Germany did not lose the Battle of Britain

[EJGr.Ost_Caspar]

Ah.. I seem to have missed that post from Untamo ... so it seems to be at least a spread knowledge. Thanks.

Britain didn't loose because of only one strayed german bomber?
As a consequence you could say, it would have lost? Thats the interesting point.

[Bewolf]

Originally Posted by EJGr.Ost_Caspar

Ah.. I seem to have missed that post from Untamo ... so it seems to be at least a spread knowledge. Thanks.

Britain didn't loose because of only one strayed german bomber?
As a consequence you could say, it would have lost? Thats the interesting point.

Funny, if you think it through in all it's consequences, this one german bomber maybe changed the outcome of the entire war.

[Crumpp]

I seriously believe that there might have been a very different outcome to the battle if this hadn't happened... But that's just pure speculation

As a consequence you could say, it would have lost?

Whose to say. In my opinion they would have lost.

I see Germany got lucky in the fact all of her opponents up until England were even more unprepared for war than she was.....

The Luftwaffe logistical system was just not up to the task of gaining air superiority over England.

Germany was taking losses at a much lower rate than the RAF but still the rate was more than Germany could sustain.

In fact the German logistical system was so poor that even before the Battle of Britain, German pilot losses were more than they could sustain. Germany had a shortage of training resources and pilots before the war even began.

I see the fundamental failure in the German logistical system is the fact the Geschwader's owned the airplanes. When an aircraft was damaged and required depot level maintenance, it stayed on the Geschwaders books and counted against it's strength until it was repaired. It simply left the fighting units without an airplane while the airplane was in maintenance.

The British system had a separate organization that was responsible for fixing anything but minor damage. If the airframe was going to be down for the next days operations, it was released from the Squadron's and that maintenance organization would issue out an operational replacement almost immediately.

This meant that while FC was taking much heavier losses than the LW, the FC Squadrons were almost always at higher organizational readiness and could keep more airplanes in the fight than the Germans.

[nearmiss]

It would have taken a huge land invasion for Germany to defeat Britain. All the German battles for superiority from the air failed in the BOB.

German arrogance was superior to their stupidity for not scrutinizing the British tenacity, resources and ability to defend "their island". The Germans did not do a sensible accounting to determine whether they could win.

Hitler was surrounded by Yes men, and dolts, with few exceptions. The Luftwaffe's record was always backed up by land forces. This was ignored by Hitler. The arrogant Hitler and Hermann Göring were full of cheese and confidence.

Everything the Luftwaffe could muster was used against England and results were rarely acceptable. The lightning air war just didn't cut it with the bulldog tenacity of the British... to never give up.

It would take some very powerful arguments or debate to convince anyone that Germany achieved any kind of victory in the Battle of Britain.

So lose, quit, walkaway, find something else to do could never be considered a victory. Unless victory meant something entirely different than it is explained in a dictionary.

Undoubtedly... the Brits won the Battle fo Britain.

[Igo kyu]

Originally Posted by EJGr.Ost_Caspar

Britain didn't loose because of only one strayed german bomber?

Let's say that winning was easier because of it.

As a consequence you could say, it would have lost? Thats the interesting point.

It doesn't necessarily follow. Most of the aircraft were off the fighter bases by the time the bombers came over, and there were bases further north they could get to if their own bases were incapable of receiving them.

It would IMHO have been at least another month for things to become impossible if the bases had been continually bombed (though they were becoming uncomfortable at the time Hitler switched), and even that is by no means a certainty. By a couple of months, the autumn weather would have been too rough for the crossing.

If there had been an attempted crossing the British Navy would have been there to fight it, even if that meant losing all their ships, which even with no RAF at all is not IMO that likely.