Why is the battle of Britain referred to as a turning point of World War II?

Answer 1

Yes.MLM

AnswerNO many times no.The German Casualties in the Battle of Britain where heavy but not soo important for a defeat, the turning point was the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk in Europe.Nearly 1880 German planes where shot down and some 1550 british planes where destroyed.1.8 k planes detroyed means a lot now, but comparing them with the casualties sustained in the Eartern front that is a small casualty. Answerthe battle of Britain was a turning point in the war. if Britain would have lost, she would have certainly been invaded and out of the war. so there would have been no western front at all. Answeryes it was, a very big one aswell, because if the british hadnt have won they wouldn't have been able to send soldiers out to the other battles such as "the battle of Stalingrad" or "the battle of the kursk".

• Have some of you people even read any WWII history or know what the Battle of Britain was? Britain did not fight at Stalingrad or the Kursk. The German casualties were limited to the crews of those 1880 planes. That's not "heavy casualties".

YESBritain didn't really 'win' the Battle of Britain as no one surrendered and no army was defeated. It was more that Hitler realized he could not win and turned his attention elsewhere. That allowed Britain to become a huge unsinkable aircraft carrier from which the RAF and US 8th Army Air Corps could strike Germany's homeland. In addition, without the British Isles to use as a staging point there could not have been a D-Day invasion and it would have been almost impossible to open a western front.

The answer to this question is NO. Britain did 'win' the Battle Of Britain in as much as The Luftwaffe was unable to gain air supremacy over the southern counties of England and thus could not fulfil the first requirement for a successful invasion.

BUT

If Germany had won the Battle and wounded the RAF sufficiently to prevent it's efective intervention against a seabourne attack it would have made no difference to the eventual outcome of any invasion. The key to Britain's defence in 1940 was still, as it had been for hundreds of years, the Royal Navy. Germany had no answer to what was at the time one of the largest and most powerful fleets in the world. Indeed, the German navy thought the idea of an invasion of England in 1940 to be suicidal regardless of the fate of the RAF. There is no doubt there would have been grievous losses in ships and men to the Royal Navy from air attacks and the many minefields the Germans would have laid to protect their invasion fleet but the result is not in doubt, the invasion barges would have been sunk and the vital resupply of the German army (which probably would have gained a bridgehead) would have been prevented. An army without supply is worse than useless and would have had to attempt evacuation. In the face of any surviving RN warships in the channel and British land force counter attacks, any evacuation would have resulted in disaster for the Germans.

All this was known to the Germans at the time and there is some evidence that an invasion of Britain was never really seriously contemplated by Hitler, rather he was using the threat of invasion to convince the British to sue for a peaceful settlement.

So, the Battle of Britain was a defeat for the Luftwaffe but didn't affect the eventual outcome of World War 2. The turning point was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 and the consequent German declaration of war on The United States. The enormous losses in men and material the Germans suffered on the eastern front seem decisive but ultimately the development of the nuclear bomb by the western allies would have rendered them irrelevant. Had the Germans not invaded Russia they would still have been defeated even if they had managed to conquer the United Kingdom.

Answer 2

Hitler hoped to invade of Britain in 1940 by sending barges filled with troops and equipment across the English Channel. For the invasion to succeed, the German Luftwaffe would need control of the skies (otherwise the invasion armada would be sunk by the RAF). In the Battle of Britain the Luftwaffe failed to demolish the Royal Air Force and, as autumn approached, Hitler cancelled his plans for invasion.

If Britain had been conquered by Germany it is probable that the war would have been carried on by the British Empire, but there would have been nowhere from which to launch air attacks on Germany or to prepare the D-Day forces which liberated northern Europe.

Answer 3

It was the first time that the Nazi forces had attempted to conquer a country and failed.

• The Brits did significant damage to the Luftwaffe.
• The Brits gained air superiority over the Luftwaffe.
• The morale of repelling the Luftwaffe was sorely needed for both the civilians and the military. This battle gave them some hope while the Battle of the Atlantic was going on.

Answer 4

Before World War II, Germany continued to capture countries eventually owning all of Europe except for Sweden, Russia (then USSR), Norway, and Britain. Hitler prepared to invade Britain in Operation Sea Lion and the bombing was the first part of it. However the bombs couldn't sweep the Royal Air Force out of the skies or break the spirits of the British people. They continued to fight strongly and Hitler was forced to abandon the bombing and Operation Sea Lion.

Answer 5

The Battle of Britain was the point that the Luftwaffe suffered a costly defeat. The Luftwaffe lost many fighters and bombers, so much so that there weren't enough rolling out of factories and moving to the front lines to make up for the lost planes. This also marked the point that led to the gradual end of the Luftwaffe air superiority.

Answer 6

Yes , the battle was a turning point for Britain inasmuch that Britain won the air war forcing the Germans to quit the battle where they then turned their attentions to the East and Russia .

Answer 7

Yes. It was Germany's first major defeat in World War 2.

Answer 8

Because if it had been lost, Britain would have been invaded. With the Royal Air Force operating over the English Channel, an invasion was impossible to launch.

Answer 9

El Alamein