Western Front

1940: The Battle of Britain

July – October 1940 · 1 battle

After the fall of France, Britain stood alone against Germany. Hitler, while hoping for peace, was also preparing a landing across the Channel, which depended on command of the air. From July the Luftwaffe attacked convoys and ports, in August it struck at RAF airfields and radar stations, and from September it bombed London. The RAF’s fighter squadrons, directed by Dowding’s system of air defence and supported by pilots from Poland, Czechoslovakia and the countries of the British Commonwealth, refused to be destroyed. The first great battle fought entirely in the air ended with the invasion postponed indefinitely.