Salute
Amazing what revisionist nonsense there is out there.
Fact: Hitler issued a directive that plans be drawn up to invade and force the surrender of Britain. OPERATION SEELOWE As part of this plan, huge land forces were assembled on the English channel, complete with invasion barges, naval forces, etc. The invasion plans involved two German Army Groups, and hundreds of thousands of troops.
Fact: Hitler ordered Goring, the leader of the Luftwaffe, to lay the groundwork for a successful invasion by gaining air superiority over the English Channel and southern England. The means to this end was the defeat of the RAF.
Fact: After approximately 2 months of continuous aerial combat on a massive scale, greater than ever seen before in the history of the world, and after failing to gain air superiority, and suffering nearly twice as many losses in aircraft as the RAF, Hitler ordered OPERATION SEELOWE to be posponed indefinitely.
Fact: Because Britain did not fall, and the Germans were unable to invade, they were forced to maintain large forces on the English Channel during 1941, as well as being forced to commit troops in Yugoslavia, Greece, and in North Africa to counter British moves in those areas. The fact they were forced to waste time conquering Yugoslavia and Greece, and therefore forced to start their invasion of the Soviet Union one month late, has been pointed to as a major reason for the failure of Nazi Germany to defeat Russia in 1941, and hence a major reason why they ultimately lost the war. They ran out of good campaigning weather, and were fatally slowed by mud, then caught in the Russian winter. And of course, beyond their failure to defeat the Soviets, they then had a resurgent Britain, with the addition of the U.S., who were then able to invade at Normandy from the British island base, (impossible to invade from mainland USA) as well as devastating German industry with Allied bombers based in Britain, as well as convoys carrying lendlease to the Soviets originating in Britain. Without the victory of the RAF in the Battle of Britain, thus allowing the island of Britain to remain free, none of this was possible.