{"id":1581410,"date":"2020-09-11T14:20:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T12:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/?p=1581410"},"modified":"2024-07-09T15:06:28","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T13:06:28","slug":"hurricane-battle-of-britain-timeframe-70023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/en\/blog\/2020\/09\/11\/hurricane-battle-of-britain-timeframe-70023\/","title":{"rendered":"How long did the Battle of Britain last?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Battle of Britain was one of the longest campaigns during the Second World War. But when did it actually start and when finish? Historians use dates set by AVM Sir Hugh Dowding \u2013 10th<\/sup> July to 31st<\/sup> October 1940. Is it correct?<\/p>\n

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He-111 during air raid over Britain in1940, photo: Wikipedia.<\/p>\n

The “official” timeframe of the Battle of Britain<\/h2>\n

Battle of Britain was usually divided into four phases:<\/p>\n

Phase One\u00a0 – 10th July to 12th \u00a0August<\/strong> – when Luftwaffe focused their attacks on ships and harbours on the southern coast of England;<\/p>\n

Phase Two – 13th \u00a0August to \u00a018th\u00a0 August<\/strong> -also known as the \u201cbattle of airfields\u201d, as Luftwaffe concentrated their raids on the Fighter Command bases and radar stations which were the heart of air defence system;<\/p>\n

Phase Three – 19th August to 6th September<\/strong> –\u00a0 Luftwaffe continued their attacks on the RAF airfields and towns of, mainly, southern England (at that time two Polish fighter squadrons joined the battle \u2013 Nos 302 and 303);<\/p>\n

Phase Four \u2013 from the 7th Sptember to the 31st October<\/strong> – when Luftwaffe concentrated on towns and cities and allowed Fighter Command to catch a breath, repair damages of their bases and replace lost pilots with fresh ones.<\/p>\n

Battle timeframe understood by its paticipants<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>However, for a long time H. Dowding claimed that the first day of the battle was the 8th August when Luftwaffe attacked the \u201cPeewit\u201d Convoy, which led to the first big air battle during the campaign.<\/p>\n

But when we talk about the dates set by Dowding we have to remember that this period relates to the most intense attacks on Britain. The small scale raids started earlier, during the Battle of France. Taking this into account we can adopt different dates of the battle.<\/p>\n

Photo: AVM Sir Hugh \u201eStiffy\u201d Dowding, Wikipedia.<\/em><\/p>\n

Phase One – 26th June to 12th August<\/strong> \u2013\u00a0 small, nuisance raids which actually were a combat reconnaissance, since the 4th of July intensified attacks on shipping, beginning of the \u201cBattle for the Channel\u201d<\/p>\n

Phase Two – 17th July to 12th August<\/strong> \u2013 \u201eThe Battle for the Channel\u201d – intensification of attacks against shopping on the English Channel and the beginning of air raids on harbours on the southern coast<\/p>\n

Phase Three – 13th August to 6th September<\/strong> \u2013 \u201eAdlerangriff\u201d \u2013 attacking British air defence system which aim was to destroy Royal Air Force in southern England and industrial centres (including London)<\/p>\n

Phase Four – 7th September to\u00a0 2nd October<\/strong> \u2013 the Blitz commenced, Luftwaffe focused on day and night bombing raids on London.<\/p>\n

Phase Five – 3th October \u2013 31 October<\/strong> \u2013 Luftwaffe focused on night attacks on British towns and cities; during the day Luftwaffe sent fighter-bombers with strong fighter cover whose task was to lure RAF fighters into combat and cause as high losses as possible.<\/p>\n

As we can see, in both cases 31st October is the finishing date of the battle. However, it continued in the following months of 1940. John Foreman, acclaimed British historian, called them \u201cThe forgotten months of the Battle of Britain\u201d. In November Italian Reggia Aeronautica made their attacks on Britain and they are treated as attacks during the battle. We must remember that in November and Decembers German attacks were even stronger than earlier.<\/p>\n

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Pilots of the 303 Polish Squadron. From left: P\/O Feri\u0107, F\/Lt Kent, F\/O Grzeszczak, P\/O Radomski, P\/O Zumbach, P\/O \u0141ukuciewski, F\/O Henneberg, Sgt. Rogowski, Sgt. Szaposznikow, zdj\u0119cie Wikipedia.<\/em><\/p>\n

Battle timeframe from German perpective<\/h2>\n

And what Germans think about the battle dates? German historians think that the beginning of the battle was in May 1940 and the conclusion in the summer 1941 when Luftwaffe units started relocation to the east as a part of preparation to the \u201cBarbarossa\u201d.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, at that time RAF didn\u2019t think that the bat tle ended. On the contrary, it was preparing for its continuation in the spring of 1941. The fear of Luftwaffe speed the development of RAF main fighters \u2013 Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane.<\/p>\n

However, Luftwaffe didn\u2019t start new, large scale attacks on British soil. On the contrary, it was RAF that started offensive, which proved to be very costly for Royal Air Force with little effect. On 20th December when the first Rhubarb mission took place when No 66 fighter squadron sent their aircraft to attack targets in France. And on 10th January 1941 the first \u201cCircus\u201d operation took place when RAF sent six Bristol Blenheim bombers protected by around 100 fighters to attack targets in France.<\/p>\n

So, in my humble opinion, we can safely set a finishing date either on 20th December or 10th January, as these days mark the beginning of Royal Air Force offensive.<\/p>\n

Cover photo – observer from Royal Observer Corps, London, Battle of Britain 1940.<\/em><\/p>\n

You may be interested in:<\/h3>\n

\"Recenzje<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hurricane kits with Battle of Britain markings:<\/p>\n