0
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was a World War 2 air campaign conducted by Germany against Britain in the summer of 1940. The objective was to gain air superiority over Britain in preparation for a possible invasion by sea.
370 Questions
What did the US do to help Britain during the Battle of Britain?
The United States completed a swap of bases for old destroyers called the Lend-Lease act. The United States, as a neutral country, was not supposed to sell warships to Britain. Instead of selling, they loaned about 50 older destroyers to Britain for the duration of the war in exchange for the rights to use a number of British bases around the world.
In the final months of 1941, the United States began selling extremely large quantities of war-related materials to Britain on credit. The materials were protected by American destroyers leading convoys.
The United States agreed to protect certain British interests in the Western Hemisphere.
Why did Germany have to destroy the RAF in the battle of Britain?
It is very difficult to bomb a country while being shot at by spitfires, they needed to get rid of the spitfires and the RAF air defenses before they could bomb anything because while they were concentrating on bombing they would be killed by the RAF and other defenses.
You wouldn't attack someone who could kill you in the action. You take away their main weapons and defenses before attacking.
What was the purpose of the Battle of Britain and the effect it had on the Allied cause?
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.
The Battle of Britain occured during World War II not World War I.
Why did Hitler call off the Battle of Britain?
The Luftwaffe was diverted to Russia in the summer of 1941. (Barbarossa) Initially the Germans were winning the battle, had they carried on attacking the sector airfields instead of bombing, principally, London, it is possible that Fighter Commands' main force would have needed to be diverted further north, had this happened then the British might not have been able to deny the Luftwaffe airspace in the effective way that they did. Having said all this the English Channel still appears to be an insurmountable obstacle for the Wehrmacht to cross. The answer to the question is that the Luftwaffe was losing the fight.
How many died in the battle of Britain?
The reference to 'soldiers' in the question suggests that this was a land battle. However, the Battle of Britain (July-October, 1940) was fought entirely in the skies over southern England. The German Luftwaffe (air force) tried to secure air superiority for the planned invasion. The main target was the RAF air bases in England. By mid September 1940 the attempt to destroy the RAF had failed and a new battle - the 'Blitz' - had begun. (It's standard practice to draw a distinction between the two). In the Battle of Britain the actual number of airmen involved was very small. The RAF lost 498 men dead. From 7 September 1940 onwards the Luftwaffe deliberately targeted the civilian population and the number of dead (mainly civilians) rose very sharply. Joncey
Who were the commanders on both sides during the battle of Britain?
Adolf Hitler, Germany
Winston Churchill,Britain
Why did'NT the Nazis win the battle of Britain?
Because the Britains had radar that could help the Britains know when the Germans where coming. Secondly, Britain is far away from the europe land mass, and had the sea in between making hard for the Germans to get across.
Who lost the Battle of Britain?
What happened was that the Luftwaffe shifted the majority of their bombing attacks from the cities of Britain to concentrate on the RAF airfields of southern England. The aim was to destroy Fighter Command who were than based at a few large airfields near the French coast. Fighter Command replied by spreading aircraft out to numerous 'satellite' airstrips, often of grass. Tactics also changed to be more effective against large bomber groups.
Did the Italian air force participate in the Battle of Britain?
Yes.
Mussolini wanted to impress his German ally and win glory so he sent 73 Fiat BR.20 "Stork" medium bombers to Belgium in Sept 1940. Their performance was very disappointing.
The Italians had a hard time adjusting to the drizzly climate of Belgium and the even worst weather over the English Channel. The Stork bombers were no match for the British fighter plands and ground defenses. The Stork had fabric-covered wings and was easily shot damaged. They were not as fast as the German planes and only carried 1,500 pounds of bombs per plane.
After training, the Italians flew only 2 daylight missions and a few night missions. In less than 300 hours of flying time, 20 Storks or 1/4 of them were destroyed.
Source: Time-Life volume on WW2 history: "Italy at War"
How did allies win the battle of Britain?
A major contribution was the fact that the German planes had to travel large distances to get to England, and again to get back to their home bases. This cut down on the amount of time they could spend in the air over England. This restraint did not apply to the English planes.
Apart from that, there was radar - which meant that the British only had to scramble when they knew the enemy was approaching. Without radar they would have to patrol the skies on standby.
In the Battle of Britain what was Hitler's plan?
Hitler launched operation Sea lion to invade Britain, he planned that once the lufftawaffe had control of the skies his invasion force could cross the channel with-out fear of bombardment by the RAF. Fortunatly for Britain the RAF was tougher than Hitler had expected and using the newly inventled RADAR, could accurately intercept German bombing raids.
At first Hitler attacked RAF airstrips trying to destroy the RAF and its logistics. He nearly succeeded before Hitler suddenly changed tactics in favour for the blitz. Operation Sea lion was put on hold as troops were re-deployed to help in the Russian campaign.
Who were the leaders who were involved in the battle of Britain?
The British and German air forces.
Do you mean " Who " as in individual NAMES of people?
Or do you mean " What " as in " What countries " were involved?
The Nazi German air force was trying to gain superiority over the English Channel so that German forces could invade Britain by sea. The Royal Air Force managed to prevent it from doing so.
Actually, the German air force (Luftwaffe) was also accompanied by more than 100 Italian planes during the assault on Britain.
Also, as well as English pilots, people from other countries such as Poland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, America, and Canada also went to Britain to join the air force. (As well as, of course, countries still under the British Empire, such as Australia and New Zealand)
The German Luftwaffe and the British RAF
What were the advantages and disadvantages of the Battle of Britain?
The advantages were that the British Royal Air Force prevented the Germans gaining control of the air and being able to launch an invasion from France. The disadvantage were that a lot of English pilots and civilians were killed, and a lot of England was destroyed as a result of air attack.
How many battles were there in World War 2?
World War Two was on an (almost) global scale, and there was fighting somewhere every day. There are naval battles (like the Battle of Leyte Gulf) and there were land battles like the D-Day invasion or the Battle of Arnhem. There were battles to take significant bridges and battles to take out significant airfields. There were battles for significant towns like the Battle of Anzio, and there was the final, last-gasp effort by the Germans to push the Americans out of France called the Battle of the Bulge. There was the Battle of Britain, where hopelessly outnumbered British Spitfire and Hurricane aircraft defended the country against the entire might of the German Luftwaffe and held them off long enough to get some war materials into production. There was the Battle for Singapore, the battle for Iwo-Jima with the famous flag photo. There was a battle for a number of critical Dutch bridges that almost caused the total destruction of Holland, as written about by COrnelius Ryan in his excellent book A Bridge too Far. There was the whole North Africa Campaign where Rommel was finally defeated by British general Montgomery after many, many battles in just about every town from Casablanca to Tabruk.
Were did most of the fighting occur during the battle of Britain?
In the air with planes and anti-aircraft guns.
What would have been happened if Hitler had won the battle of Britain?
Then the U.S. forces would have had to launch the Normandy Invasion from New York City. Indeed, a very difficult enterprise !
But no kidding !
Germany possibly had the ability to win the war, but Hitler made too many mistakes because he didn't listen to his generals.
First of all, the German Wehrmacht should have captured all the 400,000 British soldiers in the "Kettle of Dunkirk" (80% of the British forces and equipment !) instead of letting them escape across the Channel.
And then immediately invade the U.K. with all the German soldiers, airplanes and ships available.
After the British defeat Germany had all the time and manpower to deal with Russia. But the attack should have started no later then April in order to finish with Moscow before the Russian winter began.
Then, Germany would have signed a non-aggression pact with the U.S., leave Americans and Japanese alone on the battlefield and start to build up the "New Order" that Germany wanted to establish.
So, in that case the Cold War would have taken place between Germany and America whereas Russia and China would only be "minor players".
It is possible that after Hitler's death democratic reforms would have been implemented in Germany and its satellite neighbors France, Italy, Russia and Spain. Similar to the Glasnost and Perestroika reforms that were actually established under Gorbachev.
On the other hand, National Socialism was much more market-, consumer- and technology-oriented then Communism. And when you imagine that the Germans controlled most oriental oil fields and all the former British and French colonies, it is not unlikely that the majority of the Europeans would have arranged with the authoritarian system because the living standard in Nazi Europe would not be lower then in democratic Britain or America.
The people to suffer of course would be all the Jews, Africans, Arabs and handicapped who did not meet the Aryan racial standards.
No one can imagine how far the holocaust and euthanasia programs would have gone.
No one can imagine how many tens of millions of "inferior" human beings would have died in gas chambers or in medical and pharmaceutical experiments,
So, when you consider this, we should all be glad that the German "End Sieg" did not happen.
What was the American point of view on the Battle of Britain?
I believe that America wanted the British to win, but we (united States)wanted to belive that it was europes problem, not something we wanted to get involved in. We were willing to send them arms. US business men were making money on lend lease. FDR knew it was a globel problem and wanted America to go to war but the public was not ready.
What caused the Battle of Britain 1940?
Germany did not want the Allies to receive armament, food, goods and supplies that were shipped to them. They sunk many merchant ships. War was waged by the naval forces of both sides. Eventually the Germans had to give up and the Allies were able to get their troops and supplies sent to all the necessary places, especially the United Kingdom.
How many raf planes were lost at the Battle of Britain?
I just heard the figure 50 000, which seems veryhigh, maybe I misheard it.
Why is the battle of Britain referred to as a turning point of World War II?
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".
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.
What were Germany's downfall in the battle of Britain?
Short range and time over Britain of the German fighters.
