Battle of Britain

Battle of Britain
Part of the Second World War
An Observer Corps spotter scans the skies of London.
Date 10 July – 31 October 1940[nb 2] Location United Kingdom airspace Result Decisive British victory [nb 3][5][nb 4][nb 5][8][9][nb 6][nb 7][12][13][nb 8][nb 9]
Belligerents
United Kingdom[info 1]  Canada[nb 1]	Germany Italy
Commanders and leaders
Hugh Dowding Keith Park Trafford Leigh-Mallory	Hermann Göring Albert Kesselring Hugo Sperrle
Strength
1,963 serviceable aircraft[nb 10]	2,550 serviceable aircraft. [nb 11] [nb 12]
Casualties and losses
544 aircrew killed[6][18][19] 422 aircrew wounded[20] 1,547 aircraft destroyed[nb 13]	2,698 aircrew killed[21] 967 captured 638 missing bodies identified by British Authorities[22] 1,887 aircraft destroyed[nb 14]
↑ The RAF was the only sovereign Allied air force; the Polish Air Force was not given sovereignty until June 1944[1]

The Battle of Britain^[23] was a continued attack by the Luftwaffe on Great Britain during the summer and the autumn of 1940.^[24]

The Germans' first objective was to get control of the air space above Britain from the Royal Air Force (RAF), especially the Fighter Command.

The name comes from a famous speech, which was delivered by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the House of Commons: "The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin...."^[25][26]

The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought only by air forces, and it was also the largest and longest aerial bombing campaign until then.

1. ↑ Peszke 1980, p. 134.
2. ↑ "World War II: The RCAF Overseas." Archived 2011-06-11 at the Wayback Machine airforce.forces.gc.ca, 3 April 2009. Retrieved: 6 February 2010.
3. ↑ "No 1 (R.C.A.F.) Hurricane Squadron." the-battle-of-britain.co.uk. Retrieved: 6 February 2010.
4. ↑ Terraine 1985, p. 219.
5. ↑ Shulman 2004, p. 63.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Cite error: The named reference Bungay p. 368 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
7. ↑ Hough and Richards 2007, p. xv.
8. ↑ Overy 2001, p. 267 in Addison and Crang's The Burning Blue quotes A.J.P Taylor "a true air war, even if on a small scale and had decisive strategic results".
9. ↑ Deighton 1980, p. 213.
10. ↑ Keegan 1997, p. 81.
11. ↑ Buell 2002, p. 83.
12. ↑ Terraine 1985, p. 181.
13. ↑ Shirer 1991, p. 769.
14. ↑ AJP Taylor 1974, p. 67.
15. ↑ Bungay 2000, p. 386.
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1} Bungay 2000, p. 107.
17. ↑ Wood and Dempster 2003, p. 318.
18. ↑ Ramsay 1989, pp. 251–297.
19. ↑ "Battle of Britain RAF and FAA role of honour." Archived 2011-10-12 at the Wayback Machine raf.mod.uk. Retrieved: 14 July 2008
20. ↑ Wood and Dempster 2003, p. 309.
21. ↑ Bungay 2000, p. 373.
22. ↑ Overy 2001, p. 113.
23. ↑ German: Luftschlacht um England or Luftschlacht um Großbritannien
24. ↑ In practice, Northern Ireland and Scotland were out of reach by virtue of their distance from the airfields in Europe.
25. ↑ "Battle of Britain 1940." Archived 2008-06-03 at the Wayback Machine battleofbritain.net. Retrieved: 28 June 2010.
26. ↑ "Audio Clip of Churchill's speech." Archived 2010-08-28 at the Wayback Machine bbc.co.uk. Retrieved: 28 June 2010.