The Battle of Britain, World War II, RADA technology
The Battle of Britain was an encounter between British air force, the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the German air force, the Luftwaffe. The aerial battle took place in the United Kingdom in 1940. Germany had planned an invasion, named "Operation Sealion", in Britain. For Germany to execute the attack successfully, they had to eliminate the British air force to avoid it from interfering with the invasion. German's first attack was in August of 1940 on British airfields and cities targeting to bring out the RAF and wipe them down (Tedder, 2010).
Britain used its RADA technology, even with Germany's underestimation, to decode Germany's communication to learn of the next planned attacks. In the month of August, Germany lost 699 units while Britain lost 366 units forcing Hitler to cancel the planned invasion, accepted Britain's defeat but continued to bomb. From the start of Germany's invasion of Britain, Germany lacked strategic attack plans, mainly due to lack of coherence, consistency, and clearly outlined aims, despite its resources supremacy, made it lose The Battle of Britain (Holman, 2012).
German's general Hermann Goering's haphazard and indecisive way of conducting Luftwaffe's operations contributed to the failure of Germany in The Battle of Britain. Goering fear of Hitler contributes to his making disastrous decisions that hindered Germany from winning the war. According to Johnson (1998), two major decision made by Goering were key contributors to Germans defeat (Browne, 2004).
[...] The decision shows the questionable thinking of the German's command. The Planned Operation Sealion was questioned due to the suspicion that the German forces could not have rendered a successful invasion. It is believed that even if the Germans had won in the air, they could notwithstanding have been unsuccessful in the Operation Sealion. The Germans had planned to attack Britain using 16,000 men over a 40 miles coastline that could have led them into the arms of the RAF. [...]
[...] The Battle of Britain, in 1940 and "Big Week," in 1944: A Comparative Perspective. Air Power History, 34-45. Hinsley, F. H. (2013). Hitler's strategy. Cambridge University Press. Holman, B. (2012). 'Bomb Back, and Bomb Hard': Debating Reprisals during the Blitz* 'Bomb Back, and Bomb Hard': Debating Reprisals during the Blitz. Australian Journal Of Politics & History, 394-407. [...]
[...] The wasted time was again on the side of Britain because it took the time to rebuild its forces and strategies. Lack of a strategic plan for executing the attacks from the Luftwaffe made Germany lose the war to Britain. For example, Germany had no strategic plan or made adequate preparation to launch an attack on Britain until the end of June 1940. The reports by the Ministry of Defense in 1938 and 1939 confirmed that an air attack alone could not make British to surrender. [...]
[...] (2010). The most dangerous enemy: a history of the Battle of Britain. Aurum Press Limited. Cumming, A. J. (2010). The warship as the ultimate guarantor of Britain's freedom in 1940. Historical Research, 83(219), 165-188. doi: 10.1111 /j.1468- 2281.2007 .00451.x Harvey, A. D. (2012). [...]
[...] Germany underestimated the military capability of Britain in terms of military aircrafts available and their capacity to produce to replacement. However, Britain overestimated the capacity of Germany in terms of available planes and ability to produce for replacement. Consequently, Germany always thought that they were almost getting to triumph Britain while Britain always kept on hanging on believing that Germany still had more power in store in the form of aircrafts. Even though Germany started with a larger number of planes, its production capability could not match that of Britain throughout the battle period. [...]
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