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• The Battle of Britain was fought over southern England between the British Royal Air Force and Germany's Luftwaffe during the summer and fall of 1940 to gain air control over the British RAF's fighter command.

  After invading and defeating Poland, Belgium, Scandinavia and France, the German's Plan, named Operation Sealion, was to bomb Great Britain, followed by a land invasion. Entirely fought by aircraft, the British Royal Air Force fought off the German Luftwaffe with great help amassed from Britain intelligence efforts. First, they had secured from Poland, the method and means to decode Germany's Enigma machine, a cipher machine that encrypted German military transmissions. Second, they had themselves developed Radar and had it installed on the coast of the English Channel. And most importantly, they had a well defined, well led and well trained air force who were defending their own homeland. For Germany, it was retaliation that Adolf Hitler planned for his enemies for World War 1 Treaty of Versailles costs and humiliation.

  British history dates the battle from July 10, to October 31, 1940, which represented the most intense periods of bombing. German history places the dates of the battle from mid August 1940 and ending in May 1941, upon the withdrawal of the bombers in preparation for the attack on Russia.

• Fast Facts:

  1. Code name was Sealion
  2. On August 30-31, 1940, Britain lost 50 aircraft
  3. The name comes from a June 18, 1940 speech in the House of Commons by Prime Minister Winston Churchill
  4. Fought entirely by air forces
  5. August 12, 1940 Luftwaffe attacks British radar stations
  6. Battle name given by Luftwaffe during the Second World War
  7. September 17, 1940 Hitler ordered the halt to prepare for the invasion of Britain
  8. British Losses Aircraft 1,547
  9. British Civilians Killed 27,450
  10. British Wounded 32,138
  11. Result British Victory

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Hitler | Italy | Germany | English Channel | France | England

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