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Old 19th Aug 2020, 10:01
  #47 (permalink)  
DODGYOLDFART
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dark Side of West Wales
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Originally Posted by typerated
The Luftwaffe was never going to win - Full Stop.
Bombing radar stations or the airfields - could degrade the RAF's response but not beat it.
If the RAF ever was under pressure they could withdraw (unbeaten) to North of the Thames (109 range) and reform.

The Germans could never have sustained a landing on the UK - RN 15 Battleships - Kreigsmarine -0 Battleships.

The few was not the last line of defence but the first.

I think the propaganda of the time has created a myth that does not stand up to the reality.
There is a further factor that is rarely mentioned and that is the morale of the pilots on both sides.

The British fighter pilots morale was being closely monitored throughout the battle and when a Squadron's morale started to falter it was pulled out of the firing line and sent North for R &R. We were somewhat lucky in having enough reserves to allow that.

Not so with the German bomber crews who were forced to just soldier on regardless of losses and lowering morale throughout the battle. The evidence for this can be seen in some German crews ditching their bomb loads long before they reached their targets and more usually after a first encounter with our fighters. This became increasingly apparent once they turned their attacks towards London after 7th September 1940.
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