Quote:
Originally Posted by planespotter
New article by Heinkill:
While the British regard the Battle of Britain as an epic struggle which resulted in a resounding victory, there is evidence that it barely registered in German consciousness in 1940 and is still of only minor significance today.
The first thing that strikes you researching German language internet or published sources about the Battle of Britain, is how scarce they are.
Partly, this can be due to the old adage, “History is written by the victors”, but it also signals that this is a chapter in German history which German historians and even aviation enthusiasts, do not regard the same way British scholars do.
How can this be? Read more!
http://www.freewebs.com/heinkill/booksfilmssites.htm |
Revisionist history is often incapable of supporting itself. This is but another example of that
Did Germany lose the Battle of Britain?
Yes. Unless my memory has completely failed me, the criteria for launching Operation Sea Lion had two main facets:
1) elimination of the Royal Navy as a threat to the operation
2) elimination of the Royal Air Force as a threat to the operation
I don't have to cite History for evidence that Operation Sea Lion did not occur. We all know this. But completely apart from the invasion of England, it is very easy to explain why Germany lost the Battle of Britian:
It was the first time they faltered in Europe. They quite obviously tried to win the aerial fight over Britain in 1940
They failed. They lost the Battle. No amount of cutesy revision will sponge that away. making soft excuses like "it barely registered in the German consciousness" is nothing more than a way to introduce a gray area into the argument; it admits defeat by association and admission of something less than what was attempted. I'm sorry, but those are the facts. You can't call a defeat a victory by skewing the events 70 years later, so that it can be looked at in a 'certain point of view'. Germany demonstrably failed to achieve their goals in the Battle of Britain
Failing to achieve your goals in battle
never results in your victory. Never.
if you can explain to me just how Germany's goals were achieved in the Battle of Britain, then I will agree with your standpoint. Until then, I will simply tell you that the entire reason Hitler sent planes over England in the summer of 1940 was not so that his young men and Churchill's young men could have a little football match- Germany's goals were not met, and not meeting your goals in battle is the definition of "defeat"