80 years ago today...!
With no sight of destroying the RAF the change to another Blitz campaign was not going to achieve what was needed 'Total Air Supremacy'. Game lost and the unsinkable aircraft carrier survived to come back later and bite them hard. Technology is no use without the commanders ability to utilise it to best effect. We had both.
Not Dead Yet
[QUOTE=finestkind;10864609]Slightly disagree. I agree with Lookleft's post 23. The RAF was on it's last leg's with possibly a week left before annihilation. The switch to bombing London and not airfields was a mistake on the German's part and a saving for the RAF.[/QUOT
Although 11 Group was 'battered' it was never put out of action, and whilst raids could be intercepted Goering could not claim to have destroyed the RAF. Interception needed both Radar and the O corps and both these facilities were serviceable. The Luftwaffe had taken (by their standards) huge looses by September and these were not sustainable. The Germans big mistake was not understanding how we were able to make interceptions and not dealing with the Radar sites before the Airfields. 11 Group was akin to our front line trenches except it was never 'over run' and behind it 12 Group were far from being decimated. The Luftwaffe could not continue day light raids for very good reason and at that point Goering realised he was not going to destroy our Air force, and the invasion was off. Hitler no doubt considered that continual bombing of civilian targets would possibly bring about us suing for peace as it had done in Europe, but of course Churchill was never going to go down that route. Once we dispersed our ops rooms off airfield it removed a vulnerable part of our system, and putting an airfield out of action is quite difficult. Fast fwd to modern times and especially the middle east where we saw the first thing the IDF did was to take out the Arab radar sites which then gave them complete control of the air battle with a smaller force.
Although 11 Group was 'battered' it was never put out of action, and whilst raids could be intercepted Goering could not claim to have destroyed the RAF. Interception needed both Radar and the O corps and both these facilities were serviceable. The Luftwaffe had taken (by their standards) huge looses by September and these were not sustainable. The Germans big mistake was not understanding how we were able to make interceptions and not dealing with the Radar sites before the Airfields. 11 Group was akin to our front line trenches except it was never 'over run' and behind it 12 Group were far from being decimated. The Luftwaffe could not continue day light raids for very good reason and at that point Goering realised he was not going to destroy our Air force, and the invasion was off. Hitler no doubt considered that continual bombing of civilian targets would possibly bring about us suing for peace as it had done in Europe, but of course Churchill was never going to go down that route. Once we dispersed our ops rooms off airfield it removed a vulnerable part of our system, and putting an airfield out of action is quite difficult. Fast fwd to modern times and especially the middle east where we saw the first thing the IDF did was to take out the Arab radar sites which then gave them complete control of the air battle with a smaller force.
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.
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.
We were lucky - the Luftwaffe was designed to support the Army in the Blitzkrieg....not support an amphibious invasion of the UK......however, that doesn't mean it couldn't have happened.
We were also lucky in that the Germans intelligence wasn't up to scratch, a case in point being the 18th August, where the afternoon attacks that massively damaged Gosport, Ford and Thorney Island airfields were seen as successful, despite their losses as they didn't realise these were FAA airfields not RAF ones.....but the mauling StG.77 suffered in the attacks on Ford and Thorney ended the much vaunted use of the Stuka in the BofB, and they were not used again in a mass attack on the UK mainland.
18th also ended the low level attacks as per that of 9th Staffel on Kenley after the few crews that got back were debriefed and the incredulity of the Germans at the success of the Kenley Parachute and Cable device against the low flying Do.17's.
We were also lucky in that the Germans intelligence wasn't up to scratch, a case in point being the 18th August, where the afternoon attacks that massively damaged Gosport, Ford and Thorney Island airfields were seen as successful, despite their losses as they didn't realise these were FAA airfields not RAF ones.....but the mauling StG.77 suffered in the attacks on Ford and Thorney ended the much vaunted use of the Stuka in the BofB, and they were not used again in a mass attack on the UK mainland.
18th also ended the low level attacks as per that of 9th Staffel on Kenley after the few crews that got back were debriefed and the incredulity of the Germans at the success of the Kenley Parachute and Cable device against the low flying Do.17's.
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dark Side of West Wales
Age: 85
Posts: 161
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.
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.
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.
