Why Did Britain Win the Battle of Britain?

Why Did Britain win the battle of Britain?

Following the defeat of France and the evacuation of British troops from the beaches of Dunkirk, Hitler's Nazi forces occupied all of central Europe and Britain stood alone against the German forces. Hitler ordered the preparation of operation Sea lion, which was the codename for the invasion of Britain. The only thing that prevented German forces crossing the channel was the RAF's dominance of the skies above Britain and so Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to engage, and so began a series of aerial engagements above British countryside between the months of June and October 1940. After months of intense dogfights, the RAF emerged victorious and operation Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely.

In this essay I will examine the reasons why the RAF won the battle of Britain, and what affect this outcome had on the rest of the war. There are many subtle advantages that the RAF held over the Luftwaffe, despite being outnumbered more than two to one, the first of which being superior equipment. The spitfire and hurricane planes were faster and more agile than their German counterparts. This meant that RAF pilots could navigate the battle field more easily and shoot down more of the enemy. There was also the advantage of being on home turf, which not only meant that if a British pilot was shot down and lived, he could fight again whilst if a German lived, he was a POW, but also that British planes could fight longer as they didn't expend fuel flying to the battlefield. In the technology department Britain was also superior, thanks to the invention of radar, which provided Britain with an early warning system to scramble the fighters before the enemy planes arrived. The Germans also suffered from poor leadership and some pretty baffling decisions. After the defeat of France, Germany had the chance to press the advantage and begin the assault on the British Isles immediately. Shocked and weakened by the events that occurred around Dunkirk, Britain was in no state to resist a German advance, yet Hitler decided to give Britain the chance to surrender instead. This proved fatal to the Nazi war effort as it gave Britain the chance to prepare and recover enough to counter the German attack.

Another problem was Goerings underestimation of the RAFs potential,