Battle Of Britain Research Paper

Parker Schnitker

Mrs. Burrow

British Literature

November 5, 2017

The Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain was the most elaborate fight by air the world has ever seen, and it played a huge role in the beginning, and the end of World War Two. The battle was declared for almost four months, from July 10, 1940 through October 31, 1940 (E. o. Britannica). The Battle of Britain began due to the German invasion of France, after France surrendered, the Germans continued to take on Britain. In the end, German lost the air battle and lost significantly more soldiers than Britain. Approximately 2600 lives of the German force, were taken. As contrasted to only 900 of the Britain’s men (New Zealand History). This battle is reflected in history upon

Britain had no intention of sticking their nose in any other countries business, especially in war. Nonetheless, they were still prepared for the possible threat of Germany. Great Britain at the time had one of the greatest air force and navy, due to the formation of the land, they were not prone to attacks from the ground. The strategy approaching war was very intricate, Britain had divided the land in four sections, each section had one squadron, and each squadron held planes, pilots, radar towers and operation rooms. This divided the island into four independent sections, however, at the same time they were joined as a powerful integrated air defense. The mastermind of the powerful Royal Air Force was not the number of pilots or planes, and not the skill level or training, however, it was in the technology. The technology of the radar and communication was far more advanced than any other air force. Their radar could detect an enemy plane the second it took off. Once the radar alerted the operations attendant of the plane it would be resubmitted to a hidden bunker of the appropriate squadron. Crammed in this small bunker was lots of operation workers, which did all the crucial behind the scenes work. They would receive calls and radar detection of enemy planes, then, relay this message to a board, which was a map of east Europe, and the progress of the planes would be

This day for the people of Britain was like any other Sunday morning. Little did they know; this day was the day the Germans had planned a major attack on Britain. Early morning, the British radars received signals of two hundred plus German bombers and fighter planes approaching across the English Channel. The South Eastern squadron desperately requested for all forces to meet the Germans, as this was the highest recorded air attack of World War Two. As the Germans approached, a British civilian explains the intimidating bombers approaching thousands of feet in the air, “You could hear the throbbing of this aircraft, that was eerie, I must say. It was droning, and you think, oh my gosh were going to be in for it” (Saunders) The first shots were fired above the coast of England, where the first Royal Air Force met the Germans robust air force. The formation of the German planes consisted of German bombers, the 191’s, escorted by German fighters, the 187’s, greeted by Spitfires. Both forces slowly deteriorated each other, but the Germans pushed on till their destination, London. As the Luftwaffe approached London, the fighters began to thin out, and only a few were left. Upon the outskirts of London, the German Bombers, without the support of the fighter planes, were like a calf without its mom, and the spitfires showed no mercy. The bombers were ordered to turn back, as they would either be shot down or run dry of fuel if they had continued on