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Originally Posted by Dutch_851
Don't have a heart attack Stern, but I kind of agree with you here, with one reservation.
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..izzat a joke?
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Germany's attacks and threat of invasion didn't alter anything as regards the British resolve to defeat Germany in the longer term.
The resolve to defeat Germany was there before the Battle and was unchanged subsequent to it.
It did mean though, and here's the reservation, that even after 9 months preparation, the Luftwaffe which attacked Russia the following June was not as numerically strong or experienced as that which attacked the UK. Had the full force of the German land and airforces attacked Russia.... well the rest is conjecture.
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well, for a crippled air force, as some are some are lead to believe, they did damn well, establishing air superiority over such a vast area in such a short time. Again, I don't think the numbers were affected that much, besides the precious experience gained by pilots during the Battle of Britain was of serious use in the eastern campaign.
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Britain maintaining its belligerence meant that German forces and materiel were occupied elsewhere as has been mentioned.
The attrition suffered as a result of the Battle of Britain added to this did make a difference.
In my opinion, of course.
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They wasted a lot of ammo, aircraft, fuel and lives, but not as much to cripple them forever. The sustained strain of enlarged fronts with the Russian campaign, together with the aerial defence of mainland Europe and the Mediterranean were probably the true blow for the Luftwaffe. By 1943 the German pilots based in Sicily already had a sense of defeat and knew that the only sensible solution was to fall back into the mainland.