Essay --

The Battle of Britain began July 10th 1940 when Germany launched the first bombing raid against Great Britain. Hitler, the chancellor of Germany and dictator of Nazi Germany, declared, â€Å"The German Air Force is to overcome the British Air Force with all means at its disposal, and as soon as possible.† Hitler’s goal was for Germany to achieve superiority in the skies by gaining the possesion of the airspace owned by Great Britain. It was after successfully occupying France that Germany turned its sights on Britain and gathered their forces in preparation for an air assault. On July 10th the onslaught commenced. Germany’s Air Forces struck at British shipping convoys in the channel off the south coast of Britain. Occasionally they dive-bombed the cargo ships, but the first phase of the attack was mostly just a way to get things moving. It was relatively simple, Hitler wanted to give his pilots an opportunity to train and also wanted to observe Britain's defenses. British pilots and resources took a severe hit defending the convoys, and eventually they were forced to re-route the convoys in order to avoid the Channel. Attacks on the convoys lasted up until the 12th of August. During this time raids were also made on the ports of Dover and Plymouth, two important Royal Navy shore establishments.Three days after the Battle’s beginning the Luftwaffe, the aerial warfare branch of the German Air Force during World War Two, began to lay mines around Britain. This tactic would continue on into early September. During the first phase of Germany’s assault The Royal Air Force was dangerously outnumbered, however they also had many favorable assets. One of their greatest advantages being that they possessed a radar that was considered to be th... ...y the end of phase two more raids had been ordered on Royal Air Force airfields, and there seemed to be no end in sight, and it just got worse in phase three. Phase three marked the beginning of Germany targeting not just military, but also civilian establishments. In the night heavy bombing raids commenced over london. These raids continued regularly into late september, and to a lesser severity proceeded to happen for several years. Because of a setback on August 24th due to poor weather conditions and a dwindling number of bombers Germany was forced to change tactics. They set their sights back southeast and worked on taking out Flight Command. The German Air Force managed to be successful in heavily damaging six out of seven primary bases in the southeast part of of England. In some cases the bases had suffered enough damage to seriously limit their efficiency.