Battle of britain Flashcards
what date was the battle of Britain
July 10th 1940 to October 31st 1940 and the blitz lasted from September 1940 to 11th may 1941
What was the main idea/plan for the Sea lion operation
And then what is the plan in 4 points
Defeat the royal Navy in the invasion area required control of the air
Germany first had to control the sky and sea of the English Channel before a land invasion and so it can not oppose the german crossing and transportation
The plan:
1) Construct a naval Corridor (long passage)
2) block of the shortest route between france and britain
3) line it with minefields and subs and ferry the German Army across it
4) Chruchill claims that Britain could have torn the minefields up and destroyed the subs
How far did Luftwafffe forces outnumber the RAF and what advantages did the RAF have over the Luftwaffe during the attack
3-1
Luftewaffe only had about 10 minutes of fighting time before heading back to refuel
Britain also had radars and Enigma (communication device)
extra
Churchill describes the need to defend a long coastline in Britain meant to set up forces on the perimeter that would stall the enemy and then the largest possible reserve for quick counterattack.
RAF Planes
Hurricane… first RAF plane with a top speed over 300 mph
8 machine guns in the wings
It is estimated that its pilots were credited with four-fifths of all enemy aircraft destroyed in the period July-October 1940.
Spitfire one of the most famous ones "Dream plane" extremly fast 8 machine guns
Luftewaffe
2 machine guns in the nose and two in wing
Messerchimitt 109
ME-109
Stuka
The battle of Britain had two main phases
1)The attack on the RAF (was working/putting extreme pressure on British RAF)
German attacking british channel ports, shipping,fighterbases,radar and conduction attacks on cities and industiral areas
2) and the attack on London, known as the london blitz (actually turned the tide in favor of RAF)
when did the Blitz happen and stats
September 1940 and 43k civillians killed
Why did the battle of Britain happen?
Adolf Hitler aimed to force Britain to submit by bombing, naval blockade or, if necessary, invasion. But to achieve this, he needed air supremacy. So, in the summer and autumn of 1940, a few thousand airmen waged a dogged battle in the skies over Britain.
Did hitler expect britain to surrender after the fall of france?
yes
which plane was the best over 20k feet
above 20,000 feet the Me-109 was undoubtedly the better machine. It dived faster than its opponents, but required much more physical effort to fly.
extra
The weak, narrow undercarriage caused many accidents, but despite this and the cramped cockpit, the aircraft was popular with its pilots.
how many civilians were killed during the London blitz?
43,000 civilians killed
why was the bombing of berlin good and hwo was this Hitlers mistake
because of the bombing of Berlin (Germany’s capitle) The Germans retaliated by altering their focus from an attack on British air power to an attack on England’s civilian population. The British Raf had time to rebuild
extra facts you need to know
By October, Hitler gave up on the bombing of Britain
Too late to launch Sea Lion
Instead, Hitler decided to deal with England via the War in the Atlantic (Wolf Packs)
Starve the British out using U-boats
Hitler will now turn his attention East! Will violate the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.
Reasons why Germany was unsuccessful
-Constant supply problems,
-Germany’s failure to defeat the RAF
-Germans altering their focus from an attack on British air power to an attack on England’s civilian population.
which gave British RAF time to rebuild
-Britain had radars
The London Blitz
The bombing of Berlin caused a change in tactics
The Germans altered their focus from an attack on British air power to an attack on England’s civilian population
Tried to bomb the Brits into submission through terror bombing of London ..
London was bombed after this for 57 consecutive nights…
Many children moved to countryside (Narnia)
