Thread: Truth of Britain

Enough said there
Well I will run up to the local Blockbuster and see if they have that in the store anywhere. But also are there any more recent movies dealing with the Battle of Britain?

Just how many air raids were lead against Germany by the British?

you are maybe forgetting the royal navy.if the german barges came across the channel,the navy over 120 ships strong,would have sallied forth and destroyed those german river barges big time.imagineH.M.S Warspite spewing out 15in shells.17pdr.

There were some fundamental errors of judgement made by the German high command, failures in intelligence, mistakes by aircrews and too much reliance on dogma for Germany to have ever staged a major invasion.

The errors of judgment were due largely to failures in intelligence, with German fighter pilots and reconnaissance for whatever reason over-claiming the amount of damage caused to RAF airfields and aircraft destroyed, however the German order of battle was placing almost intolerable pressure of Fighter Command.

They also failed to appreciate the set up and functioning of “Chain Home”, believing that the RDF stations on the south and east coast were similar to their own early radar installations which were used primarily for watching seaborne traffic in the English Channel. Sustained pressure on these installations could have blinded Fighter Command almost permanently.

Attacks were diverted from Chain Home in favour of destroying the RAF on the ground, if not the aircraft in the air, then the fighter aerodromes, and had the pressure been sustained for a week or two longer, who’s to say whether the RAF would have succumbed.

Legend has it that one German bomber was unsure of its location and having failed to find their target decided to jettison their bomb load, (un)fortunately on London; leading to Churchill being so enraged that he raised the moratorium on the bombing of German cities and ordered an immediate reprisal attack on Berlin. Hitler then ordered than English cities especially London should also be bombed; which became “The Blitz”.

Switching the Luftwaffe effort from attacks on RAF airfields to raids on London gave Fighter Command the valuable breathing space and time to re-arm and re-organise.
And so, on September 15th 1940 the Battle of Britain was won, but it was as Wellington said after the Battle of Waterloo “A damned close run thing”.

But what if?

Had the Luftwaffe destroyed the RAF in south east England and the invasion actually happened.

The first thing to remember is that Fighter Command was split into Groups and there is little doubt that Dowding would not have thrown every aircraft and pilot into the fray; he would have held some in reserve further north ready for some counter action.
And then there were the ground defences of southern England which while on the surface seemed a little makeshift were quite formidable with numerous stop lines at intervals between the coast and Whitehall.

Back in the 1970s the Royal Military Academy enlisted the help of many of the German and British staffs in order to test the actual Operation Sealion battle plans and they found that even though German troops would have been landed and started to break out from their landing points, the problems with the landing barges, supply lines and re-enforcements would have resulted in the occupation lasting between three days and a week.

Unlike the “Overlord” landings four years later, where the allies had planned for and designed equipment for specific tasks such as the Higgins boat landing craft, Mulberry harbours, PLUTO and an overwhelming force of numbers, Operation Sealion would seem to have been an ill conceived and half baked plan which was doomed to failure.

But that’s the benefit of hindsight.

like Kelly, I do not quite know what to make of this! From where did FD get this idea?
Jasmor58

What ever the reason the BEF got home makes good reading.