Fall of France & Battle of Britain: A Historical Overview

The Fall of France and the Battle of Britain Browse the article The Fall of France and the Battle of Britain

Introduction to The Fall of France and the Battle of Britain

The German Plan. The German plan was similar to the one used in 1914, but was extended to include the Netherlands. However, at the suggestion of Field Marshal General Erich von Mannstein, the main effort was made through the difficult Ardennes forest. This, in effect, reversed the 1914 plan, when the main attack was made on the northern flank. The German invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands was merely a diversion intended to draw the French and British armies into a trap.

The Battle of Britain, July, 1940-June, 1941

The Battle

In preparation for Operation Sea Lion, the proposed cross-Channel invasion of the British Isles, Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering threw the full weight of the Luftwaffe (German air force) against Britain after the fall of France. His 3,400 planes were opposed in the beginning by only 620 Spitfire and Hurricane fighters. The air warfare waged in Britain's skies became known as the Battle of Britain.

The first phase of the battle began on July 10, 1940, with a series of bomber attacks on the ports of southern England. It was hoped that this could cut off Britain's supplies from overseas. Britain's Royal Air Force was able to use radar—recently invented—to detect the incoming German bombers, allowing it to deploy its fighters for maximum efficiency. The second phase of the battle began in the north on August 15, and was an attempt by the Luftwaffe to destroy the effectiveness of the RAF by attacking its airfields. Although the British suffered heavily, the Germans failed to follow up on their success before beginning a third phase on September 7. This phase, called the "blitz" by the British, consisted of a series of attacks on the London area. The raids, initiated in response to a British air raid on Berlin, were intended to destroy war industry and demoralize the nation.

British fighter planes, though few in number, took a heavy toll of German bombers. They were aided by the Germans' strategic error of switching target priorities, thus diluting the impact of their raids. By September, German losses were so heavy that Hitler indefinitely postponed Operation Sea Lion. Referring to the RAF in this phase of the battle, Prime Minister Churchill said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Nightly attacks against London continued until November 3. Then the Luftwaffe shifted to outlying industrial centers, beginning with a heavy bombing of Coventry on November 14. London was not spared, however, and on December 29 a raid with incendiary bombs (bombs designed to start fires) caused destruction that was compared to the Great Fire of London in 1666. London suffered its heaviest bombing on May 10, 1941. The air raids subsided in June, as Germany began to move its planes east for use in the invasion of the Soviet Union.

Results

Goering intended his air attacks to achieve several objectives. The Luftwaffe was to achieve air superiority over the RAF in preparation for the German invasion, smash Britain's industrial base, cut off contact with other countries by destroying port facilities, and crush British morale. He failed in all his objectives. If anything, the German assaults on Britain bolstered morale by causing the British to pull together in the face of hardship and strike back with greater resolve. But the cost to the British was high. Civilian casualties during the first eight months of bombing were 41,000 killed and 66,000 wounded.

The RAF began retaliatory bombing of German industry in 1940, but without serious effect. In August, British bombers struck Berlin several times, causing little damage, but boosting British morale.

Hess Flight

On May 10, 1941, Rudolph Hess, the third-ranking Nazi, parachuted into Scotland on a personal peace mission, undertaken without Hitler's knowledge. He believed that there were many Britons who would find common cause with Germany in the war against the Soviet Union then being planned by Hitler. Hess hoped to convince the British to replace Churchill as prime minister, cease hostilities against Germany, and join in an anticommunist crusade against the Soviet Union. Hess's mission failed. He was imprisoned by the British and denounced as "insane" by Hitler. After the war he was convicted as a war criminal for his role in the rise of the Nazi government.