A short story on the Battle of Britain that was originally posted here on the 18 Feb 2001.
The Battle of Britain is frequently also regarded as the first major turning point of the war, when the allied forces finally had a turn of the tide against the onslaught of German invasion forces in Europe. Hitler had more or less gobbled up a huge chunk of Europe- including Holland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Poland and France- and was finally facing Great Britain on the shores of France, his old adversary. Great Britain is separated from the main continent of Europe by a channel, and Hitler knew that in order for the island to be invaded, the Royal Air Force would have to be defeated by the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe.
And so it went; for the next 3 months, the very brave British fighter pilots flew against the very skilled bomber and fighter pilots from the Luftwaffe in a violent battle for the skies; dozens and on occasion hundreds of planes from both sides were lost daily, many of their pilots killed as well.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, the Royal Air Force in reality came very close to losing this air war. In simple terms, it was a war of attrition, but the Luftwaffe had more planes and pilots. The Brits were losing more pilots than could be replaced, and at the last juncture in August 1940, Britain had more planes coming out from the production than pilots to fly them. Britain needed a breather and for its pilots and airfields to recuperate- and this came right in the form of a tremendous blunder made by a couple of German pilots from a otherwise normally very professional Luftwaffe. On a routine bombing mission, German bombers sent to hit military targets in Rochester got quite lost, and by mistake dropped their bombs on civilian targets in London instead.
Now, up till this time, both sides had an implicit understanding that civilian cities would not be targeted. But when the bombs hit London- and in reality did very little damage- Sir Winston Churchill (the Prime Minister of Great Britain) immediately sent his bombers to hit Berlin in return. He had been waiting for exactly such an excuse.
Again, the raid on Berlin in reality did very little damage, but Hitler was furious at this British effrontery! He had, after all, boasted to the German people that no Germany city would ever be bombed. And in a critical decision (and a major strategic blunder), he let his vengeful instincts got the better of him. Just at the point when the Royal Air Force was to be broken, he demanded that the Luftwaffe immediately switch targets from air fields to civilian cities instead- and unwittingly relieving the Royal Air Force from the immense pressure it had been under. Thousands of civilian lives were subsequently lost in the bombing of London, but the RAF could recuperate, and it slower grew back to strength- finally defeating the Luftwaffe.
Had Great Britain lost this crucial battle for the skies, our history would had been very different. Germany would most likely had been able to successfully invade the island, and the United States may never had been able to stage the Normandy landings, necessary to free Europe from the Germany occupation armies.