By August of 1940, the mainland of Europe had fallen and Hitler had set his sights on bringing Britain to submission as well. This island nation was one of the last bastions of resistance against the Third Reich’s domination, the English Channel preventing German ground forces from storming its borders. It was for this reason that air strikes were necessary for the Germans to have any chance of occupying Britain. The resulting conflict is now known as the Battle of Britain, and it is widely considered to be a major turning point in World War II.
The Battle of Britain is famous for being the first major battle that relied entirely on air forces. The Germans, numbering more than 4000 aircraft at the beginning of the war, were down to approximately 1600. Britain’s air force consisted of around 1200, only 660 of these able to fly at any given time. Add to that an extreme lack of experienced pilots on the British side, and a wealth of World War I veteran pilots on the German side, and the battle seemed over before it had begun.
