IN your opion what do you think Brtian did that Germany didn't to win the Battle of Britian



Thanks,
B-17engineer

In my opinion I think the only reason the British won the Battle of Britain was because Goeing was an idiot, and should have continued bombing the factories and british airfields, becasue the british couldn't keep up with the pressure. However once the strategy changed to terror bombing (Blitz) the RAF had time to recouperate and repair airfields and factories, so the germans shot them down then they were rebuilt it became a continious circle. Ultimately the germans failed to get air superority over england and operation sealion was postponed and later cancelled.

But hey thats just my opinion.

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In my humble opinion it was, as always the case, a complex combination of things that occured in which the British did things mostly right and the Germans mostly wrong.
Fighter Command was able to hold on just long enough to buy TIME. The time it took for Bomber Command to render many of the German invasion barges useless. These barges were hard to come by and their losses were a major blow. RAF Bomber Command airmen felt that they have been continually overlooked in all the history books about their contribution to the Battle of Britan. I suppose most will say that the turning point in the battle was the Sept 7th raid on London. The Germans, misled by their intellience regarding Figher Command strength, switched to bombing London after the Luftwaffer bungle on the night of 24-25 August. Sperrle wanted to continue concentrating on airfields but Kesslering argued that the RAF would pull back north and only the defence of London - a target they had to defend - would draw them out to fight. However this led to the restoration of Figher Command the Battle of Britain was won.
At this point it was now more than ever a battle of attrition and Hitler inexplicably cut aircraft production in Sept of 1940 when their losses were more than new aircraft built.
So, it was more than just THE FEW who won the Battle of Britain.

Personally I think it was the radar that made it possible to win the BoB. Thus the fighter planes were almost always directed to the attackers with precision and accurate timing.

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geord is quite right - there are many factors involved. As we've said here many times, another thing the Germans did wrong was to rely on faulty intelligence ; this led to the wrong airfields being targeted, for instance.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

IIRC, Hermann's IQ was 140, not quite an idiot.

Those "invasion" barges were taken from the normal civilian river and inland channel transportation system, on which so much of the German, Dutch and Belgian economy depended (Rhine, Maas, etc, complexes). Just the fact that these (totally unsuitable for invasion work, by the way) barges were immobilised as becoming a more and more serious problem for the economy as so much depended on them. Having them doing noyhing in the French ports was becoming more and more unbearable as the economy was grinding to a stop, no to mention the numbers that were being sunk courtesy of the BC.

Yes, it was more than The Few, actually The Many, God bless them.

Actually, how effective was the airfield bombing? How many fighters were destroyed on the ground, how many pilots got killed, how many ground specialist (erks etc) were killed, how much plant was rendered useless and for how long? Was this airfield bombing effective at all?

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I agree with KP and the great help radar was to the British. Finding aircraft in the air is not easy, even on a clear day.

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Dosnt Make him a good combat leader Za.

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They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them. Lest We Forget

Yea, I was thinking radar and keeping the pressure on Britain with bombing and taking out there industries

Yes, Tomcat, as I say elsewhere he would be better off taking care of his toy train layouts and art "collection" than playing at wars.

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Why didn't the Luftwaffe win the Battle of Britain ?

There are many reasons that have been mentioned. However possibly the most important reason hasn't.

Logistics

Logistics and the Battle of Britain | Air Force Journal of Logistics | Find Articles at BNET.com

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if in doubt....Panic!!!!

The figure for serviceable RAF fighters destroyed on the ground for the whole of the Battle Of Britain is approximately 20

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if in doubt....Panic!!!!

Wow! Foolproof recipe for success!

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When the Germans concentrated on the airfields, it was more than just the number of aircraft destroyed on the ground. It was also all the repair and support facilities, ammunition and fuel stockpiles and condition of the airfield. Continual bombing forced the fighter squadrons to take off and defend their airfields every time the Germans came plus regular patrols and interceptions from sector control. Pilots became exhausted and their attrition caused more concern than just the aircraft.

Quite right - if the Luftwaffe's Intel had been accurate, the reults could have been devastating. As it was, valuable effort was expended on such non-front-line stations as Ford, Detling, Eastchurch, etc - and navigational errors caused Croydon ( a Satellite airfield ) to be attacked instead of Kenley ( a Sector airfield ) etc......

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

bomb the fighter bases, using a combination of high bombers (do-17 and he-111s) while the ju-87 and 88s would do low-level weasel attacks. force the fighters to fight over their own airfields.

I thought that that was what the Luftwaffe were trying to do, anyway ?

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

on the second phase and they were actually winning. but churchill ordered the bombing of berlin and that caused ther shift to bombing london, aloowing the fighters to recover.

Despite 'actually winning', the Ju87 was withdrawn from the Battle after August 18th having suffered unsustainable losses. The tactic of attacking airfields had already failed ; the only Sector Station ever to be put out of action was Biggin Hill, and then only for a few hours on September 1st.

The 'Hitler spite' regarding the attack on London theory is an old chestnut. Kesselring had, from the outset of the Battle, pressed for an all-out attack on London to draw the RAF fighters into battle. Sperrle disagreed and argued that the RAF should be destroyed on the ground. As we have discussed here many times before, actual ground losses for the RAF were minimal and Kesselring's view that the RAF should be forced into the air by massed attacks on a single target in daylight finally prevailed in September. Hitler made his famous speech for Political reasons but the daylight attack was made for military reasons.

The salient point which everyone seems to overlook is that the Battle of Britain was fought by Germany with the objective of a swift, overwhelming Political victory ( ie a collapse of National will, as had happened in the Blitzkrieg on the Low Countries ).

And, tough though it may be to some to have to admit it, they lost.

And, if they'd continued attacking airfields and relying on their 'Intelligence', they'd still have lost.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Really? At the rate the RAF was losing fighters and fighter pilots?

And at the rate the Luftwaffe was losing aircraft which it was going to need for Barbarossa - yes.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

The airfields may have not been completely knocked out but there was alot of damage to them and the factories and you don't think that had the german invasion had worked that the captured british industry could produce enough aircraft to replenish the lost aircraft needed for Barbarossa?

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They shall grow not old as we that are left grow old Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them. Lest We Forget

A lot of vagueness on this thread.

Which airfields ? Which factories ? ( How much damage to the shadow factories in the North of England ? ) Why would the British have not destroyed the factories and jigs in the North if the Country had been invaded in the South ?

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson