What are the Long and Short term causes that leads to the Brits winning The Battle of Britain???

Answer 1

The Luftwaffe switched their bombing strategy from airfields to cities giving the RAF the chance to regroup and bring in more aircraft.

Also the development of British fighter aircraft was more than a match for the Germans. In spite of massive investment in armaments on the German side in the thirties and a lack of real interest on the side of the British Government, fortunately British innovation provided us with the right planes to deal with the German threat.

You may well get far more academic answers but if you want to get a real feel for what happened, try and get hold of a dvd of a film called 'The Battle of Britain,' it was made in the sixties and is one of the most accurate film portrayals of war ever made. No Hollywood hype if you get my drift

Answer 2

The Battle of Britain was won mainly because the British had Radar. The RAF Radar stations could see the Luftwaffe planes taking off in Northern France and track them across the English Channel.

The RAF fighter squadrons would already be in the air ready to meat the Huns even before they arrived over the English coast.

The other reason the British won the Battle of Britain is because in 1940 Winston Churchill had gone on the BBC to tell the nation that the Battle of France was over and that soon the Battle of Britain will commence.

For the first and possibly only time in our history, the British people were united in their determination and simply rolled up their sleeves and got on with it. Everyone had a part to play, from cutting down iron railings, to recycling aluminium cooking pans for new Spitfire Wings.

The real winner of the Battle of Britain was the Rolls Royce Supermarine Spitfire. A fabulous fighter aircraft the like of which we will never see again. A magnificent sight and wonderful Rolls Royce 12 cylinder roar.

You can listen to the RR Spitfire Engine at this site : -
http://www.spitcrazy.com/30flsup28Halcyon-goggles.jpg

Most of the answers above are correct. The British Victory really resulted from a stale-mate. The Luftwaffe could not continue to sustain it's heavy losses and the Germans could not understand how the RAF seemed always to be airborne and ready to meet them.

Radar, the Spitfire, the Hurricane and the British Nation, all contributed to help winning the Battle of Britain.

The highest scores of enemy planes downed during the BofB was by the Polish Squadron RAF. Look em up.

11 Group RAF, the three competing Polish squadrons - 303, 316 and 315 took the first three places out of all 22 air squadrons, 303 Squadron coming first by ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._303_Polish_Fighter_Squadron

Answer 3

The British Empire forces won the 'Battle of Britain' as it was called by a number of fundamental errors on the German side and luck.

The German Air Forces, where not made for a strategic war and more for a tactical war, which is in support of ground forces. So most of the Luftwaffe aircraft had a pathetic bombload and where quite short range.

The reliance on 'Dive Bombers' and 'Destroyer' Aircraft meant that the aircraft where more vunerable in the opening stages of the conflict.

Underestimation of the forces at RAF disposal and ability of RDF (Radar) to detect and direct forces onto incoming raiders. The whole RAF chain of information, intercept was unique in the world at that time and was perfected in 1939 with intruders from Germany coming into UK airspace. Also because the coast was a front line not under attack by ground forces allowed people like the Civil Defence Royal Observer Corps to observe and report more accurtley the forces heading towards the coast and over the southern counties.

The Failure of the Luftwaffe to concentrate the attacks on key points and targets in a logical progression and to keep up the pressure at the correct time. For example the only RDF station to be destroyed totally was Vetnor on the isle of wight, if the other attacks against the Home Chain along the downs had been kept up then the RAF early warning would have been lost, the Me109 aircraft would have had the endurance to keep the RAF fighters engaged and the attrition would have been better, but the losses in bombers may have been a little higher due to accurate attacks required. After that time, sector stations where only hit a few times and then the Germans believed them to be knocked out, when they was repaired quickly and operational normally within hours of an attack. Then the forward airfields and satellite stations to be attacked that where concerned with fighter defence. Unfortunatley the Germans so often bombed FAA (Fleet), Private Airstips and Satellite Strips they missed the main targets required.

Weather also played a big part, the Month of June and July where lovely, hot, perfect weather for the attack but the Germans instead concentrated on Convoy attacks and Harbour attacks to stop shipping so they could prepare more landing strips in France and Belgium, as well as try Diplomatic means to force Britain to Surrender.

Then there was no joint control of the Luftwaffe forces. The airflottes where not co ordinated enough under a unified control for the battle, all 3 involved carried out there own plan and control of actions of battle, instead of swamping the defences with force as Bomber Command did after 1943, the Luftwaffe piecemealed there attack allowing the RAF to land rearm and refuel before the next wave of attack came over.

Finally the switch just when the RAF was seriously considering pulling back the remaining forces in the South East to above the Thames and East Anglia and regrouping there fighters and bases, and the Luftwaffe going to attacks on cities, not just London but others, which enabled fresh group pilots from the Midlands and South West Commands to come in and for the South East group to rebuild and repair defences.

Also the Land Invasion. This should have been started in July at the Latest and not planned for September, if the forces had been committed as soon as France fell then there would have been not a lot the British Forces could have done to stop them. Yes the casualties would have been high, the Royal Navy would have attempted to intervene, but none of the Capital Ships would have come any further than East Anglia or higher than Dorset due to the Luftwaffe, minefields and confusion.

But finally the biggest mistake that enabled the British Empire to remain in the war was the Dunkirk Evacuation. If the Land forces had not been recovered from there, I doubt if the goverment would have continued the fight as there was no Army as such, only a few divisions of untrained troops at home.

Answer 4

Most of the decisive factors in the Battle of Britain can be attributed to to longer term planning that occured well before the Second World War began. I would cite the British development of modern fighter aircraft in the form of the Spitfire and Hurricane as a good example of levelling the technological advantages that the Germans held over the French and Polish airforces. As for radar, it was not so much its development (the Germans knew all about it and had developed their own) as its incorporation into the world's first fully integrated air defence system. This consisted of not just the technology of radar but of a brilliant administrative and communications set-up that was effectively the world's first internet system. Germany completely failed to appreciate the significance of this system and how it was contributing to the British prosecution of the Battle.
One might also point to the failure of Germany to develop the simple expedient of drop-tanks for their fighter aircraft which seriously restricted their flight time over British territory and their ability to defend their bombers. The Germans took a couple of catastrophic tactical decisions in mid-battle, ignoring the principal tenet of the identification and retention of an objective. They switched from the lucrative fighter sweeps to keeping the fighters close to the bombers. and turned away from the devastating raids in the fighter airfields to direct their efforts against London - a target of no military importance whatsoever.

If the Battle of Britain was supposed to be preparatory to a German invasion of the British homeland, it can only be said that German preparations and capabilities for such a venture were laughable and they knew it. Their conduct throughout the campaign hinged upon their perception of blitzkrieg whilst the British were forcing an entirely new set of rules upon them. They were as unprepared for the Battle as the British were ready for it and their readiness to abandon their efforts and turn their attention to Russia makes one wonder if they were ever serious about it. They may have been adopting a win-win strategy where, at the very least, their apparent involvement in the West was a smoke screen for the Russians and if it ever did prove successful, then so much the better.

Answer 5

key to britain winning the battle of britain was the development of radar and something called the dowding system which was a system of detection and command of the battle so that as soon as the germans were spotted over the channel they could have planes in the skies.

Another reason was the lack of accurate information that the germans had, so although they spent more money and had more planes they didn't know where all the anti-aircraft guns were or any way of detecting the british aircrafts.

Also what was important was the british pilots, who being british were obviously the best in the world.

Finally it was down to a little bit of luck, apparantly the RAF were close to complete collapse when the germans decided to stop the bombing raids to concentrate on russia.

Answer 6

Long term- 2 idiots in charge- Hitler and Goering, at the expense of geniuses like Galland. Radar helped. Switching from attacking the fighter fields to the Blitz of British cities at night lost the battle for the Luftwaffe. The me109 was the equal of the Spitfire, but homefield advantage had a lot to do with the outcome. In the end, the decision to invade Russia was the deciding factor. If Germany had those divisions and squadrons to use against Britain alone, it would have been a short war.

Answer 7

Germany lacked a consistent strategy, a heavy (strategic) bomber, and a fighter plane with loiter time. Britain had radar, coordinated attacks, and home-field advantage. A Luftwaffe pilot shot down would be a POW. An RAF pilot shot down might be back in the air later the same day.

Answer 8

Basically there were 4 factors that finally gave the Brits their victory over the Germs.

1.- The Radar
2.- Hitler´s decision to start bombing cities. This gave the British airplane industry a chance to increase its fighter plane production
3.- Franklyn Roosevelt´s "Lend Lease" policy
4.- Superiority of the "Spitfire" over the German top fighter the "Messerschmit 109E".
Slightly faster, more fire power, easier to fly, more maneuverable.

Answer 9

It was a stalemate, the RAF retained control of the skies and the Germans turned their attention against the Soviets. The miracle of September 7th as Dowding called it, occurred when the Germans switched from bombing airfields and radar stations to the bombing of London and other cities. Fighter Command was nearly to its knees, again the words of Air Marshall Dowding.

One notable variable working against the German fighters was their ten minutes of flying time over British targets due to their low fuel capacity. German fighters did have one advantage over British pilots, they had fuel injected engines and could easily outmanuever RAF fighters since their carburators died on steep climbs. This gave the 109 pilots an advantage in combat, in that they could do negative "g" manoeuvres without the engine failing. A Messerschmitt pilot could push over into a dive that a Spitfire or Hurricane pilot could not follow without losing vital moments of engine power.

Anyway, the brief respite after the miracle of Sept 7th, 1941 allowed Fighter Command to regroup and gain air superiority.

Answer 10

In a nutshell,hitler change targets,instead of bombing airfields,aicraft factories and industrial targets,he ordered the 'blitz' of London,if he had stuck to his origional objective,the battle would have been lost, Britain had next to no aircraft left and very few trained pilots had survived.