The Battle of Britain, which happened during World War II from July 10 to September 10, 1940, made a drastic change in Indian history, and the defeat of the Luftwaffe, Germany’s air force after the fall of France, and the ultimate victory of the Royal Air Force created a milestone in Indian history. The battle was solely fought in the air, and the German government tried to capture the ports of France, which was then under the control of Great Britain. The victory of Great Britain not only suppressed the possibility of invasion but also created Britain’s survivability after the war.

HITLER’S PLAN TO CONQUER BRITAIN

Adolf Hitler thought that after the fall of Rome, Great Britain would seek peace and make a peace settlement, but Britain started to fight. Hitler appointed more armies for the quick end of the fight, and the code name of the operation was Sealion. The Germans tried to get success in any way, as they were trying to take control of the skies over southern England and remove the threat of the Royal Air Force.

TEST OF STRENGTH BETWEEN THE RAF AND THE GERMAN AIR FORCE

The Battle of Britain was an ultimate test of the strength of the RAF, as the British government wanted to secure their military power. In 1918, the RAF was an independent branch of the British armed forces. It started to grow slowly after the First World War, and its rapid expansion after the latter half of 1930 became a threat to Germany. The RAF Fighter Command was established in 1936 under the leadership of Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding.

Germany had been banned from keeping an air force after the First World War, but the Luftwaffe was re-established by the German government in 1940, and it became a more powerful and formidable aircraft force that had faced heavy losses in the Battle of France. The Luftwaffe fought in August with three air fleets and assaulted Britain with full readiness. The RAF met this challenge with their best aircraft in the world, the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire.

THE BRITAIN HAD AN EFFECTIVE AIR DEFENCE NETWORK.

The British developed an air defence network that gave them many benefits in the Battle of Britain. The Dowding system was named after Captain Hugh Dowding. He combined many technologies, such as radar, ground defences, and fighter aircraft, into a unified system of defence. The RAF organized the security of Britain into four geographical areas and named them groups, ‘which were divided into sectors. Each field was equipped with a sector section’ with an operating room where all the fighters were directed to combat.

Radars gave early signs of the Luftwaffe’s raid, and the news was passed to the filter room at Fighter Command Headquarters at Bentley Priory. Once the news of the raid was established, the information was sent to headquarters and then to the sector stations, which gathered the news, and as per the news, they were directed to airborne fighters by radio. The operation room was directed for defence work with anti-aircraft guns, searchlights, and barrage balloons. The Dowding system managed to get the news in a short time, and it allowed the Fighter Command to manage its valuable resources and other fighting equipment during the war.

SEVERAL PHRASES OF THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN

The Battle of Britain took place from July to October 1940, and the Germans targeted the coastal area of the English Channel at first. They showed their first offence on August 13 by attacking inland and other communication centres. The last week of August to September, was the critical period of the war, and the Germans tried to destroy the fighter commands. Airfields, particularly those in the southeast, were damaged but somewhat operational. On August 31^st, Fighter Command was damaged entirely in the whole battle. But the Luftwaffe managed their damage and wrongly concluded that the RAF was the most powerful fighter command. The Germans shifted their attack on September 7^th from Britain and attacked London, and for that, London was greatly affected, and it helped Britain greatly in recovering the loss. On September 15, Fighter Command assaulted the Luftwaffe and caused huge losses that were unsustainable for the Germans. Although fighting would continue for several weeks.

ALL OF THE PILOTS WERE NOT BRITISH

Nearly 3,000 people participated in the Battle of Britain, and Winston Churchill declared it “few”. Most of the pilots were British, but some people came from occupied Europe like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Rhodesia, Belgium, France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, as well as some pilots who came from the United States and Ireland. Two of the four Group Commanders, 11 Group’s Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park and 10 Group’s Air Vice-Marshal Sir Quintin Brand, came from New Zealand and South Africa. The War Cabinet was created with two Polish fighter squadrons, Nos. 302 and 303, in the summer of 1940. These were followed by other national units, including two Czech fighter squadrons. The fighters of the RAF were mainly men, and the highest-scoring pilot was Josef Frantisek.

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN WAS A DEFENSIVE VICTORY FOR BRITAIN

In the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe got a massive blow that was not fully recovered, and even fighter command suffered heavy losses. The British reproduced much aircraft material in advance of the war. The Luftwaffe always missed their critically important targets and damaged their weapons. The constant supply problem of aircraft materials created a problem for the Luftwaffe and assured their defeat. The victory of Britain was defensive, and it gave them hope to fight for the future.