Events
July3, 1940
British initiate Operation Catapult to neutralize
French navy
July10
First German bombers attack over English Channel
July19
Hitler urges Britain to make peace
August13
Eagle Day; more than 1,400 German
planes attack southern England
September7
Beginning of “London Blitz”
September17
Hitler indefinitely postpones plans for ground invasion
of England
Key People
-
Winston Churchill
British prime minister who took office in May 1940;
rallied British people and military during Battle of Britain
Fear in Britain
After France fell, the British government was certain
that Germany’s next move would be against the United Kingdom. These
fears were confirmed when British intelligence intercepted coded
German radio transmissions that made it clear that an invasion of
Britain was imminent. Preparations in Britain had long been under
way, and aircraft, guns, and ammunition were arriving by
ship from the United States on a regular basis, despite
the constant threat of attack by German submarines. The British
would rely upon air and naval power as their primary defense, as
they knew that they would quickly lose the war if German troops
set foot on British soil in large numbers.
Operation Catapult
As Britain braced itself, one of its immediate
goals was to prevent the French navy from falling into
German hands. As a result, Operation Catapult was
put into action on July 3, 1940.
A British naval force based in Gibraltar was ordered to Mers-el-Kebir,
Algeria, where much of the remaining French navy had fled. The British offered
the French crews a choice: they could sail immediately for Britain
and join in the fight against Germany, hand their ships over to
the British, allow the British to move the ships somewhere safe
in the West Indies, or scuttle their fleet. The French crews refused
all four options, leaving the British little choice but to fire
upon their allies, destroying the ships and killing over 1,200 French
sailors. French ships at several other locations, however, were
seized without incident.
The Channel Battle
The German code name for its plan to conquer the United
Kingdom was Operation Sea Lion. The operation
began tentatively, as a series of probing bomber attacks against
British ships in the English Channel and ports in southern England
in early July 1940.
In fact, Hitler was still debating whether to invade Britain or
Russia first.
The first German bomber attack over the Channel
came on July 10, 1940. Yet
even as late as July 19,
Hitler made a last-minute speech advocating peace with Britain,
presumably trying to buy time. Britain ignored the appeal. Skirmishes
over the Channel and coastal southern England continued into August,
but the Royal Air Force only rarely came out to defend the ships
in the channel, preferring to hold off until the German planes got
closer to the mainland, nearer to the limit of their range. As a
result, British shipping in the Channel suffered heavy damage, but
the RAF was able to conserve pilots and planes for the coming battle.
Eagle Day
In early August 1940,
Hitler decided to begin massive bombing raids on air bases and military
command posts in southern England, hoping to break Britain’s will.
Germany would withhold any attempt at a ground invasion, however,
until it was clear that air superiority could be gained over England.
On August 13, which
the German high command labeled “Eagle Day,” Germany
sent more than 1,400 bombers
and fighters across the English Channel. The Germans brought down
only thirteen British fighters that day but lost more than three
times as many of their own aircraft.
Over the next several days, the Germans continued to suffer comparatively
heavy losses. While this gave British pilots a certain sense of
optimism, the sheer numbers of planes the Germans sent meant that
many bombers were still reaching their targets. Nevertheless, even
after three weeks of incessant attacks, the RAF was still very much
intact.
