Hi, i got bored one day whilst sat infront of the TV watching the "Battle of Britain" and felt like doing something constructive. The film inspired me to write a brief history of the battle. Yeah I know *yawn* but thats what i'm into. I will do this at my liesure and using all the academic conventions, hell I may even add my dissertation her as well. Feel free to read on but if the Luftwaffe and history are not your bag I will understand.

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The Battle of Britain

The Back Ground

By 1940 the German airforce, the Luftwaffe was poised to launch an aerial assualt on Britain from captured airbases in Northern France. This assualt was the prelude to an aquatic invaision called Sealion in which the German army would be ferried across the channel and land in the south of England. Such a move could possibly knock Britain out of the war and leave Europe in the hands of the Third Reich.

The Luftwaffe had been announced in 1935 by Hermann Goring much to the worlds suprise. The treaty of Versaille, signed after the First World War forbade Germany to own an airforce amongst other things. However Hitler's foriegn ministry were negotiating the concessions with Britain and France to get a fairer deal. The Naval treaty signed in 1936, for example, allowed Germany a larger navy. The times were changing and Europe was feeling a little more conciliatory towards Germany. After all Germany was the buffer between the Communist threat in the East and the Capitalists in the west and a strong Germany meant that Stalin could be resisted. Many in Europe also felt that the treaty of Versaille was to harsh and it was slowly rescinded throughout the 1920's and 1930's.
The Luftwaffe evolved along the lines of a tactical airforce rather than that of a strategic one. The tactical airforce is a force geared to army cooperation and made up of short to medium range aircraft. It cannot be contested that the Luftwaffe excelled in this role in the early campaigns. Within the early hours of the campaign the Luftwaffe would strike the airfields and gain local superiority and within three or four days total dominance over the front would be gained. This allowed certain amount Kampfgeschwadern to be used to strike enemy fortifications and forces whilst the others were used to strike any airbases. The aerial dominace meant that the bomber would always get through. A Strategic force worked with Medium to long range aircraft who operated slightly more independently. They would use short range fighters and medium bombers to aid the army but had a massive bomber arm made up of four-engine bombers who would attack the enemies long term economic concerns such as aircraft factories, fuel depots, bridges, railways, cities, ports, military or production materials (like ball bearings) factories, thus wearing down the enemy through attrition.