Airborne Blitz

The German command’s determination to fight back the air attack on Berlin played a decisive role in the battle. This was because for the first week of September, the British air fighter command was on the verge of collapse. Having so far concentrated its attacks on RAF airfields and radar stations, the Luftwaffe’s goal of obtaining air superiority to prepare an invasion (according to the original plan of Operation Sea Lion) had been achieved. However, such superiority could not be maintained indefinitely, without a continuation of the original plan. Thus, in practice, the German command’s determination to “punish” the British, trying to coerce them into a peace agreement through a campaign of air terror, sealed the fate of the battle. The Germans changed their targets: besides London they started attacking other cities, with similar results: a lot of destruction, but nothing to cool the British spirit of resistance, giving time for the RAF to pull itself together, to the point of causing losses among the Read More …