Battle of Britain Day

Exactly 75 Years Ago Today

The Battle of Britain Day is the name given to the large-scale aerial battle that took place on 15 September 1940, during the Battle of Britain (German: Luftschlacht um England or Luftschlacht um Großbritannien).

In June 1940, Nazi Germany had conquered most of Western Europe and Scandinavia. At that time, the only major power standing in the way of a German-dominated Europe was the British Empire and the Commonwealth. After having several peace offers rejected by the British, Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF) in order to gain air superiority or air supremacy as a prelude to launching Operation Sea Lion, an amphibious assault by the Wehrmacht (German armed forces) onto the British mainland.

In July 1940, the Luftwaffe started by closing the English Channel to merchant shipping. In August, Operation Adlerangriff (Eagle Attack) was launched against RAF airfields in southern England. By the first week of September, the Luftwaffe had not gained the results desired by Hitler. Frustrated, the Germans turned towards the strategic bombing of cities, an offensive which was aimed at British military and civil industries, but also civilian morale. The attacks began on 7 September 1940, but were to reach their daylight climax on 15 September.

On Sunday, 15 September 1940, the Luftwaffe launched its largest and most concentrated attack against London in the hope of drawing out the RAF into a battle of annihilation. Around 1,500 aircraft took part in the air battles which lasted until dusk. The action was the climax of the Battle of Britain.

RAF Fighter Command defeated the German raids. The Luftwaffe formations were dispersed by a large cloud base and failed to inflict severe damage on the city of London. In the aftermath of the raid, Hitler postponed Operation Sea Lion. Having been defeated in daylight, the Luftwaffe turned its attention to The Blitz night campaign which lasted until May 1941.

The 15th of September, also known as Battle of Britain Day, is now an annual commemoration of the battle in the United Kingdom. In Canada, the commemoration takes place on the third Sunday of September.

Background

The Battle of Britain began on 10 July 1940, when the first Luftwaffe bomber fleets began attacking convoys and Royal Navy forces in English ports and Channel. The results were positive and the Germans succeeded in forcing the British to abandon the channel convoy route and to redirect shipping to ports in north-eastern Britain. With this achieved the Luftwaffe began the second phase of its air offensive, attacking RAF airfields and supporting structures on the British mainland. The codename of the offensive was Unternehmen Adlerangriff ("Operation Eagle Attack"). On 12 August, it flew its first missions in this regard. On 13 August, the Luftwaffe carried out its largest attack to date on the mainland. Christened Adlertag ("Eagle Day"), the attack was a failure. Nevertheless, the raids continued, at great cost to both sides. The impact of the German offensive on RAF airfields and Fighter Command is disputed. Some historians believe that the attacks were not having much effect and that the Germans were losing the attrition battle, while others believe the RAF was faltering.

Either way, Hitler was dissatisfied with the progress being made. Prompted by an RAF raid on Berlin in late August 1940, he ordered the Luftwaffe to concentrate its attacks upon London. It was thought the move would draw RAF Fighter Command up into a large, decisive battle. Initially, the change in strategy caught the British off-guard. The first daylight attack of this type occurred on 7 September and caused extensive damage and civilian casualties. Some 107,400 long tons (109,100 t) of shipping was damaged in the Thames Estuary and 1,600 civilians were killed or injured. Still, Hitler was critical of the Luftwaffe and its failure to destroy Fighter Command quickly. He dismissed over-optimistic reports from the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL or High Command of the Air Force), particularly the Chief of the Luftwaffe general staff Hans Jeschonnek, who asserted the RAF was on its last legs. Confident the RAF was nearly defeated, Jeschonnek requested terror bombing to be enacted as a final blow. Hitler refused, and only allowed attacks on industry, communications and public utility targets.

Over the next few days, bad weather prevented more large attacks. On 9 and 11 September, only smaller raids were carried out. It gave Hugh Dowding AOC (Air Officer Commanding) Fighter Command, the chance to prepare and reinforce his forces. The British, possibly through the use of Ultra intelligence, recognised the German change in strategy and duly prepared for further attacks on the capital. ULTRA's contribution to the preparations for 15 September is also disputed. The intelligence from ULTRA at this stage in the war tended to be fragmented. With the Germans launching attacks whenever there was clear weather, it would not have been difficult for RAF Fighter Command to have predicted an attack on 15 September, which was to be a clear day.

British Strategy

There was a debate which raged within Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. It centred around what strategy to pursue against the Luftwaffe. AOC Hugh Dowding and AOC 11 Group Keith Park favoured a strategy of non-attrition. From their perspective, the RAF had to remain intact to win the battle, rather than decimate the Luftwaffe. Both felt that trying to fight a battle of attrition would give the numerically superior enemy the chance to destroy large parts of the Command in one go, thus playing into Göring's hands. Therefore, Park and Dowding advocated the tactic of sending small numbers of fighters to intercept every raid; providing opposition to every raid offered the chance of inflicting continued attrition on German formations while avoiding decisive damage to Fighter Command.

Park maintained that it was unimportant to inflict large losses on the Germans in comparison to safeguarding his own forces. Park believed the Germans would give up if they could not achieve their aim of air superiority. This, simply put, meant avoiding the destruction and or depletion of Fighter Command was the primary factor in air defence. This would be achieved by sending small numbers of fighters to intercept, minimising losses in the air. By remaining to offer undiminished and constant air opposition, the RAF ensured the Luftwaffe could not win. As long as some sort of cost was imposed before the enemy dropped his bombs and impaired the defence system, the RAF could remain intact to meet the threat again the next day. To this end, Park favoured the 10 bomber kills before the attack, rather than the 50 shot down after it. The strategy suggested an enemy would give up if he felt he was getting nowhere. For even while his losses remained moderate, it would be senseless to suffer those casualties for no return.  Park and Dowding's strategy, under the circumstances, was the wiser choice.

Hitler’s Reaction

Hitler did not seem overly bothered with the outcome of the air battle. For him, Sea Lion had also been a huge risk, even with air superiority, and he had been convinced since the end of August the Luftwaffe would not achieve it anyway. The war with Britain would have to go on. He would maintain the threat of invasion until 1941 through the use of strategic bombing. Then, he would turn against the Soviet Union and eliminate Britain's last possible ally in Europe. With the Soviets defeated, he believed the British would negotiate. On 17 September, he sent out a directive to the three armed services informing them of Sea Lion 's delay. On this date, the date for S-Day had been 21 September. It was now postponed until further notice.  It is likely that Hitler did not want to gamble his new-found military prestige by launching a hazardous venture across the Channel unless the Luftwaffe had crushed all opposition.  At the beginning of December 1940, Hitler told the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) that they could forget Sea Lion, although he did not formally cancel the operation until 3 March 1942.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain_Day