The Battle of Britain Free

Battle of Britainduring World War IIthe successful defense of Great Britain against unremitting and destructive air raids conducted by the German air force Luftwaffe from July through Septemberafter the fall of France. Victory for the Luftwaffe in the air battle would have exposed Great Britain to invasion by the German army, which was then in control of the ports of France only The Battle of Britain few miles away across the English Channel. The French government collapsed on June 16 and was replaced by a regime that immediately sued for peace. Speaking before Parliament on June 18, Churchill announced:. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. On the German side, no plans had been made for an invasion of Britain before the Germans launched their offensive against France, nor were any made even when the collapse of France was assured. The German army was given to understand that the war was over; leave was granted, and the Luftwaffe was shifted to other quarters. It was not until July 2 that Hitler even ordered a consideration of the problem of invading Englandand he still seemed to doubt its necessity when at last, on July 16, he ordered preparations to begin for such an invasion, christened Operation Sea Lion. Hitler stipulated that the expedition be ready by mid-August. The German army was in no way prepared for such an undertaking. The staff had not contemplated it, the troops had been given no training for landing operations, and nothing had been done to build landing craft for the purpose. All that could be attempted was a hurried effort to collect shipping, bring barges from Germany and the Netherlands, and give the troops some practice in embarkation and disembarkation. The German generals were very apprehensive of the risks that their forces would run in crossing the sea, and the German admirals were even more frightened about what would happen when the Royal Navy appeared on the scene. They had no confidence in their own power to stop the enemy, and they insisted that the responsibility for doing so be placed on the Luftwaffe. Beginning with bomber attacks The Battle of Britain shipping on July The Battle of Britain and continuing into early Augusta rising stream of air attacks was delivered against British convoys and ports. The British disposed slightly more than frontline fighters to defend the country. The Germans meanwhile made available about 1, bombers and dive-bombers and about single-engine and twin-engine fighters. These were based in an arc around England from Norway to the Cherbourg peninsula in northern coastal France. For the defense of Britain, Fighter Command The Battle of Britain divided into four groups, of which the most hard-pressed during the Battle of Britain were Number 11 Group, defending southeastern England and London and headquartered The Battle of Britain Uxbridge, Middlesex; and Number 12 Group, defending the Midlands and Wales and headquartered at Watnall, Nottinghamshire. The other two groups were Number 10, defending southwestern England, and Number 13, defending northern England and all of Scotland. Each group was divided into sectors, which received reports from group headquarters about approaching Luftwaffe formations and mobilized squadrons of planes from The Battle of Britain airfields to fight them off. The British radar early warning systemcalled Chain Home, was the The Battle of Britain advanced and the most operationally adapted system in the world. Even while suffering from frequent attacks by the Luftwaffe, it largely prevented German bomber The Battle of Britain from exploiting the element of surprise. The British thus found themselves fighting The Battle of Britain the unexpected advantage of superior equipment. German bombers mostly lightly armed twin-engine planes such as the Heinkel He and Junkers Ju 88 lacked the bomb load capacity to strike permanently devastating blows, and they also proved, in daylight, to be easily vulnerable to The Battle of Britain British fighters. Nevertheless, Fighter Command was losing badly needed fighters and experienced pilots at too great a rate to be sustained. In addition to technology, Britain had the advantage of fighting against an enemy that had no systematic or consistent plan of action. At the beginning of September, the Germans dropped some bombs, apparently by accident, on civilian areas in Londonand the British retaliated by unexpectedly launching a bombing raid on Berlin. This so infuriated Hitler that he ordered the Luftwaffe to shift its attacks from Fighter Command installations to London and other cities. Beginning on September 7, London was attacked on 57 consecutive nights. The bombing of London, CoventryLiverpooland other cities went on for several months, but it had the immediate benefit for the RAF of relieving the pressure on Number 11 Group and also bringing more German bomber formations into the sectors The Battle of Britain the formidable Number 12 Group. By mid-September, Fighter Command had demonstrated that the Luftwaffe could not gain air ascendancy over Britain. British fighters were shooting down German bombers faster than German industry could produce them. On September 3 the date of invasion had been deferred to September 21, and then on September 19 Hitler ordered the shipping gathered for Operation Sea Lion to be dispersed. On October 12 he announced that the operation was off for the winter, and long before the arrival of spring he decided to turn eastward against Russia. Plans for an invasion were definitively discarded; the campaign against Britain henceforth became purely a blockade of its sea approaches, conducted mainly by submarines and only supplemented by the Luftwaffe. Print Cite. Facebook Twitter. Give Feedback External Websites. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article requires login. External Websites. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The Editors The Battle of Britain Encyclopaedia Britannica Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree See Article History. Smoke rising from the London Docklands after the first mass air raid on the British capital, September 7, World War II Events. Get exclusive access to content from our First Edition with your subscription. Subscribe today. Beginning in June and continuing into the next year, the Battle of Britain was fought in the air and endured on the ground. The dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, visible through smoke generated by German incendiary The Battle of Britain, December 29, Londoners taking refuge from German air raids in an Underground station, c. Children sitting outside the bomb-damaged remains of their home in the suburbs of London, Learn More in these related Britannica articles:. On July 16,Hitler issued a directive ordering the…. The German fighter was armed with two 7. The aerial cannon, perfected by the Germans during the interwar period, was intended…. Close escort would be provided by Bfs and Bfs weaving in and out of the formation. The Germans quickly learned that…. History at your fingertips. Sign up here to see what happened On This Day The Battle of Britain, every day in your inbox! Email address. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Battle of Britain - Movie, WW2 & Definition - HISTORY

The Battle of Britain was the intense air battle between the Germans and the British over Great Britain's airspace from July to Maywith the heaviest fighting from July to October Overconfident and with little planning, Germany expected to The Battle of Britain conquer Great Britain by first gaining domination over airspace and then later sending in ground troops across the English Channel Operation Sealion. The Germans began their attack on Great Britain in July At first, they targeted airfields but soon switched to bombing general strategic targets, hoping to crush British morale. Although the Germans continued to bomb The Battle of Britain Britain for months, by October it was clear that the British had won and that the Germans were forced to indefinitely postpone their sea invasion. Share Flipboard Email. Jennifer Rosenberg. History Expert. Jennifer Rosenberg is a historian and writer who specializes in 20th-century history. Updated April 07, Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain was the intense air battle between the Germans and the British over Great Britain's airspace from July to Maywith the The Battle of Britain fighting from July to October ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our. Battle of Britain | History, Importance, & Facts | Britannica

Benjamin Fisz. The film documented the events of the Battle of Britain. The film endeavoured to be an accurate account of the Battle of Britain, when in the summer and autumn of the British RAF inflicted a strategic defeat on the Luftwaffe and so ensured the cancellation of Operation Sea Lion — Adolf Hitler 's plan to invade Britain. The film is notable for its spectacular flying sequences, in contrast with the unsatisfactory model work seen in Angels One Five It was on a far larger scale than had been seen on film before and this made the film's production very expensive. The pilots, along with British and French military, leave just as German aircraft arrive and execute a heavy strafing attack. RAF Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding Laurence Olivierrealising that an imminent invasion The Battle of Britain Great Britain will require every available aircraft and airman to counter it, stops additional aircraft being deployed to France so that they are available to defend Britain. In the next dramatic scene, French civilians watch in grim despair as a convoy of German troops marches into France and takes control. Hundreds of Heinkel He bomber aircraft are stationed under Luftwaffe General Kesselring 's command. Kelly's brave retort, "Don't threaten or dictate to us until you're marching up Whitehall In England, commanders celebrate their good fortune, using the delay to build up their strength The Battle of Britain continually train their pilots and ground controllers. The wait finally ends when Luftwaffe pilots The Battle of Britain orders to move to the front, where troops are preparing for a sea-borne invasion. The campaign begins with The Battle of Britain Luftwaffe launching an early morning assault on " Eagle Day ". The plan is to destroy The Battle of Britain RAF on the ground before they have time to The Battle of Britain their Spitfire and Hurricane fighters. Eagle Day proves highly successful, with attacks The Battle of Britain British radar installations by Stuka dive bombers. Two radar stations are put out of action and a number of British airfields are damaged or destroyed but British losses are relatively light. A grueling battle of attrition ensues, with the RAF airfields under repeated attack while inflicting heavy, but non-critical, damage on the attacking forces. Called to meet Dowding, Leigh-Mallory explains that the " Big Wing " tactic takes time for form up, while Park complains that the tactic simply is not working. Dowding ends the debate noting a critical shortage of pilots, The Battle of Britain remarking, "We're The Battle of Britain for survival, and losing. The turning point occurs when a squadron of German bombers becomes lost in bad weather at The Battle of Britain and drops bombs on London. In retaliation, the RAF attacks Berlin. Though the damage is negligible, an enraged Adolf Hitler publicly orders London to be razed. Their first attack skirts the RAF, who are still defending their airfields to the south, and they bomb unopposed. Night time attacks follow and London burns. One of the film's most poignant scenes takes place during the Blitz. Non-commissioned fighter pilot Andy Moore Ian McShane comes home on leave and is furious to discover that his family have returned to London from their place of evacuation. Meeting them in a shelter during a raid, he gives his children presents of carved model aeroplanes, and tells his wife she must return them to the country at once. As they argue, an ARP warden arrives with news of a family trapped in a burning house. Andy goes to help, but returns later to The Battle of Britain the shelter destroyed by a The Battle of Britain and his family dead. Meanwhile, to supplement Commonwealth forces, the RAF has been forming units of foreign pilots who have escaped German-occupied countries; the main difficulty is their lack of English-language skills. While on a training flight, a Free Polish squadron accidentally runs into an unescorted flight of German bombers. Ignoring the commands of their British training officer, they peel off one by one and shoot down several of the bombers with unorthodox aggressive tactics. Park rewards them by elevating them to operational status, leading Dowding to do the same for the Canadian and Czech squadrons as well. While discussing the day's events, Park and Dowding examine the German switch to London. The Battle of Britain a respite, Park notes that he will be able to repair his airfields and bring his squadrons back to full strength. Dowding adds that 12 Group units north of London are now all within range, while enemy fighters are at the extreme edge of their own range. He concludes that "turning on London could be the German's biggest blunder. The next German daytime raid is met by a massive response; watching his formations build up in 11 Group's operations room, Wing Commander Willoughby Robert Flemyng wryly states "this should give them something to think about. Losses continue to mount The Battle of Britain both sides. The climactic air battle of 15 September arrives, with Winston Churchill in attendance at 11 Group's operations room. In the underground bunker, British ground control personnel order every squadron into the air to meet the massive attack. Intense combat in the sky over London follows, with both sides taking heavy losses. The outcome is so confused that Dowding refuses to comment on the events. The next day the RAF anxiously await a raid that never comes. The Battle of Britain the Luftwaffe is disheartened by heavy losses and also await orders that never come The Battle of Britain resume raiding. Two German anti-aircraft gunners, who had earlier observed a French port teeming with Kriegsmarine vessels and landing barges, now observe a deserted harbour basin. Dowding looks out over the gardens and up to the sky where the words of Winston Churchill appear onscreen: "Never in the field The Battle of Britain human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. The Battle of Britain has a large all-star international cast. Subtitled German-speaking actors were utilised, a departure from other English language British films in the postwar period, where Germans were often played by Anglophone actors. The film required a large number of period aircraft. In September producers Harry Saltzman and S. Mahaddie negotiated use of six Hawker Hurricanes, of which three were flying. However, only one Mk Ia and one Mk IIa the latter with a Battle of Britain combat The Battle of Britain could be made airworthy, so the producers had to use seven other different marks, all of them built later in the war. To achieve commonality, the production made some modifications to "standardise" the Spitfires, including adding elliptical wingtips, period canopies and other changes. To classic aircraft fans, they became known as "Mark Haddies" a play on Grp. Mahaddie's name. A pair of two-seat trainer Spitfires were camera platforms to achieve realistic aerial footage inside the battle scenes. Eight non- flying Spitfires and two Hurricanes were set dressing, with one Hurricane able to taxi. It was fitted with camera positions in what were formerly the aircraft's nose, tail and waist gun positions. The Battle of Britain additional camera, on an articulating arm, was mounted in the aircraft's bomb bay and allowed degree shots from below the aircraft. The top gun turret was replaced with a clear dome for the aerial director, who would co-ordinate the other The Battle of Britain by radio. ND was painted garishly for line-up references [9] and to make it easier for pilots to determine which way it was manoeuvring. When the brightly coloured aircraft arrived at Tablada airbase in Spain in early afternoon of 18 Marchthe comment from Derek Cracknell, the assistant director, was "It's a bloody great psychedelic monster! The Buchons were altered to look more like correct Bf Es, adding mock machine guns and cannon, and redundant tailplane struts, and removing the rounded wingtips. Two Heinkels and the 17 flyable Messerschmitts including one dual-controlled HAM4L two-seater, used for conversion training and as a camera shipwere flown to England to complete the shoot. In addition to the combat aircraft, two Spanish-built Junkers Ju 52 transports were used. Some filming also took place at Bovingdona former wartime bomber airfield. The title sequence scene, showing a review of German bombers on the ground by Fieldmarshal Milch, was filmed at Tablada Airfield in Spain. The village of Chilham in Kent became the base of operations for the radio controllers in the film. Dentonanother Kent village, and its pub, The Jackdaw Inn, features in the film as the location where Christopher Plummer and his on-screen wife argue about her relocating closer to his posting. Another early scene was the Dunkirk recreation which was shot at the beachfront in HuelvaSpain. However camouflage made it difficult to see the aircraft against the ground and sky, so a cloud background was used where possible. After filming began, the English weather proved too unreliable and filming was moved to Hal Far and Luqa Airfields in Malta to complete the aerial sequences. Numerous scenes were shot in the preserved operations rooms, illustrating The Battle of Britain operation of the Dowding system that controlled the fighter squadrons. Much of this footage takes place in 11 Group's operations room, today preserved as the Battle of Britain Bunker. Other scenes take place in Fighter Command's central "filter room" as well as recreations of the squadron ops rooms. One scene shows the hit on Biggin Hill 's ops room, and another shows its relocation to a local bakery, although this is a recreation of another squadron's backup room in a local butcher's shop. Location filming in London was carried out mainly in the St Katharine Docks area where older houses were being demolished for housing estates. Partly demolished buildings represented bombed houses and disused buildings were set on fire. Many extras were survivors of the Blitz. Aldwych tube stationThe Battle of Britain as a wartime air-raid shelterwas also used as a filming location. Almost all the period equipment from the London Fire Brigade Museum was used in the film. Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding's original office, with the original furniture, was used. Permission was granted to the producers to use the Royal Air Force Museum's Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber one of only two that survive intact. The engine was found to be in excellent condition and there was little difficulty in starting it, but returning the aircraft to airworthiness was ultimately too costly for the filmmakers. To recreate airfield scenes in the film, with the limited number of period aircraft available for The Battle of Britain film, large The Battle of Britain models were used. The first requirement was for set decoration replicas. Production of full-size wood and fibreglass Hurricanes, Spitfires and The Battle of Britain s commenced in a sort of production line set up at Pinewood Studios. A number of the replicas were fitted with motorcycle engines to enable them to taxi. Although most of these replicas were destroyed during filming, a small number were made available to museums in the UK. The other need was for models in aerial sequences, and art director and The Battle of Britain maker John Siddall was asked by the producer to create and head a team specifically for this because of his contacts in the modelling community. Over a period of two years, a total of 82 Spitfires, Hurricanes, Messerschmitts and He The Battle of Britain were built. When reviewing the footage of the first crash, the producers noticed a trailing-wire antenna; this was explained by an added cutaway in which the control wires of a Heinkel are seen shot loose. The quote from the 20 August speech was changed when the movie was released on DVD in Onscreen, instead of the quote about "The Few," this Churchill quote appears: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning," which was a reference to the Second Battle of El Alamein being a turning point The Battle of Britain the war. The film is generally faithful to events and, although merging some characters, it sticks to the orthodox view — that the Germans threw away strategic advantage by switching bombing from RAF airfields to London The Battle of Britain revenge for RAF raids on Berlin. Some later scholarship has cast The Battle of Britain on one or another aspect of the orthodox view, arguing either: a that the switch to bombing London was made not for reasons of revenge but because the Germans thought they had already defeated RAF Fighter Command or b that accelerated British aircraft production meant that the prospect of a German victory was never likely this view seems doubtful, in part because the issue was the number of pilots.