Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain was an air battle that took place over many weeks in the summer of 1940 and was won entirely by the British. In fact, the US did not even enter the war for another year - and might not even have entered it then if the Japs had not bombed Pearl Harbor.

Another Answer:

Everyone expected the British to surrender like practically every other European nation but Churchill refused a surrender and his speech is probably the most famous speech and i agree if the Japanese hadn't bombed pearl harbour the Americans would of hid i say hid because in those times the Americans were weak "they have awoken a monster than will never sleep" i think that was a British author that said that the Americans used to rely on other nations to fight its battles but due to the world war it realised it wasn't getting any help the British were out numbered 3 to 1 but are fighters were faster and the RAF pilots have always been the elites Hitler should of realised the British are not to be messed with many nations have tried and none have succeeded. and yes it was a war but what the Americans did to japan was heartless they weren't military bases and America outnumber japan massively the true enemies in ww2 were the Americans not even Hitler condoned killing innocence's (except Jew's) he at the start he wouldn't bomb any civilian places in till a stray bomb fell on a British town and Churchill ordered Germany to be flattened.

Actually, German and British aircraft were evenly matched, and the Germans flew a formation that was tactically flexible and superior. Britain won because the Germans had limited time over target, fighting at the end of their flight radius, while the British engaged with practically full fuel tanks, and the British could recover their downed pilots and put them in replacement aircraft. Downed Germans became Prisoners of War. Radar allowed the British to anticipate Nazi movements, and engage them with local superiority. Seeing that the air battle was not producing an easy decisive victory, Hitler turned his attention to his invasion of Russia.

The Battle of Britain essentially pitted the defending British Royal Air Force (RAF) against the attacking German Luftwaffe. A number of factors favored the RAF from the beginning.

Prior to Hitler's attacks, the British had installed "Chain Home" and "Chain Home Low," a system of fixed radar and radio installations scattered mainly along the southern and eastern coasts of England. These stations enabled the British to detect approaching aircraft at distances of 120 miles or more, thereby giving the RAF a good half-hour to respond. RAF pilots were scrambled and vectored directly to targets, knowing exactly where the Germans were, how high, how many, and which direction they were flying.

Early in the battle, German strafing and dive-bombing raids were aimed at the Chain Home stations, with some success, forcing the British to fall back on human spotters in some areas. But a shift in German strategy soon took the pressure off the radar system, and it continued to work well until the battle was over.

The bombers the Germans sent to England were sitting ducks for RAF fighters, unless they were closely escorted by the Luftwaffe Messerschmitts. German philosophy and aircraft design had always produced aircraft that would fulfill a tactical role -- as opposed to the strategic role they were attempting to fill -- and they paid dearly for it in the Battle of Britain. German bombers were relatively small and lightly armored, easy prey if unescorted.

But a key downfall of the primary escort fighter, the vaunted Bf109, was its miserably short time on target. Flying out of bases in France, and without external fuel stores, the 109s could only operate over London for about ten minutes before being forced out of the battle for lack of fuel. The RAF pilots, flying with full gas tanks from airfields mere minutes away, quickly learned this and simply waited for the 109s to depart before tearing the bombers to pieces.

Early German raids on Chain Home stations were followed by concentrated attacks on RAF airfields and hangars. Later analysis has shown that this strategy could have been the downfall of the RAF, forcing it to withdraw to the north and giving the Germans the effective air supremacy over southern England and the channel that German invasion plans required.

But within a few weeks, Hitler's forces began bombing civilian targets, especially London. This change gave the RAF the much-needed opportunity to rebuild and regroup. Though thousands of British civilians perished in the raids, the RAF's Hurricanes and Spitfires were able to make the Luftwaffe pay a very dear price, which in the end proved unsustainable for the Germans.

The British were fighting essentially at home. Besides the obvious motivation that fact provided, combined with the coordinated use of Chain Home, this meant that RAF fighters could be scrambled quickly and vectored to targets accurately, with nearly-full fuel tanks, and without the need for constant patrolling. British pilots who bailed out over England were sometimes back in a cockpit and flying again the same day; German pilots who parachuted became prisoners of war or drowned in the English Channel, and were forever lost to the German war effort.

I am not sure if there are "massive" debates regarding the Battle of Britain. To me the answer is fairly clear. It was German Mistakes.

Mistake 1. Hitler insisted that all aircraft be designed as bombers as well as fighters. This had the effect of putting a real damper on his engineers, as melding the two types usually resulted in an aircraft that served neither purpose well. I could elaborate on this, but that would be getting off the subject at hand. Lets just say that with the piston engines of the time, the choice of wing design had to be either lift, or speed. Fighter, speed. Bomber, Lift. (Bombs were cast Iron, and there ain't no light cast Iron) The ME-109 was a pretty close match to the Hawker Hurricane and the Super-marine Spitfire, but had the German designers been given a free hand...........................

Mistake 2. Hitlers impatience. The purpose for the Battle of Britain from the German standpoint was to gain air superiority over the British Isles in preparation for invasion across the English Channel. This failed for several reasons, the most important being the decision made by Hitler and Goering. The Luftwaffe started the battle by concentrating their efforts against British Air fields. Had they stayed the course, they would have gained air supremacy, opening up the English Channel for German Invasion. They did not, shifting their efforts to other targets.

Mistake 3. German forces paid little attention to British Radar Facilities. German Radar was in its infancy, but the British Home Chain Network was up and running and performing very well. The RAF had a very well organized radar network, with a logistics system to direct British fighters toward incoming German Aircraft that was second to none. Had the Germans destroyed the Radar installations, it very well may have been "Game Over" It can arguably be stated that Radar was the invention that won the war for the British and for the US in the Pacific Theater. (I highly recommend the book
" The Invention that won the war" )

As an aside to this discussion, it should be noted here that nearly all mistakes during armed conflict occurred, and are still occurring today as a result of politicians sticking their nose where it does not belong. Hitler and Germany were not unique in this respect. Had the British air Marshall given in to Churchill, and sent more pilots to France earlier in the war, the RAF would have run out of pilots to fight the Germans, as the battle of Britain became a war of attrition with regard to availability of pilots. Churchill made at least as many mistakes and absurd suggestions as Hitler. Thank God he was in a Democratic country where the opinions of better informed individuals could prevail. Germany had no such Luxury. If you argued with Corporal Hitler, you were shot, or worse.

The term "Blitzkrieg" was used to mean an mobile, armored unit that attacked through the center of the enemy line, which was followed up with the standard infantry attack. It was also a term that symbolized the drastic change from a war of words (Sitzkrieg ?) to a war of bullets and action.

The Blitz was first used in the attack on Poland on 1 Sept 1939 and then the attack through Belguim and thus bypassing the Maginot Line to enter France.

So after the fall of these countries, Germany began its air campaign against England in summer of 1940, known as the Battle of Britian.

The Germans continued to employ the Blitz tactic in other campaigns.

Answer:

This is incorrect. The Blitz was not (and had nothing to do with) "blitzkrieg". The Blitz was the name given to the German campaign of bombing British cities. It came AFTER the Battle of Britain.