How Hitler Lost the Battle of Britain

On This Day in History: October 31, 1940

After the German Blitzkrieg steamrolled France in a matter of weeks, things were looking pretty bleak for poor, isolated Britain. Repelling the Nazi invasion of the islands would rely upon the bravery of a handful of skilled aviators, observation, wing design, silk, and Hitler’s dumbfuckery.

--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: October 31, 1940--

After the evacuation at Dunkirk, which the Royal Air Force did provide air cover for, despite the prevailing myth, the Battle of Britain began. The attacks by the Luftwaffe (Germany’s air force) were intended to force Britain into either an armistice or full surrender. But the British weren’t having it. Because fuck Nazis.

The German plan was to first wipe out Britain’s air power, and then consider an amphibious invasion. But that operation never came about, because the RAF kicked some Luftwaffe ass. How? First, the RAF fighter pilots were well-trained volunteers. To become an “ace” you needed to shoot down five enemy aircraft. Almost two hundred airmen achieved that distinction during the battle, and four pilots became aces in a single day of fighting. These dudes were badass.

Second, they had the home-field advantage. Any German aircrews who were shot down and parachuted to the ground spent the rest of the war in a prison camp, but a British pilot making his silky landing had some farmer drive him back to his base so he could jump in another fighter plane and shoot down more Germans.

Another was that the Spitfire, a primary fighter craft of the RAF, had a tighter turning rate than the German Messerschmitt, due to a curved wing design. The latter had some other advantages, but the Spitfire had a slight edge in a dogfight. While Spitfires engaged in dogfights with enemy fighters, RAF pilots in “workhorse” Hurricane fighters focused on destroying German bomber aircraft.

More important was who saw whom first, and this is where the Observer Corps came in. Using a combination of rudimentary radar and a chain of people with binoculars scanning the skies, they could report enemy locations to RAF pilots in their fighters so they could dash in and send the Luftwaffe invaders off to Nazi hell.

Then, a “fortunate” accident. During one engagement a German bomber, apparently unintentionally, dropped bombs on civilian areas of London. The Brits were all “Blow up our civilians, will you?” and retaliated with a not-terribly-successful bombing raid on Berlin to do the same. Hitler was pissed—how dare those limey fucks bomb his capital!—and shifted strategy away from attacking RAF airfields and aircraft manufacturing, and toward blowing up Londoners for some payback. Beginning on September 7, 1940, Germany bombed London for fifty-seven days in a row. Prior to this, the RAF was on the verge of obliteration from the constant German onslaught focused on wiping them out, but Hitler’s shift to bombing London gave the RAF the few weeks’ respite they needed to get more pilots and planes ready to counterattack.

No longer being a primary target, the RAF quickly bounced back and before long were shooting down German bombers faster than they could be replaced. Having lost the opportunity to attain air superiority over Britain, any chance of a German amphibious invasion of England was lost. Victory in the Battle of Britain was declared on October 31, 1940.

Those who cannot remember the past need a history teacher who says “fuck” a lot. Get both volumes of On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down.