Talk:Battle of Britain

What is OKH ?

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If Germany had invaded Britain, it would have to have left its Eastern flank denuded and exposed to a Soviet invasion (which almost certainly would have happened). This threat of a Soviet attack is what led the Germans to abandon the idea of invading Britain, and to invade Russia instead. Is there a good way to work this into the Battle of Britain page?

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1) I added an OKH-wiki

2) I think that would rather belong to the Sealion page, which is not even made.

3) I disagree. Mostly Sealion was canceled because Hitler feared that a failure would have consequences out of proportion with the risk, and a success would allow Japan, Italy and the Soviet Union to grab pieces of the Empire, which he did not like. Besides, even a complete success in Britain would not have necessarily led to a British surrender, they could've fought on from Canada.

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I read in a novel (Connie Willis - To say nothing of the Dog) that the British attack on Berlin was triggered by an accidental bombing of London: A German plane got lost, wanted to get home and just threw out its bombs, as it happens on some part of London. In the book, this is a possible reason Germany lost the war, because (as stated here) the RAF could recuperate. Is that true? --Yooden

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On the 25th August 1940 the Germans attacked a oil depot at Thameshaven; one aircraft got lost, continued west and dropped it's bombs on the City of London. This angered the War Cabinet and that night 80 bombers bombed Berlin in reprisal. But London had already been bombed, albeit only in the suburbs. It wasn't until later the Germans decided to concentrate on bombing cities - and while this benefited the RAF it is difficult to claim it lost the Germans the war. Invading Russia lost the war.

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Once the British had bombed Berlin then the Nazi's felt compelled to retaliate in kind. After the easy victory over France bombing Berlin was one way of returning the war to German territory. Many Nazi officials felt nervous about public morale if the bombing was sustained. As a totalitarian government there was a feeling public support could not be taken for granted and that serious deprivation might provide support for the Nazi's political opponents.

Regardless of who started bombing civilian populations first (and I think there is a consensus that neither side entered the Battle of Britain with an intention of carrying out widespread urban bombing) the decision was a strategic and political mistake as other contributers have pointed out.

As for whether the decision lost the war for Germany it is unlikely that just one decision could have that much impact. It was however one of a series of mistakes that culminated in the German defeat. It could be possibly said that Hitler's failure to either settle with or decisively defeat the British was his first mistake in the war, one which he compounded by embarking on the invasion of Russia without having achieved a decision in the west.

I have another question about this entry, was Churchill really "Master of the Cabinet"? I thought that Churchill's appointment as Prime Minister settled the conflict between the peace faction and that for continuing the struggle. Appointing Halifax would have indicated success for the peace faction.

Even then though the terms of the peace the British were considering were unlikely to be accepted by Hitler as few of the British politicians could accept the dismembering of the Empire or a peace that involved humiliating restrictions on British military power. Any peace terms would have proven difficult to sell to the British public I think. Hitler hoped that Britain could be persuaded to join his attack on Russia which seems naive as well. Were there any realistic proposals being considered that of could have led to peace? Most of those I have heard of seem to be nothing more than pipe dreams.

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I don't thik that the Enigma information was critical in the BoB, it was too early in the war and the information flow too slow. Does anyone known the truth.

From my reading of a book called "The Ultra Secret" by F.W. Winterbotham (a personal account of his involvement in reporting the intelligence to various Allied leaders), he claims it was important, as the British knew the overall German strategy (force the British fighters up so they could be shot down) from intercepts from Goering, and thus led to the tactics of using minimal aircraft at once against the wishes of lower-ranked officers (something I've read about independently in a biography of Douglas Bader, a remarkable gent who despite losing both legs in an accident in 1933 was one of Britain's most successful aces of the war). However, more information on this would probably be good, as one person's personal account (and probably one predisposed to overemphasise Enigma material) isn't ideal for making such assessments. -- Robert Merkel

See also : World War II

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Are the V1 Flying Bomb and V2 rocket considered part of the Battle of Britain per se? If so, could someone add a note on this? Thanks.