What was the purpose of the Battle of Britain and the effect it had on the Allied cause?

Answer 1

Germany needed to gain air superiority over the English channel so that their invasion force could land in England without the Royal Navy interfearing.

Because the Luftwaffe failed to destroy the RAF, Hitler was unable to attack England when the British army was at its weakest.

This meant that he couldn't possibly defeat England in a conventional fight and would have to rely on either starving out the British nation or convincing them to give up by bombing them into submission at home and attacking their forces overseas.

Once Soviet Russia and America entered the war, Britain was a vital link in getting supplies to Russia and a vital base for the build up of forces to invade mainland Europe.

If Britain had been knocked out of the war in 1940, Hitler would have been free to concentrate all his forces against Russia a year later.

Answer 2

Answer.

After the fall of France most countries felt the war was over. The British seemed surrounded and corner, with no real allies. The Soviets were selling raw materials to the Nazi war effort, the US cowardly refused to fight, Hitler seemed to many to have won. An era of darkness was expected to fall upon the human race.

The Spanish, French, Turkish and US Generals were ready to cut a deal with Hitler after the defeat of the British airforce and their surrender, however it did not happen.

The UK air force may have been outnumbered 3 to 1 but the British had superior radar, intelligence, tactics, planes and pilots. This not only saved the UK but the world also.

If Britain had lost then the whole of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Arab world and inevitably the Americas would be under Nazi rule. The light of mankind would indeed have been extinguished.

After the British victory, with courageous help from other allies such as Czech, Polish, NZ pilots, Hitler was heart broken. He said the defeat of the German airforce was the main reason for his defeat, he felt his whole dream of world domination had gone.

In a fit of anger and bewilderment he invaded his closest allie the Soviet Union. Not one German general agreed with this as it seemed unimportant to the Nazi war effort. The defeat at the BOB had repercussions as the Japanese in a fit of similar crazed anger attacked the USA a country over twice the size of them, again for no reason.

The BOB was not only the key turning point in WWII but also the most important battle in the history of war fare. No battle before or since held so much importance.

AnswerThe Germans were attempting to destroy the Royal Air Force and bomb British defenses in order prepare for a seaborn invasion of the country. In this they were defeated. When it became obvious that they would never have complete air supremacy over England, Hitler abandoned the attempt and invaded Russia instead. Thus he had the two front war he had sworn to avoid. Fighting on two fronts, and with Great Britain as a base for the Americans, Garmany was doomed. Michael Montagne AnswerThe answer is rather complex and falls into two parts. Firstly, "The purpose of the battle"

In May 1940, Germany launched it's "Blitzkrieg" on the west with attacks on Belgium, Holland and France. The Use of pin point airstikes combined with fast moving armour allowed them to rapidly cut through the defenders lines, pushing the Anglo French forces further and further back. Belgium and Holland both fell to the advancing Germans.

With all hope of saving France gone, the British decided to evacuate their forces via the channel port of Dunkirk. Destroying any equipment they couldn't carry the British and French armies assembled on the beaches, still under constant air attack, while a flotilla of fishing boats, private yachts and steam ferries (mainly crewed by civilians) sailed from England to collect them. Despite this armada of tiny vessels being constantly under attack some 175,000 British troops and a similar number of French were taken directly back to Britain or transferred to larger warships further of shore.

Having defeated France in just five weeks Germany seemed invincible. All that stood in the way of Hitler securing the whole of Western Europe was now the British and the British alone - no European allies left! Her army now seriously lacked equipment and supplies due to Dunkirk but her navy and air force were still intact and would cause serious problems for the invasion that Hitler now planned.

The first stage of the plan began in late June and early July with air strikes against channel shipping and ports. In August the Battle of Britain proper got underway. With the German army assembled along the French coast ready for the invasion the Luftwaffe would have to have to win air superiority by destroying the Royal Air Force and so switched to attacks on British air bases and radar stations.

These attacks were extremely successful and forward air bases such as Manston or Biggin Hill were continually put out of action. Aircraft losses to Britain, both on the ground and in the air, in this phase of the battle were dangerously high. More worrying still was that pilots were being killed faster than they could be trained and replaced. Far from winning the battle the RAF were just about holding on. But Hitler was furious and postponed the invasion until 15th September.

In early September 1940 the luftwaffe bombed civilian areas of London, possibly due to a navigation error. In retaliation the RAF bombed Berlin. From this point onwards the nature of the whole air war would change. On 7th September, the luftwaffe abandoned attacks on RAF targets and instead sent two massive waves of bombers against London itself. This was the beginning of the "London Blitz" and marks the final stage of the Battle.

With it's air bases free from attack, the RAF could now meet the luftwaffe on equal terms over southern England. The raids now intensified and came by day and night. During the day Londoners watched the vapour trails from the dogfights going on above them and sheltered in the underground stations at night.

On 15th September (which should have been invasion day) the luftwaffe threw massive formations of hundreds of bombers at London. In response the RAF, it's pilots exhausted after weeks of heavy combat, launched every fighter it had - nothing was held in reserve. As night fell the RAF had destroyed 176 German aircraft with only 20 losses themselves. Losses to the luftwaffe at that rate could not be sustained and they were forced to continue bombing only by night. The nightly Blitz would continue into 1941 and claim over 40,000 British lives but the Battle of Britain was over.

As for the effect the battle had. Well,it must be remembered that at this point in the war Britain's only allies were her commonwealth countries, all of whom were far away. Alone, isolated and with the enemy at the very door Britain chose to continue fighting and, although it was undoubtedly a British victory it was won with the assistance of commonwealth pilots and pilots who had escaped from occupied Europe - French, Belgian, Polish and Czech (there were even one or two American volunteers).

It had also been a victory earned by the British people themselves - the ordinary civilians who endured night after night of heavy bombing, who volunteered for fire fighting after a full day's work, who cleared the rubble to keep roads open, who dug survivors out from bombed buildings and who worked back to back shifts to keep aircraft factories working round the clock.

Importantly the Battle of Britain marked the first defeat for Nazi Germany, they were not invincible. From the benefit of our position in time we can now see that from this point on Germany would fight a defensive war in the west for Hitler didn't invade Russia instead of Britain, he was well aware that peace with Russia could not last, and he was working to a strict timetable. He had to strike at Russia when he did before she was ready to strike at him.

But he had failed to defeat Britain who steadily come back at him with it's own heavy bombers, it's commando raids and the various resistance groups it co-ordinated throughout Europe, Britain would niggle away at him relentlessly. Later, when America entered the war Britain became a huge storage depot for men and equipment, British and American bombers would carry the war to every town and city in Germany and when they were ready their armies would embark from British ports for D Day and the advance towards Germany. Trapped by his war against Russia and his failure to eliminate Britain Hitler was doomed. That was the effect of the Battle of Britain on the allied cause

Answer 3

The Battle of Britain was put simply the most important military victory in human history, it was that important.

If the UK had lost then Hitler would have owned the whole of Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe.

The USA would have surrendered and the Soviet would have been surrounded and conquered in a few months.

It showed the Allied forces that Hitler and his blitzkreg could be stopped. It was crucial because it was the first German defeat in WW2.

Answer:

The answer given above is incorrect. (For one thing the USA was not actually involved in WWII at the time of the Battle of Britain, nor was the Soviet Union).

The Battle of Britain was an attempt by the Luftwaffe to destroy the RAF, as a precursor to invasion. (Although whether they could have done it while the Royal Navy was intact is doubtful).

It is true that the BoB was the first defeat for Germany however.

It also meant that Britain was still in the war and that Europe was not completely under German control. This led (after the invasion of Russia) to Germany fighting a war on two fronts.

Answer 4

It prevented a land invasion on England.

The Battle of Britain is important because it was one of the pivotal points of the war. Much like Stalingrad and Midway, it effectively halted Hitler's advance in the west and denied Hitler total victory in Europe, forcing him into a dilemma which he hoped he would never have to encounter again: a war on 2 fronts. The result of the battle of Britain ensured that democracy survived and was preserved in Europe. Britain became a beacon to all those who detested and wished to fight against Nazism. Polish, French, Belgian, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and Czech forces in exile all set up in Britain and took part in the invasion of Europe.

This battle showed that England was going to keep on fighting instead of giving in to Germany. It was the first loss that the Germany suffered after a string of magnificent victories that made them seem invincible. England's victory meant that Germany could not launch Sealion, the invasion of England, although the invasion was a dubious proposition even with control of the air.

Moreover Britain became a massive floating base for British, American, Canadian and Australian troops preparing for D-day. Even though there is much debate today over whether Germany could have launched an invasion at all even if the RAF was destroyed, it was an important battle. The Germans were not invincible; the stalwart resistance shown by Britain convinced the United states to send food, weapons, supplies, tanks, ships and all manner of consumables to Britain. In addition, the invasion of Europe would be launched from the south coast of England, culminating in a gigantic pincer move, with the American/Canadian/British forces in the west and the Soviet forces in the east. This pincer move would ultimately crush Germany in 1945.

The significance of the battle of Britain is that it tested Britain's airplane technology. Germany needed to invade Great Britain, therefore trying to destroy Great Britain's Royal Air Force.

Answer 5

in the battle of britain spitfires and hurricanes, among other planes fought against the nazis for control of the sky above britain. the invasion of the sky was part of the complete invasion of britain. By preventing Germany from gaining air superiority, the battle ended the threat that Hitler would launch operation sea lion, an invasion of britain by air and water via France and belgum therefore the fact that britain won the battle was vey important.