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

[bongodriver]

The German goal was to neutralize Britain, sought by various means (sea blockade, air campaign, the invasion bluff, diplomatic pressure etc.); this certainly failed in 1940. On the other hand I find Wilmott's analysis on the matter - Britain was not neutralized, but Germany was still an undisputable dominant position on the continent, which Britain could not hope to challange - that the BoB was from the military POV a campaign of small scale and limited significance, and change nothing about the strategic situation. It was however an important political/propaganda victory for the British, ie. that could encourage US involvement in the war (which was already taken as a foreign course by FDR regardless of Churchill, his problem was how to sell the idea to the US public and congress).

Now this is perfectly reasonable, us Brits only view it as victory in the sense we saved our bacon from the immediate threat, which as quoted does equate to a defeat of the Germans immediate objectives (for the first time since the start of the war) nobody ever claimed at the time that the war was won at that moment, but we can look back now and say it was pretty much the 'key' turning point, so why can't us Brits just feel a little satisfied that that fight for our lives eventually led to the victory over the Nazi's......you know...the bit we fought on our own (i.e. no USA)