Luftwaffe Tactics In the Battle Of Britain
How The Germans Failed To Defeat Britain in 1940
Nov 8, 2008
The Luftwaffe And Blitzkrieg
That titanic struggle between the previously invincible Luftwaffe and the RAF became known as the Battle of Britain. The Luftwaffe had used highly successful tactics in the invasions of France, the low countries, Norway, and Poland yet these would prove unfruitful in the Battle of Britain. The British were aided greatly by their geographical position, as the Germans had to get across the English Channel to invade Britain.
The Luftwaffe not only had to defeat the RAF it would also need to destroy the Royal Navy once it had gained air supremacy. The Luftwaffe and especially its arrogant commander Herman Goring were confident they could overpower the RAF in the same way that they had destroyed the French and Polish air forces. The intensity as well as the speed of the Luftwaffe attacks against them caught out these opponents.
Luftwaffe Strategy At the Start of The Battle of Britain
However the RAF had better planes in higher quantities than the Belgians, Dutch, the French, and the Poles had done. Initial German tactics also failed to take into account the fact that the British had a sophisticated radar system that allowed the RAF to concentrate its forces more effectively.
At first the Luftwaffe’s main tactic was to attack British coastal convoys and seaports in order to draw out RAF fighter units and destroy them. These tactics failed to weaken the RAF, and the success of the Hurricanes and the Spitfires in defending coastal convoys forced the withdrawal of the dreaded Stuka dive-bombers. The German bombers find it difficult to reach their targets without taking heavy loses due to the limited range of the best German fighter, the Messerschmitt 109.
When the Germans began bombing RAF bases and its radar stations larger groups of Hurricanes and Spitfires were needed to repel the attacks. British fighters from outside the immediate battle zone were not always able to arrive in time to prevent the destruction of air bases as well as radar stations, and were destroyed by the waiting German escorts.
A Disastrous Change Of Strategy
However the Germans then decided to bomb London and other major cities, a mistake of great magnitude that assured the survival of the RAF. Goring had arrogantly assumed that the end of the RAF had in fact been nigh. The RAF indeed were able to cause enough damage to the daylight German bombing raids that these attacks were later switched to night raids only. The switch in strategy allowed the RAF to recover its losses and maintain control of British airspace.
Bibligraphy
Colvin J, (2004) Decisive Battles, Headline, London
Jenkins R (2001) Churchill, Macmillan Press, Basingstoke
Stafford D (1999) Roosevelt & Churchill – Men of Secrets, Little, Brown and Company, London
