The Battle of Britain Was The First Defeat For The German Luftwaffe.

[ATAG_Dutch]

The British overestimated the strength of the Luftwaffe and its ability to replace losses and geared up accordingly.

The Germans underestimated the strength of Fighter Command, its defensive command and control systems, and Britain's ability to replace both aircraft and pilots.

The Luftwaffe's mass raids were partly designed to draw up the RAF in large numbers to be shot down.

Keith Park's insistence on sending up small numbers of fighters in relays prevented this happening. It's perhaps as well that Leigh-Mallory and Bader with their so called 'Big Wing' didn't get their way until after the Battle.

All of the factors leading to the outcome of the Battle would fill a book, in fact several as people keep writing them with a 'new' perspective.

As to 'how did they cope?' - they turned to night raids in smaller numbers, whilst they rebuilt their numerical strength in preparation for Barbarossa the following summer.

But as has already been said, a great deal of the skill and experience base was never regained and suffered greater attrition as the war continued.

It's my opinion that the biggest factor in the outcome of the Battle was the existence of a stretch of water called the 'English Channel'. Were it not for this, Blitzkrieg would have overrun Britain just as it had the largest military power in Europe, which at the time was France.

[bongodriver]

It's my opinion that the biggest factor in the outcome of the Battle was the existence of a stretch of water called the 'English Channel'. Were it not for this, Blitzkrieg would have overrun Britain just as it had the largest military power in Europe, which at the time was France.

I love this classic old excuse for the germans, because the Brits were just such utter crap otherwise eh?, the channel failed to stop us coming back over.

[kristorf]

Originally Posted by bongodriver

I love this classic old excuse for the germans, because the Brits were just such utter crap otherwise eh?, the channel failed to stop us coming back over.

Hehehehe

[csThor]

Originally Posted by bongodriver

I love this classic old excuse for the germans, because the Brits were just such utter crap otherwise eh?, the channel failed to stop us coming back over.

It's not even worth my time to type an appropriate reply to this nationalistic BS of a post.

[bongodriver]

1. I fail to see where it's nationalistic

2. how is downplaying the efforts made by the British and making geographical excuses for their sucess not nationalistic for the germans part

3. men died on both sides fighting for their lives, they probably wouldn't appreciate any excuses being made

[Kurfürst]

Originally Posted by bongodriver

I love this classic old excuse for the germans, because the Brits were just such utter crap otherwise eh?, the channel failed to stop us coming back over.

It neither stopped the Brits from making a bit hastened return from the continent - sans all heavy weapons, tanks, guns or even mortars of course. Now, crossing the channel in barges in a way like this may be sufficient if you will be greeted with a hot cup of tea, but mounting invasion is a bit different and harder.

The German armed forces simply did not had the means to make an invasion it 1940, and they knew it very well. Nobody in Germany foresaw a war with England, nor did they made any serious preparation to be capable of large scale amphibian operations. So no, in 1940, a seaborne invasion was not going to happen. Just think a bit about that the Western Allies needed to prepeare for four years to be able to mount one.

[bongodriver]

Again, given that we had our cowardly english asses chased across the channel and we left all our toys behind, sounds like we had nothing left but tea to offer, so why let a little puddle prevent the opportunity for a delicious hot beverage.

yes it took a bit of time to prepare for the Normandy landings, after all we had all that time to drink tea and do bugger all else, not like we were fighting anywhere else in the world now is it....oh wait..

[Xilon_x]

blue italy red germany yellow spain 3 color for a project a massive attak to brittain but this project failure.
europe.jpg

[Sternjaeger II]

Apart for the fact that this whole thread is in the wrong room and a mere silly provocation, I would like to stress out that no matter what people here say, most reliable historians (even RAF ones) say that the Battle of Britain wasn't won or lost by either side, at least not until the end of the conflict.

The German command suspended Operation Sea Lion in view of Barbarossa, so that they could concentrate more resources on the huge Russian front.

The United Kingdom opposed a strong defence to the German attacks, but the attrition of the Battle of Britain was surely doing more damage to Great Britain than to Germany, let's not forget that whilst Great Britain had most of their resources involved in the Battle of Britain, Germany had its forces scattered all over Europe.

Without going into the battle of what ifs, we can surely say that Great Britain got back into the war only after the Americans flooded their territory with troops, vehicles and aeroplanes. Great Britain alone would have NEVER been able to go anywhere beyond the Channel, hadn't the Americans joined in the war effort.

[Xilon_x]

yes just consideration AMERICAN HELP BRITTAIN if american not help BRITTAIN after BRITTAIN not have any canche of attak germany or italy.