebrated as Battle of Britain day and for good reason for it was on this day that the R.A.F. knew they had finally won. The Germans launched their final assault on September 15th during which the small group of R.A.F. fighters inflicted heavy losses on the last of the great German air armadas to invade England. From this point on the Germans limited their attacks to nighttime and focused only on cities leaving the R.A.F. to rebuild its strength. 2. R. Hough, "The Battle Of Britain: The Triumph Of The R.A.F. Fighter Pilots," Macmillan Publishing, 1971, New York In conclusion, in the words of Sir Winston Spencer Churchill: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
Some common words found in the essay are:
Battle Britain, British Germans, July August, Woolston Spitfire, Home Stations, Chain Home, Dunkirk Dover, Richards Hough, German Messerschmitt, Me-109s RAF, battle britain, chain home, home stations, chain home stations, bombing london, world war, german bombers, target german, british coast, german command developed, command developed, german command, chain home low, operation sea lion, airfields middle wallop,
Approximate Word count = 2319
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
