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

[flyingblind]

It was never about winning or losing individual battles or about skill or courage. The axis lost due to a lack of resources. Germany went into Russia and particularly North Africa to secure oil supplies. When they failed they had no chance even without the overwhelming output of equipment from America. The same with Japan. The Americans had more fuel in a fuel dump on one island in the Pacific than the entire fuel available to Japan. This was a large part of the rational behind Kamikazi tactics. They literally could not keep flying missions and it was a last desperate attempt to inflict maximum damage on the advancing enemy.

There was a good documentary on the Battle of Britain done by the BBC a little while back. The premise of that was that Germany failed in its objectives due to tactics and logistics. The Germans over engineered thier aircraft and simply could not keep up with the numbers of the more basic British offerings. The British had a good system of pilot rotation whereas the Germans were soon suffering from fatigue. Also the British had a good system of radar that was used to good effect. On top of all that was Goerings monumental blunder of switching from military to civillian targets. Finally the Germans ran out of time and missed the chance of mounting an invasion before Winter set in and so continuing that particular battle became pointless.

[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

[Boandlgramer]

Originally Posted by bongodriver

we

Nice to have such old people here , who did the fighting