The Battle of Britain was the huge air battle in the Summer in 1940 that was supposed to be the prelude to Germany's invasion of mainland Britain.
During the Battle of Britain pilots were for sure fighting for their country but do many of us actually appreciate what would have happened to the UK population if Germany actually had invaded?
We should remain grateful to the bravery and sacrifice of The Few...and here's why!
Nazi Germany had plans, detailed plans, as to what they would do with the UK had they invaded - and thank goodness it never happened.
Male Population Deportation
"The able-bodied male population between the ages of 17 and 45 will, unless the local situation calls for an exceptional ruling, be interned and dispatched to the Continent" according to captured documents. This represented about 25% of the male population.
The deported male population would have most likely been used as industrial slave labour in areas of the Reich such as the factories and mines of the Ruhr and Upper Silesia. Living and working conditions would have been severe.
Terrorism, Hostages & Immediate Death Penalties
The remaining population was to be terrorised. Civilian hostages would be taken and the death penalty immediately imposed for even the most trivial acts of resistance.
Hitler had called the English lower classes "racially inferior". Presumably they may well have suffered similar treatment to that he had planned for the Russians, who the Nazis had regarded as sub-humans, fit only to be worked to death.
Plundering
The UK was to be plundered for anything of financial, military, industrial or cultural value.
"Aero-technological research...and important equipment" was to be secured as well as "Germanic works of art."
There was even a suggestion that Nelson's Column should be moved to Berlin.
Control over the Media
Major news agencies would be closed and control taken of all newspapers. Anti-German newspapers were to be closed down.
Death Squads
Death squads were to be tasked with liquidating Britain's Jewish population, some 300,000 in number.
The Black Book
They were also to immediately arrest 2,820 people identified in a list, known as the Black Book. The list included British subjects and European exiles living in Britain.
Against each name was the Security Office to which the person was to be handed over. Churchill was to be placed in the custody of Foreign Military Intelligence but most people listed were to be placed in the custody of the Gestapo.
The list included politicians and their families, poets, writers, journalists, publishers, pacifists, trade unionists, diplomats, film producers, directors, actors and actresses.
Himmler's Intention
Heinrich Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and one of the people most directly responsible for the Holocaust.
He is reported to have expressed his intention to kill about 80% of the populations of France and England by special forces of the SS after the German victory.
Chilling & Disturbing
It is chilling and disturbing to know what was planned for the UK population if Hitler's plan to invade Britain had been successful.
Only the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy and the British Army stood in his way.
Britain and her Empire stood alone. All her allies had already fallen and were starting to be subjected to similar plans to those intended for the UK.
"The Gratitude of Every Home in our Island..."
On 20 August 1940, whilst invasion of the UK was still in Hitler's plans, Churchill said that:
"The gratitude of every home in our Island...goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the World War by their prowess and by their devotion."
Knowing now what Hitler had planned if he'd been successful, Churchill was certainly right to fight on and had certainly not over-stated the levels of gratitude of the wartime generation
but every subsequent generation might do well to remember
how bravery, heroism and sacrifice of a Few
saved an entire population, an entire way of life, an entire country...from oblivion.
Lest We Forget
by Steve Dunster
Warfare is a fascinating subject. Despite the dubious morality of using violence to achieve personal or political aims. It remains that conflict has been used to do just that throughout recorded history.
ReplyDeleteYour article is very well done, a good read.