“Operation Sea Lion”

German Invasion of England

&

“The Battle of Britain”

The Luftwaffe’s Attempt to Gain Air Superiority

& Beyond!

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Led by Herman Goering

WWI fighter ace / Hitler’s deputy

Condor Legion Experiences in Spain

(Note: Germany failed to develop a long range

four-engine bomber in the pre-war days)

Superior in numbers / quantity to the RAF

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Twin Engine Bomber / He-111

Germany Failed to

Develop a Four Engine Bomber!!

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Herr Weber; Sudetenland - 1938

Single Engine Bomber

Ju-87 (“Stuka”)

Dive Bomber

Fighter

Me-109

On par with RAF – Lack of

sufficient fuel capacity to remain

over England longer than 30

minutes – Poor escort aircraft

for the bombers

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Led by Air Marshall Hugh Dowding

Fewer in number than Luftwaffe

Defensive role

Supported by Anti-Aircraft batteries

Frequent use of Barrage Balloons

Airfields located throughout the country

Southern coast of the England the most active &

Dangerous

Outnumbered 4 to 1 in the skies by the Luftwaffe

Fighter aircraft

Hawker Hurricane (inferior to the Me-109)

Supermarine Spitfire (equal to the Me-109)

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Advance warning and detection of

German aircraft

Coastal stations report plots of

incoming aircraft

Height / Direction

Multiple coastal stations feeding

information to central control

stations – dispatch RAF fighters

to intercept incoming bombers –

reduce time in air / more efficient

use of limited resources.

Series of towers placed along the

coast in the 1930’s

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(Radio Detection and Ranging)

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Germans in pre-war deliberately

flew near towers in order to

determine their purpose – used

electronic equipment to

determine the effect of towers –

did not completely understand

the operation of the towers and

significance (major mistake!)

German will later attempt to

destroy Radar towers, but

ultimately fail!

1940

2012

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The Daily Sequence

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The Fighter Response

Group Captain

Douglas Bader

Three Phases of the Battle of Britain

(August – September 1940)

Preliminary:

10 July – 6 August 1940

Channel raids on British shipping

Testing British responses

Phase One:

8 August – 23 August 1940

Attacks on RAF airfields

Attacks on Radar stations

(Minimal damage – failed to follow-up attacks)

Phase Two:

24 August – 6 September 1940

Increased attacks on RAF bases

RAF losses outstrip production capabilities

German losses in both bombers and fighters

begin to concern Hitler and Goering

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Phase Three:

7 September – 17 September 1940

Luftwaffe switches priority targets

for attacks

Focus now on major cities, not

airfields

Retaliation for earlier RAF raids on

Berlin

Goal to weaken British civilian

morale

Allows the RAF fighter airfields to

be repaired, new aircraft brought

in from factories and other sectors

(Major mistake as it allowed the

RAF to recover!)

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15 September 1940

(“Battle of Britain Day”)

Largest German air attacks of

the campaign – Luftwaffe

sustains significant losses

1500 aircraft involved on both

sides

17 September – Hitler calls off

Operation Sea Lion, shifts focus

away from England and begins to

plan for the invasion of Russia

The Results of the

Battle of Britain

Luftwaffe lost 1,882 aircraft

Combat over England and the

channel – air crew either killed or

captured – some managed to land

in the channel and faced a 50 / 50

chance of rescue

RAF lost 1265 aircraft

Combat over England and the

channel – RAF pilots had a better

chance of surviving, parachuting

from planes over England (flying

again), damaged aircraft being

recovered (repaired), longer time

over the sky (quick refueling and

rearmament)

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Sir Douglas Bader (“Reach for the Sky”)

Well trained pilots are critical to the fight

Demonstrated that a cross-channel invasion involved great

detailed planning with logistics support (US / D-Day 1944)

Demonstrated that strategic bombing will have limitations that

both the British and US will discover as the war goes on

Lessons Learned from Battle of Britain

Churchill’s Speech in

the House of Commons

20 August 1940

The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our

Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in

the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British

airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their

constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the

tide of the World War by their prowess and by their

devotion. “Never in the field of human

conflict was so much owed by so many to so

few”. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose

brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after

day, but we must never forget that all the time, night

after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons

travel far into Germany, find their targets in the

darkness by the highest navigational skill, aim their

attacks, often under the heaviest fire, often with

serious loss, with deliberate, careful discrimination,

and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the

technical and war-making structure of the Nazi

power.

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Look at the next series

of 1940 photographs and

see if you can determine

something that is very

unusual about them!

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German Occupation of the Channel Islands

30 June 1940 – 9 May 1945

Only part of England actually occupied by German forces in WWII

Used by the German military as a place for R & R for battle weary troops

Good relationships between the Germans and the British

No military or strategic value for the Germans

Propaganda victory for Hitler

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Isle of Jersey 1940 - 1945

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Jersey Today – July 2005

The “Blitz” on England

September 1940 – May 1941

Heavy German bombing on London

and Industrial Centers in England

Danger “UXB” (unexploded bomb!)

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The “Blitz” on England

September 1940 – May 1941 (not every day)

Heavy German bombing on London and Industrial Centers in England

Danger “UXB” (unexploded bomb!)

German goal to “break the morale of the British people (the opposite occurred!!)

From September 1940 came on 57 Consecutive Nights!

Heavy focus on London

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1939 – 1945

3.5 million

evacuated*

Overseas

Canada/US

Planning began

in June 1938

Completed by

summer 1939

Operation

Pied Piper

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Children were evacuated from

major cities like London to the

countryside* at start of war (1939).

Children were again evacuated

(1940-41) from the major cities like

London to the countryside*

because of the German “Blitz”.

Many children had never been

away from their parents.

This was a new experience and

many children worked on the

farms to help the local family.

Some children had never been on

a farm before.

Overall experiences of the

children was mixed … some

treated well … others not.

The “Blitz” on England

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Heaviest in December ‘40 / January ’41

Londoner’s live in the subway

40,000 civilians killed / one million homes

damaged or destroyed throughout England

Ends on 10 May 1941 – Germany’s focus

directed to invasion of Russia.

The “Blitz” on England

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Imperial War Museum in London

“The Blitz Experience”

Newly Renovated (2014)

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Bombing Continues – but is Sporadic

1941 - 1944

Will only pick-up in June 1944 with the

V (Vengeance) Weapons (V-1/V-2/V-3)

Interesting Exception!

Watch Next Video!!

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“Baedeker Raids”(German Tourist Guidebook)April – June 1942

Germans target English

cities of historic interest

(not military) in

retaliation of RAF

bombing of Lubek &

Cologne

Luftwaffe hit York,

Norwich, Bath, Exeter &

Canterbury (no real

military significance)