July 1940: Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain was the name given to the intensive bombing and air campaign undertaken by the Luftwaffe against Britain between July and October 1940. During this period, Germany attempted to attain air superiority over the British air force over both the English Channel and the British Isles. It was one of the largest air battles of history, with both sides losing almost 2,000 aircraft each. The Luftwaffe bombing campaign, which deliberately targeted civilian areas in addition to military and industrial targets, resulted in around 35,000 civilian casualties, including 14,000 deaths. After the end of the Battle of Britain in October 1940, a less focused bombing campaign, known as the Blitz, focused on London continued until May 1941.

Hitler did not actually want to fight Britain as he did not believe that Germany and Britain had conflicting interests. He was convinced that, at some point, Britain would recognize this fact and seek peace terms from Germany, allowing Hitler to focus on planning an invasion of the USSR. Hitler had never expected Britain to declare war over Poland and, when this happened, expected Britain to seek peace after German victory over France. Even after this failed to happen, Hitler believed that Britain would surrender if pressed and ordered the Battle of Britain as a way of demonstrating to Britain the costs of war and convincing them to seek peace terms. To this end, German planes focused on disrupting maritime traffic in the English Channel and attacking strategic targets in Britain. Bombing was seen as the preferred way to achieve British surrender, as Germany had an advanced air force and lacked the equipment necessary for an amphibious invasion of Britain.

The Battle of Britain was unsuccessful from both a military and strategic perspective. Germany failed to achieve air superiority over Britain, as the Luftwaffe was never able to totally destroy the British air force. The advantages of the Luftwaffe had been exaggerated before the war and, in addition, almost one-third of the force had been destroyed in the Battle of France. The British air force was able to equal Germany in important engagements in numbers of quality of aircraft. Although Germany was successful at disrupting shipping in the English Channel, its bombing of British industry was too widely scattered to cripple key industries necessary to the war effort. Although many Britons were frightened by the bombing and wanted to surrender, the new British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, rallied the Conservative Party behind him to oppose any peace deal with Germany. Thus, despite popular pressures, the Battle of Britain failed to produce British surrender. Eventually, the material costs of the campaign were too high and Germany was forced to scale the bombing campaign back.