Friday 31 July 2015

What was the Battle of Britain? ...and who were The Few?


The American journalist Ralph Ingersoll thought that:

The Battle of Britain was important in history as Waterloo or Gettysburg


What was the Battle of Britain?

...maybe the answer depends on who you ask!

Answer 1: No Idea!

According to the results of a survey carried out by the RAF Benevolent Fund for the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain (published by The Telegraph on 10 July 2015), of 1,000 people asked:

40% of today's young people have no idea of what the Battle of Britain is
Only half of all adults knew that The Few is a reference to those who fought in the Battle of Britain
One in ten 18-24 year olds thought the Battle of Britain took place last year
The same number thought the Battle of Britain referred to a Viking attack

Answer 2: Spitfires and Dashing Pilots

Spitfires look fantastic nowadays, they must have looked even more so during the 1940s when the previous frontline fighters were bi-planes. Some of the pilots were young, rich, well educated, drove fast sports cars and looked very dashing.

At a time when public morale was everything and large numbers of RAF aircraft were flying over the Home Counties, it would have made great sense to have publicised these dashing pilots on posters and in films.

In actuality, pilots came from all backgrounds and all parts of the Empire and a great number of them were not even officers.

Whilst the Spitfire is still one of the prettiest aircraft ever made, there were actually more Hurricanes than Spitfires during the Battle of Britain and they shot down more enemy aircraft.


Answer 3: The Greatest Air Battle Ever Fought

Germany had some 2,500 aircraft ranged against the UK. The RAF had some 600+ fighters. There was no doubt that the people who witnessed the Battle of Britain must have been in awe of the numbers involved.

The noise, the destructive power, the sight of hundreds of aircraft, wave after wave...something that may never be seen again.

Answer 4: When Britain Fought Alone against the Might of an Undefeated Nazi Germany

As "under-dog" stories go, the Battle of Britain has surely got to be up there with the best. Germany was huge and its industrial might was immense. Then after the fall of France, Germany had most of Continental Europe under its command.

Since the fall of France, Germany could launch air attacks and an invasion from anywhere along the East Coast but also anywhere along our South Coast too.

The Luftwaffe had more aircraft than the RAF, it had more experience, better tactics and arguably better equipment.

Answer 5: When Britain Turned the Tide of the War Against Germany

When war was declared on 3 September 1939, fear and anxiety seared through every family in the Realm.

The hideous violence of the Great War (as it was known then, only later to be known as the First World War), the War to End All Wars, was still fresh in living memory.

So many families had lost fathers, brothers and sons - gassed, machine-gunned, blow apart or drowned. Many of those that survived had missing limbs and many more had psychological damage. Almost every family had been affected or knew one that was.

It is these memories and images that went through the minds of families when they heard Neville Chamberlain declare war on the radio 3 September 1939.

Terrible though the First World War was, the next war was feared to be even worse. Air warfare technology had transformed. Modern aircraft could go higher, faster, further and carry bomb loads of unspeakable destructive power.

There was a feeling that "the bomber would always get through" and that they would not just drop high explosives but incendiaries and, the most feared of all, gas!

The entire population was issued with gas masks. It was an offence to be in public without carrying your gas mask.

By July 1940, UK families had lost 100,000 of their fathers, brothers and sons in the fall of France. Another 200,000 had only just made it home by the skin of their teeth and with the determination of the Royal Navy and it's fleet of Little Ships. They had lost their children, sent to the countryside to avoid the horrors of aerial bombing. The sea shores were off limits and covered in minefields and barbed wire. Local recreation grounds were now the homes of barrage balloons, search lights and anti-aircraft guns. Long cherished gardens had been dug up to plant vegetables and bury bomb shelters. Almost everybody, it seemed, was wearing military uniform or had become part of the war effort in civilian life as air raid wardens, fire watchers, working on farms or in factories or in hospitals or raising money.

The whole of Continental Europe had fallen to Nazi Germany in weeks. Two of the greatest armies in the world (of France and Britain) had been brushed aside with heavy losses. German forces were only a few short miles across the Channel. To the entire world, it seemed that England was next.

Refugees from Belgium and Occupied Europe had made it across the Channel with horrific stories of torture and summary executions. There could be little doubt in the minds of the ordinary British public that if Germany succeeded in invading the UK that political elites, academics, engineers and anybody in a leadership position would be imprisoned, deported or executed.

Can it be any wonder that when the new Prime Minister Winston Churchill with his rousing speeches in June about never surrendering that it captured the hearts and minds of the entire population.

The Home Fleet of the Royal Navy were given the job of destroying any invasion fleet that headed for UK shores. The Royal Navy was a formidable fighting force and one that is widely thought to have been our saviour should Hitler have actually attempted an invasion... but they were far out to sea and away from the public gaze.

The Royal Air Force on the other hand were flying frequently over homes, factories and farms going out to meet the enemy. With the roar of their Merlin engines and disciplined formations they must have been an exciting and encouraging sight for the desperate eyes of a frightened public.

The public could see swirling vapour trails as "our boys" engaged the enemy. Sometimes they'd see enemy aircraft shot down or even crash-land close by. It was a visible and tangible sight that gave weight to Churchill's assertion that: "we will never surrender."

I don't think Churchill can have over-stated it when he said that:

"....the gratitude of every home in our Island...goes out to the airmen who...are turning the tide of the war."

The reality is that the British Army and Royal Navy were every bit as involved in the prevention of the much feared invasion as the Royal Air Force was...but the RAF were always present, above the homes of the anxious...and they were winning...despite being dreadfully out-numbered and suffering dreadful losses.

...and for that, every home in the Island I am sure would have been immeasurably grateful...I know I would have been.

Answer 6: The gratitude of so many...to so few

Only weeks before the Battle of Britain, an army of some 300,000 British troops had been defeated in France...yet over the Summer of 1940...when everybody feared imminent invasion...only 3,000 young pilots were visibly "turning the tide of the war".

Numerically the pilots of the RAF were 1% of the number of men in the British Expeditionary Force that were driven out of France.

In my mind I can see how strongly Churchill's words would have resonated in the hearts of a grateful and relieved public when he said:

"Never in the field of human conflict, was so much owed, by so many, to so few"

Answer 7: Their Finest Hour

And what of Churchill's impassioned hope that:

"If the British Empire [were] to last a thousand years, men would still say, this was their finest hour."

The Battle of Britain is just about still within living memory, it was only 75 years ago

...and apparently half the population of the country that were saved from tyranny...have already forgotten The Few that saved them.


If our country did last a thousand years, and if the Battle of Britain did turn out to indeed have been its "finest hour" 
how ungrateful would it have been to have forgotten it entirely


Please, don't let the importance of the Battle of Britain die. It's not taught in schools, there are precious few films, plays or games of it and major book stores allocate very little shelf space to it.

Raise the profile of the Battle of Britain in any way you can and show your gratitude to The Few
...and everybody else who fought and lived through this extraordinary part of our history.

Thank you

by Steve Dunster

1 comment:

  1. Germans used only once mere than 2000 aircraft a da, it was on 15th August 1940, other wise they used around 1000 aircraft per day. RAF used even higher numbers, especially during Sepember to October by day and night. Sometimes it was even 3 times more than Germans.

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