Battling for Britain

As the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain is commemorated this weekend, Michael Alexander speaks to some of those keeping the ‘pivotal’ history alive

E ighty years ago this summer, as Nazi Germany’s seemingly unstoppable Wehrmacht swept through France and drove the exhausted British Army off the beaches at Dunkirk, Britain braced itself for invasion.

What followed between July 10 and October 31 1940, was the first battle in history waged almost exclusively in the air, as Luftwaffe aircraft streamed over Britain with the intent of gaining air superiority and bombing the nation into quick submission.

But the vastly outnumbered pilots of the RAF, who Churchill famously called “The Few”, had other ideas as they stood up to wave after wave of German fighters and bombers, sending a clear message to Hitler that Britain would never surrender.

Today the Battle of Britain is regarded as a pivotal moment when Britain stood alone.

By October 1940, Hitler called off his invasion plans and the Luftwaffe switched to bombing British cities – ultimately turning his attention to the Eastern Front with Russia instead.

It was a key turn of events that eventually led to the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany nearly five years later.

But according to St Andrews University historian Dr Derek Patrick, even if the Luftwaffe had defeated the RAF, it would still have been a “very costly undertaking” for Germany to then invade by sea.

“If you look at what was going on in Europe, the Blitzkrieg had steamrollered most of Europe, France had fallen and we were on the verge of the same,” said Dr Patrick.

“With Britain on the back foot and France out of the war, the Germans had been looking at the whole idea of an amphibious assault on the UK with Operation Sealion.

“But the simple fact was that the logistics of that would have proved really difficult. When the Royal Navy still commanded the English Channel it would have been a very costly undertaking, although without the RAF, the Germans would have had easy pickings targeting Royal Navy vessels.”

Dr Patrick said there’s no doubt that had the Battle of Britain gone the other way, the war could have had a “totally different outcome”.

The Germans were potentially pushing for a negotiated peace or British neutrality – a move that, if successful, would have pushed Britain out of the war.

But with the British refusing to back down, the battle raged on.

The Luftwaffe initially targeted industrial areas and naval targets in the south and south east of England. The focus then turned to the RAF and the idea of neutralising Fighter Command.

By the end of October 1940, the Allies had lost 1,547 aircraft and suffered 966 casualties, including 522 deaths. The Axis’ casualties – which were mostly German – included 1,887 aircraft and 4,303 aircrew, of whom 3,336 died.

In the latter stages of the Battle of Britain, however, the emphasis shifted to German “terror bombing” of civilian

A picture we have of a Master with four ground crew reminds us that Montrose was attacked a lot during the Battle of Britain.