CHC2D – Canadian History Since World One Unit 2 – Lesson # /41 – The Battle of Britain and the Expansion of War

France Falls! After the fall of France in June of 1940, the only thing that stood between Hitler and the invasion of England was the English Channel. The Defence of Britain depended on the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (RAF). Hitler needed to clear the English Channel before even considering an invasion of England.

Operation Sea Lion The Key to Hitler’s plan to invade England, named Operation Sea Lion, was the Luftwaffe’s ability to gain air superiority over the Channel and Southern England. The Luftwaffe started at a technological disadvantage because their planes were not designed for long range missions. Britain also had an early Radar system that allowed them to detect and track aircraft.

The Battle Of Britain The Battle had three main phases. Phase 1 began in July and lasted until mid August with Germany attacking shipping and port facilities in the English Channel. During this phase, both sides began to lose planes and pilots. Replacing both would be difficult for Britain and Germany, but Britain had help.

Canadian Assistance Britain turned to a Canadian businessman, Lord Beaverbrook, to organize aircraft production. Beaverbrook was able to keep the RAF supplied with planes to replace the heavy losses suffered during the Battle of Britain. The biggest problem was not planes, but pilots, the RAF only had 3000 pilots and as losses mounted, they became less skilled and less experienced.

Canada and Pilots Nearly 15% of the RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain were Canadians. Additionally, the British Commonwealth Air Training Program (BCATP) began to train pilots and air crew in Canada to replace lost pilots fighting in Britain. Canadian assistance in these areas proved to be invaluable to Britain.

Phase 2 Phase 2 of the Battle of Britain began in August with German attacks on Radar stations and airfields in an attempt to knock out the RAF. By early September the Germans seemed to be winning but Hitler’s impatience caused him to change his strategy.

Phase 3 Thinking that the RAF was virtually wiped out, Germany began to attack cities. On September 7, 1940; 1000 German bombers attacked London. Although they caused many deaths and a lot of damage, this change in strategy allowed the RAF to concentrate on defending fewer targets.

Messerschmitt Bf 109

Supermarine Spitfire

Hawker Hurricane

JU 88

JU 87

HEINKEL HE 1 11

de Haviland Mosquito

Mitsubishi A6M Zero

Britain’s Response Hitler felt that bombing cities would make the people of Britain less willing to continue fighting. The British responded by evacuating thousands of people from London into the countryside, including 6000 children sent to Canada. Britain, under the leadership of Churchill, also made an important tactical decision.

Britain’s Defence? Churchill decided that the RAF would no longer “defend” cities from German bombers. This used up too much fuel and was also not that effective, bombers always got through. Britain decided to wait until after the bombers actually attacked a city, and then attack the bombers on their way home.

Advantages This strategy had several advantages. RAF fighters knew exactly where the enemy was and where they were going. German fighters, now low on fuel, could not properly defend the bombers. The change led the RAF to lose fewer planes while shooting down more German bombers and fighters.

The Battle of Britain Ends By September 12 th the threat of an invasion passed because the weather and sea conditions were not favourable to a large scale invasion. Although the bombing continued, Germany was left with a weakened Luftwaffe which lost nearly 1400 aircraft while the RAF lost only 790! For the first time, Hitler did not win.

1941 – The War in Europe Expands In December 1940, Hitler began planning “Operation Barbarossa,” the invasion of Russia. By January 1941 the plans were set for the start of this invasion on May 15 with a goal to knock out Russia in 8 to 12 weeks (late August to Mid September).

Hitler’s Problems Germany’s main problem was that they underestimated the size and strength of Russia’s army. Germany’s attack was also delayed 5 weeks, which would later prove disastrous for the invasion, and did not begin the operation until June 22, 1941

Comparing Forces Germany invaded Russia with: 3,500,000 infantry 3,350 tanks 7,200 artillery guns 2,500 aircraft Russia was defended by: 2,300,000 infantry (in Europe, more in Asia to defend against Japan) 10,000 tanks Artillery is unknown 6,000 aircraft, but most were obsolete

Stalin and the Start of War Joseph Stalin, the leader of Russia, refused to believe that Hitler would attack and when the invasion came the Russian army was caught by surprise. Early success made Hitler overconfident and he began to ignore the advice of his Generals and made major mistakes.

Victory So Close, but So Cold! By December, the Germans were within 25 miles of completely surrounding Moscow when winter hit early. Temperatures of -40°C froze the oil in the engines of German tanks and also froze German soldiers dressed in summer uniforms. Germany never planned to be fighting in the Russian winter and the offensive ended.

Conclusions 1940 and 1941 saw the end of Hitler’s string of impressive victories. His failure to defeat Britain only weakened the German Luftwaffe, making it harder to defeat Russia. Despite a very successful invasion of Russia, a delay of 5 weeks put Hitler’s armies in position to capture Moscow in December, not September.

The failure to achieve a quick and decisive defeat of Russia, like Germany had accomplished with both Poland and France, gave Russian forces time to counterattack the poorly equipped German armies. December 1941 also saw another new factor enter the war as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour drew the United States into the war. By December 1941, Britain and Canada were no longer alone in their fight against Hitler’s Germany.