1 SEPTEMBER / SEPTEMBRE 2020 VOL. 54, NO. 9 Remembering the Battle of Britain 80 years later En souvenir de la bataille d’Angleterre 80 ans plus tard Article by: R.D. Newman, Wing Heritage Officer 80 years have elapsed since the Battle of Britain. Most Canadians, including in the armed forces, have never heard of it. To many of those who have, it is a blip of history in an ancient, largely forgotten war. The question begs: so why do we bother to commemorate it? Because that single three-and-a-half-long month battle in summer 1940 decided more than the survival of Britain--the fate of the entire world and its 2 ½ billion people were at stake. September 1939 Nazi Germany fell upon Poland, enslaving and murdering its people, starting the Second World War, then over the next 10 months swept through Western Europe (neutral countries excepted) until only Britain was left standing. Britain was key to the world. If it was defeated, Germany would gain total dominion over Europe and be impossible to dislodge. Its armies would be free to strike at Russia, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Meanwhile, since 1936 Japan been waging a campaign to conquer the Far East, with an Hit by gunfire from the twin-engine German Heinkel He-111 bomber seen here, a flaming Royal Air Force Spitfire fighter flashes by the eye to seize all of Asia. And Italy had been bomber as its pilot seeks room to bail out. Taken during combat, the image is naturally grainy. Image Courtesy and Copyright Bundesarchiv rampaging in Africa and the Mediterranean, Koblenz All Rights Reserved. hoping to build a new glorious Roman Frappé par les coups de feu du bombardier bimoteur allemand Heinkel He-111 vu ici, un chasseur flamboyant Spitfire de la Royal Air Empire. With the British Isles in German Force passe devant le bombardier alors que son pilote cherche de la place pour s’éjecter. Prise au combat, l’image est naturellement hands, British forces in these regions of granuleuse. Image courtoisie et copyright Bundesarchiv Koblenz Tous droits réservés Earth would have lost the support from home needed to fight them off. Airplanes fell like confetti. In the two-week their Allies who had won the day. libres de frapper la Russie, l’Afrique, l’Asie In short, the loss of Britain would allow period of 24 August to 6 September alone, the The Battle of Britain raged on for six more et le Moyen-Orient. Germany, Japan and Italy to subjugate two- RAF and it Allies lost 466 fighters and suffered thirds of the Earth’s peoples. weeks, but the German attacks slowly ran Pendant ce temps, depuis 1936, le Japon 238 pilots killed or wounded. The survival rate of out of steam. mène une campagne pour conquérir Only Iceland, Australia, New Zealand and a fighter pilot dropped to an average of 14 days. l’Extrême-Orient, dans le but de s’emparer the Americas would remain unmolested. By 31 October 1940, the Germans abandoned The Germans kept coming and coming. One their plans to invade Britain altogether. de toute l’Asie. Et l’Italie s’était déchaînée en But between Germany’s U-boat program, winding, clawing engagement sprawled Afrique et en Méditerranée, dans l’espoir de development of ballistic missiles, and over an air battlefield 80 miles wide, 50 And the world-—for the moment-—had construire un nouvel empire romain glorieux. research into nuclear weapons, their days miles long and 5 miles high. been saved. Avec les îles britanniques entre les mains des of freedom were numbered. The British and Allied pilots were so worn Hence, why we still commemorate the Allemands, les forces britanniques dans ces It was like the story in a novel, except it was out that some fell asleep in their cockpits Battle of Britain, 80 years later? To honour régions de la Terre auraient perdu le soutien real—Britain was the last line in the sand to when they landed. the thousands of men and women of the de la maison nécessaire pour les combattre. stopping three ruthless, sinister powers from air defences-—especially the 3,000 fighter En bref, la perte de la Grande-Bretagne conquering the planet. By September 1940 an air of depression pilots, including 104 Canadians and 11 gripped the defenders. The Luftwaffe permettrait à l’Allemagne, au Japon et The goal of the Battle of Britain was for the Americans-—who stepped up when it à l’Italie de soumettre les deux tiers des seemed to have an infinite well of men and mattered most, refused to cave in when Luftwaffe, Germany’s air force, to destroy airplanes, their attacks raining on England peuples de la Terre. the Royal Air Force (RAF) and seize control their backs were up against the wall, and, without end. ultimately, showed that Nazi Germany could, Seules l’Islande, l’Australie, la Nouvelle- of British skies as a prelude to invasion. Zélande et les Amériques resteraient With the RAF out of the way, the German The fall of Britain seemed just a matter of indeed, be beaten. days. Said one British squadron leader, “I sans encombre. Mais entre le programme invasion fleet would be free to storm For this gift we extend to them our most allemand de sous-marins, le développement England’s shores relatively unimpeded. was convinced we were beaten, that we had heartfelt thanks. lost the battle.” de missiles balistiques et la recherche sur The Battle lasted from 10 July to 31 October --------------------------- les armes nucléaires, leurs jours de liberté 1940, and was fought in three phases. First, Two things saved the day. First, radar étaient comptés. Par: R.D. Newman, the Luftwaffe hammered ports, shipping and stations lining the British coast could see the Luftwaffe hordes on their scopes gathering officier du patrimoine de l’escadre C’était comme l’histoire d’un roman, sauf naval installations along the English Channel qu’elle était réelle - la Grande-Bretagne over France for an attack. Augmented by 80 ans se sont écoulés depuis la bataille to choke off Britain’s supply lines. Next, RAF était la dernière ligne dans le sable pour observers on the ground watching with d’Angleterre. La plupart des Canadiens, y airfields, defences and aircraft factories empêcher trois puissances impitoyables et binoculars, radar gave the RAF up to compris dans les Forces armées, n’en ont were attacked to exterminate the defenders. sinistres de conquérir la planète. Last came the “Blitz”, Luftwaffe terror raids 20 minutes warning of a raid—-precious jamais entendu parler. Pour beaucoup de against British cities, especially London. time allowing the fighters to scramble and ceux qui l’ont fait, c’est une histoire dans une L’objectif de la bataille d’Angleterre était pour intercept the enemy. guerre ancienne, largement oubliée. la Luftwaffe, l’aviation allemande, de détruire la Airmen from more than a dozen countries, Royal Air Force (RAF) et de prendre le contrôle Second, in September the Luftwaffe La question se pose: alors pourquoi prenons- including Canada, fought alongside the British. du ciel britannique en prélude à l’invasion. Yet from the outset it seemed hopeless. When switched the focus of its attacks from the nous la peine de la commémorer? RAF to British cities. It was a huge mistake. Avec la RAF à l’écart, la flotte d’invasion the Battle began the Germans outnumbered Parce que cette seule bataille de trois mois The Luftwaffe had the RAF by the throat; allemande serait libre de prendre d’assaut les the Allies 5 to 1, and sent huge waves of et demi de l’été 1940 a décidé plus que no longer targeted the RAF and their Allies côtes anglaises relativement librement. aircraft pouring into Britain. la survie de la Grande-Bretagne - le sort recovered, grew in strength, and began La bataille a duré du 10 juillet au 31 octobre du monde entier et de ses 2,5 milliards In one raid 300 Allied interceptors brawled decimating the German raids. 1940 et s’est déroulée en trois phases. with over 2,100 German aircraft. d’habitants était en jeu. On Sunday, 15 September-—now Premièrement, la Luftwaffe a martelé les Septembre 1939, l’Allemagne nazie est tombée In another, a lone squadron of 12 RAF commemorated as Battle of Britain Day—the ports, les installations maritimes et navales sur la Pologne, asservissant et assassinant fighters, including one flown by a Canadian, Germans launched two massive raids back- le long de la Manche pour étrangler les lignes son peuple, déclenchant la Seconde Guerre charged headlong into 200 of the enemy—- to-back to fix the situation and pulverize the d’approvisionnement britanniques. Ensuite, mondiale, puis au cours des 10 mois suivants, by the time the Allies broke off for home defenders. RAF radar screens were saturated les aérodromes, les défenses et les usines elle a balayé l’Europe occidentale (à l’exception base, the German horde had swollen to 700. with attackers. Every fighter in the southeast d’avions de la RAF ont été attaqués pour des pays neutres) jusqu’à ce que seule la Johnny Kent, from Winnipeg, took on 40 of England was airborne. There were no exterminer les défenseurs. Enfin, le «Blitz», Grande-Bretagne reste debout. German attackers single-handedly, and reserves left, if more Germans came. des raids terroristes de la Luftwaffe contre La Grande-Bretagne était la clé du monde. des villes britanniques, en particulier Londres. somehow escape with his life. Incredibly, despite being spectacularly Si elle était vaincue, l’Allemagne gagnerait Many pilots weren’t so lucky.