Battle of Britain

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

INTRODUCTION

1. The Battle of Britain was a conflict between the Germans and the Britishers over English Channel and British main land took place from 10 July to 12 October 1940. The 96 days war started by the invasion of Luftwaffe (German air force) over British airfields and shipping lines. The British reacted against the air offensive by employing Royal Air Force (RAF) in defensive battle.

2. The Germans intended to establish their authority in Europe on the process of global occupation. Therefore, German decided to invade Britain immediately after the fall of France by making an amphibious landing. The code name for the operation was “Sea Lion”. However, before the land invasion could take place, Germans needed to control the skies over Britain. As such, the Luftwaffe was tasked to defeat the RAF. The air campaign that took place over mainland of Britain and English Channel came to be known as the ‘Battle of Britain'. The primary goal of German was to destroy RAF within shortest possible time with a view to prepare the way to invade Britain and Britain in reply aimed to safeguard her sovereignty by employing all her fighter forces. The German mainly concentrated on Offensive Counter Air Operation (OCAO) to destroy the RAF and in retaliation, The British concentrated in Defensive Counter Air Operation (DCAO) by integrating interceptors and Air Defence (AD) Radars. Eventually, the Luftwaffe failed to eliminate RAF and invade England. The war saw some new technologies and weapon systems such as the first use of integrated AD system and the first wide spread use of interceptors like Hurricane and Spitfire.

3. The Battle of Britain turned to be a classic air battle of World War II in which victory was achieved mainly by defensive actions. It is characterized by world's first strategic bombing campaign and the world's first battle entirely decided in the air. This defensive battle not only changed the course of WW II but left many...