Quote:
Originally Posted by MB_Avro_UK
Hi all,
Historians generally agree that the Battle of Britain was between July and October 1940.
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Yes but...
It has always been a point of controversy as to how many phases there were in the Battle of Britain. At least in Britain all historians agree that the Battle of Britain commenced on July 10th 1940. Like a book that is broken into chapters, the Battle of Britain was broken up into phases, with each phase depicting a different approach to combat attack and defence. Some historians claim that there were four phases in the battle while others make claim to it consisting of five. Officially, there are no official phases, those listed in the many historical reference books on the battle, are how the author/s see the Battle of Britain from their own perspective.
Richard Townshend Bickers in Battle Diary - Battle of Britain claims that there were four phases.
Phase 1: Aug 8 - Aug 18. Phase 2: Aug 19 - Sept 5. Phase 3: Sept 6 - Oct 5. Phase 4: Oct 6 - 31.
Norman Franks in Fighter Command Losses also claims there were four phases but with different dates.
Phase 1: July 10 - Aug 7. Phase 2: Aug 8 - Sept 6. Phase 3: Sept 7 - 30. Phase 4: Oct 1 - Oct 31.
Derek Wood & Derek Dempster in the Narrow Margin claim that there were five phases.
Phase 1: July 10-Aug 7. Phase 2: Aug 8-23. Phase 3: Aug 24-Sept 6. Phase 4: Sept 7-30. Phase 5: Oct 1-31.
Len Deighton in Fighter-The True Story of The Battle of Britain claims four phases.
Phase 1: July 10 - Aug 11. Phase 2: Aug 12 - 23. Phase 3: Aug 24 - Sept 6. Phase 4: Sept 7 - 15.
John Ray, Battle of Britain - New Perspectives uses only three phases in his book.
Phase 1: July 10 - Aug 18. Phase 2: Aug 19 - Sept 7. Phase 3. Sept 7 - Oct 16.
All these authorities have excellent reasons for quoting the dates as they have done, and after reading their material I can see good reason as to why they have quoted the above dates in their books. I agree with John Ray in his statement that did the battle begin either in late June or the fall of France because airmen killed or wounded from those dates to what is regarded as the first day of the battle on July 10th 1940 were not regarded as to have taken part. My own opinion is that Germany turned their attentions to attack and invade Britain as soon as the battle of France was over, and as Winston Churchill announced "The Battle of France is over, I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin". And he was right.
The following phases are broken into the different tactics and scenarios that took place between the official dates of the Battle of Britain and these compare favorably with the dates suggested by Norman Franks and are also very close to the dates given by Wood and Dempster with the exception that they have broken phase two into two phases, which is understandable because phase two was an exceptionally hard phase on the Royal Air Force.
-I found this point quite interesting.
From this website:
http://www.historyofwar.org/index.html
This site also has interesting day by day accounts:
http://forum.netweather.tv/topic/631...weather-diary/