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BATTLE OF BRITAIN INTRODUCTION 1. At the end of WW I on 28 Jun 1919, Treaty of Versailles was signed between the allies and the Germans. It made a mockery of German military regime. Its terms limited German Army to 100.000 men, with restrictions on number of tanks, heavy artillery, poison gas and aircraft. The German Naval fleet was limited to vessels of less than 10,000 Tons with no submarines and no air arm. German people were at their lowest ebb with no jobs, no money and no pride. Adolph Hitler, promised his people that he would restore everything that was taken away from them whatever be the conditions of the Treaty. He reorganized military and set about to take control of the whole of Northern Europe. Second World War commenced on 01 September 1939 when Hitler's army invaded Poland. The sheer audacity of Hitler took everyone by surprise. Initial weak-kneed response from Britain, France, Russia and USA only helped his already focused resolve. One by one, countries fell to him, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Poland, Holland, Belgium and finally France. By now, Hitler had restored faith to German people and shown them that Germany was a power that will make the world take notice. 2. The next step for them was to take on Britain. For some strange reason, Hitler admired Britain and the Empire that it controlled. He wanted to be like them. British Empire was spread right across the globe, and if he could take control of Britain, he would make Germany a world power. With these plans, Hitler set about the invasion of Britain. However, German Navy was quite aware of the power of Royal Navy and could not guarantee to protect German invasion force moving across the Channel. Therefore, it would require control of air over the invasion fleet, so that German Navy and Luftwaffe, operating together, could deter Royal Navys intervention. For Luftwaffe to undertake this role, it had to destroy British fighter force, and this was Luftwaffes objective in Op Sea Lion, what was to be called the Battle of Britain. This battle, fought for a period of over two months, was the first full-fledged aerial war waged between two highly motivated air forces of the world.

3. Gentlemen, the aim of this presentation is to analyse various aspects of Battle of Britain and derive lessons on employment of air power in the present day context. We shall cover this presentation in the next 30 mts or so under the heads shown on the screen:Introduction Force structuring Phases of battle Concepts Lessons learnt Conclusion FORCE STRUCTURING 4. Luftwaffe had re-emerged following Hitler coming to power in 1933, with much of its early training being done in Russia. In terms of its structure, Luftwaffe was divided into air fleets. Each fleet would consist of approximately 1000 aircraft of all types, effectively an air force in itself. In addition, use of Luftwaffe was very much seen as operating in conjunction with Army and Navy. It was a tactical air force rather than a strategic one. On the other hand, RAF was structured in a totally different fashion. From its inception in 1918, it had been an independent air force, and despite the best efforts of Navy and Army, it remained as such. Throughout 1920s, RAF had been starved of funds and was still operating either aircraft used in World War I or models that were only little different in concept. The fighters that formed the backbone of RAF defence in the Battle of Britain were only just starting to come into service in 1938. Aircraft. 5. Luftwaffe Fighters (a) Messerschmitt 109E. The Luftwaffe fighter ac included Messerschmitt 109E, which was an excellent fighter aircraft, with good maneuverability and armament capability. What went against the ac was short range and plywood drop tanks that failed them in the most crucial times. (b) ME 110 Destroyer was a heavily armed twin engine long range fighter but was ineffective against adversaries. However, in the later stage of war it became the backbone of German Night Fighter force.

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Luftwaffe Bombers. (a) The German bombers, Heinkel 111, Dornier 17 and Junkers 88, were all twin-engine medium bombers. However, all of them were hampered by poor defensive armament. This contrasted with British bombers, which were fitted with power operated multi gun turrets. (b) Junkers 87 "Stuka" was a sturdy two seat single engine Dive Bomber. However, without air superiority, it was shot from the skies leading to its early withdrawal.

RAF Fighters. 7. The RAF fighters mainly consisted of Spitfires and Hurricanes. Defiant and Gladiators also played an important role. 8. RAF Bombers. In terms of bombers, British were better equipped than Germans with the likes of Blenheim, Wellington, Hampden, Whitley and Beaufort in their inventory. PHASES OF BATTLE Phase 1: Attack on Shipping and Ports (10 Jul 40- 12 Aug 40) 9. The Battle of Britain was fought under three main phases. Opening phase of the Battle starting from 10 July 1940 consisted of German attacks on shipping by day, usually in the Channel. Attacks were also made on naval bases. By night, much of the German activity consisted of mine laying in various estuaries. However, at this stage, Britain possessed no effective night defence against aircraft. Germans failed to exploit this weakness by not carrying out night attacks. Had they done so at this stage, British would have suffered greater losses. They also suspected the importance of British radar masts and attacked stations on the South coast, damaging some of them. This phase of the battle saw Germans probing British defences, and conducting recce flights over various airfields. However, it would seem that German interpretation of information from these flights was poor. During this phase, RAF lost 359 fighters and 39 bombers, whereas Luftwaffe lost 347 fighters and 422 bombers.

Phase 2: Attack on RAF Airfields (12 Aug 40- 06 Sep 40) 10. The second phase began with the attack on RAF airfields. In the beginning of August, in order to protect German invasion forces and troop barges being assembled on the French coast, raids against British South coast were increased in size and number. On 13 August, massive raids began on the airfields. The aim was to destroy RAF, either in the air or on ground. To put pressure on British defences, Germans sent high and low level raids to different targets simultaneously. Sometimes, low level raids sneaked past the battered radar stations, and the first warning British fighter pilots got was of bombs landing on their airfield. Several of these raids succeeded in achieving complete surprise and escaping any form of interception. This pattern continued into September and the situation became desperate for RAF. Small civilian airfields were used in emergency, as a number of RAF airfields were badly damaged. Spitfires and Hurricanes could easily take off from grass fields, but the maintenance and spares supply situation became dangerously stretched. Ground crew, working in open, suffered heavy casualties from the raids, and many maintenance facilities were destroyed. Despite this, the crew kept fighters, as combat ready as possible. To keep up the pressure, Germans began night raids to prevent the defenders from undertaking repairs at night. On one such night-raid, Luftwaffe aircraft bombed London by mistake; a mistake, which was to become a crucial turning point in the Battle. Attacks on civilian centers were something, which had been specifically banned by Hitler, who was still hoping at this time that the hopelessness of the situation would cause British to sue for peace. In reply to this accidental attack, RAF bombed Berlin. As fears grew that cities would be raided more often, an exodus from London started. Germans were surprised and encouraged by this unexpected reaction of civilian population. German commanders perceived this as an opportunity to break British morale and just when it seemed that the RAF couldn't continue for another day, Germans changed their tactics. Had Germans stuck to their original plan of destroying RAF assets, they would have succeeded in achieving Air Superiority over England. By shifting from their main aim, Germans offered a much-needed respite to RAF to fight another day. The change of plan gave them time to repair airfields and radar sites, so the defences became fully operational again. During this phase, RAF lost 471 fighters and 12 bombers whereas Luftwaffe lost 428 fighters and 345 bombers. Phase3: Attack on London (07 Sep 40- 17 Sep 40) 11. The attack on London marked the third and the final phase which began on 07 Sep 1940. Hitler was enraged by the attack on Berlin and because it seemed that the attacks on airfields were not destroying enough RAF fighters, he ordered a change of targets. By attacking cities and industry, Germans hoped to break British will to fight

and to destroy the factories that built fighter aircraft. They also hoped that RAF fighters would gather in force round the cities to protect them, which would make it easier for Luftwaffe to shoot them down to establish air superiority. German Me-109 fighter could only carry enough fuel for 20 minutes flight over Britain, so London was on the edge of its limited range. Knowing the target to be London and industrial centers, British controllers now had time to assemble a large number of fighters to attack German formations and break them up before they could bomb. Appearance of large number of Hurricanes and Spitfires came as a shock to Luftwaffe pilots, who had been told that the Fighter Command had practically been wiped out by earlier raids against airfields. By changing tactics and targets, Germans had actually helped Fighter Command to deal with raids. During this phase, RAF lost 174 fighters and 11 bombers and on the other hand, Luftwaffe lost 181 fighters and 194 bombers. Realising the task to be difficult, and concerned with the mounting toll on Luftwaffe, Hitler, on 17 Sep 40, postponed the invasion of England until further notice.

BRITISH AND GERMAN CONCEPTS DURING THE BATTLE

12. Having seen the phases of the battle, let us now see the British and German concepts. Luftwaffe and RAF were brought up on two diametrically different doctrines. This was evident during the progress of war and was largely responsible for the final outcome. RAF had trained and perfected the art of Air Defence while Luftwaffe, was largely developed to provide support to ground forces. As a result, Germans did not care much for air superiority, a fact they were to repent later. British Concepts 13. Initially, The RAFs aim was to have a stronger Bomber force than that of the enemy's. However, by 1937, strategic defence became the main aim of RAF. The RAF's role was not to deliver an early knockout blow but to prevent Germans from doing so. This was the time when a major technological breakthrough assited the British Air Defence by the use of radar. 14. Air Defence. Radar was developed and deployed into air defence system, which later proved to be the only answer to German attacks. Two most important factors in this air defence were the readiness of the pilots to take off and intercept attackers, and secondly, the sectors network of the country. Chain of radars all along British coastline also denied the element of surprise to Germans. Luftwaffe

bombers could be detected the moment they got airborne from their bases and climbed to operating heights. British further strengthened air defence network using searchlights, observer posts, anti aircraft guns and interceptors. In fact, this was the first time ever where a country had decided to Air Defend its territorial integrity. 15. Bomber Command. RAF bombers carried out attacks on various German targets by day and night in spite of Luftwaffe pressure on British mainland. In particular, Luftwaffe fleet being assembled for the invasion was attacked. In addition, attacks were made on other German occupied ports where ships likely to support the crossing were based. This, initially, forced Germans to disperse their invasion fleet to other ports. As the battle progressed, German Navy realized that the invasion fleet was being slowly destroyed, whilst the number of casualties due to bombing attacks concerned Army. By October 12th, when Hitler finally suspended Operation Sea Lion, German navy had lost 214 barges and 21 vessels of the invasion fleet. 16. Resource Management. The rate of supply of British fighters was more than the attrition and slowly the resistance from British side kept increasing. During the battle parts of damaged aircraft were recycled and British factories were manufacturing close to 500 fighters every month. Positive propaganda was used to keep the morale of all workers and civil population high. 17. Camouflages and Concealment. British devised excellent camouflage techniques and concealment measures to deny Germans any information that could be used against them. War waging potential and damage to city and airfield were concealed from the enemy in a very effective way. Innovative ideas kept Germans in the dark about success of their missions. Germans could never gather accurate picture of damage inflicted by their own Bomber force This made German forces repeat their missions, thus, depleting their resources. 18. RAF Aircrew. Prior to 1939, when war had almost become a reality, Britain arranged for short service commission. An aircrew was lucky, if he got a months training. A few weeks learning elementory physics of flying, usually up to about 15-20 hours of actual flying and the pilot was posted to an operational Sqn. But flying was only one part; evasion tactics in combat was another. You had to shoot down the enemy aircraft and evade being shot at yourself, which was not always easy. 19. Britains Warning Systems. In terms of equipment, both the forces were almost equal in quality and quantity. In combat, it was the more skilful, betterpositioned or luckier pilot who succeeded. However, there were several areas in which Britain could provide its pilots with some "luck". Radar is recognised as an important

reason for British success. However, radar was not exclusive to British. Germans had developed their own radar, which, technically, was far superior to Britains, but it was the way British used it, which gave them superiority in Battle. By 1939, a string of radar stations stretched along Britains eastern and southern coasts. Although Germans had radar and knew its importance, they did not make any real attempt to destroy British radar system before launching an all-out offensive. Amazingly, Germans never picked up radar signals and therefore, came to conclusion that British did not possess a working system of radar detection. Why the signals were not picked up remains a mystery to this day. However, although Germans mounted attacks on radar stations, they never made a sustained attempt to interfere with the radar system. Had they done so, the outcome of the Battle could have been different. 20. Observer Corps and Secret Service In addition to radar, there was a voluntary force called Observer Corps and also RAF Y-Service. The observer corps was akin to present day MOF. Y Service tracked German radio traffic and could interpret messages sent in plain language. It was also able to pick up air-to-air communication and often knew when British fighters were about to be bounced. Importantly, Luftwaffe codes were broken, thus, much information was derived from this, enabling RAF to use its forces in the most effective manner. German Concepts 21. Coming on to the German concepts during the battle, the Luftwaffe was modeled as a force supporting the army and navy. Germans failed to realise the importance of control of air as a pre-requisite for any surface operation. Germans started with gate crashing tactics with their heavy day bomber formations. To achieve an element of surprise, Germans planned their attack from different directions to confuse British. Bombers were employed en-mass to achieve concentration; destroy cities, aircraft manufacturing industries and air bases to create havoc and total destruction. Germans also conducted various recce missions to estimate the total capacity of British aircraft manufacturing industries. Germans thought that outnumbering British would be the best means to annihilate them. IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNT AND THEIR PRESENT DAY APPLICABILITY 22. There are many lessons, which emerge from the Battle of Britain. Past 65 years

have seen technology related to airpower growing in leaps and bounds. Though most of the lessons are strategic in nature, there are a few which could have some relevance in the modern day air battle, in the operational and tactical fields. 23. Importance of SEAD. It would not be incorrect to say that Battle of Britain was won by Control and Reporting system of RAF. If Germans had targeted early warning radars, they would have managed to suppress air defences. Needless to say, the outcome of battle would have been quite different in that case. Present day attacking forces would face denser and hostile air defence system. In any future conflict, the success of attacking forces would depend on the efficiency of SEAD operations. 24. Importance of Combat SAR. One of the important factors, which helped RAF, was the fact that the battle was fought on home territory. As a result, bailed out aircrew were available to them to fly after rescue. On the other hand, bailed out German pilots were out of action for future operations. Therefore, combat SAR is given a lot of importance by all the modern air forces of the world. Apart from making the downed aircrew available for flying, it also enhances the morale and the confidence of the nation. 25. Flexibility in Tactics. Tactics employed, must match prevailing conditions and should be altered, if necessary. Germans continued to send fighter escorts tied with their strike packages despite hampered maneuverability of escorts and heavy casualties. Flexibility of operations and importance of strike packaging are highlighted by this fact. 26. Weather. Adverse weather played havoc with Luftwaffe operations. RVs were missed between escorts and fighters. Target acquisition was difficult at times and the bombing accuracy suffered. Even in future application of airpower, weather will continue to play an important role. This leads to the requirement of an all weather capability for any modern air force in terms of good navigation attack system and sighting systems apart from good recovery and launch aids. 27. Night Attack Capabilities. , Germans resorted to night attacks to reduce attrition. Though they achieved their aim, accuracy of the attacks was greatly hampered. To prevent any lowering of standards in weapon delivery, night attack capability is necessary. Not only would this reduce attrition rate while maintaining accuracy, but would also tax the enemys air defence system to the maximum by forcing it to operate on a 24-hour basis.

28. Surprise Surprise, be it in time, space, action or technology will continue to play an important role in any future campaign. Germans did not give any importance to the fact that they were losing out on surprise in their attacks because of the early warning radar chain of RAF. Had they realized this, they would have targeted RAF chain of radars. On the other hand, RAF totally surprised Luftwaffe by technology, using radar for early warning and interception of intruding strikes, as a totally new concept. 29. Intelligence. The crux of airpower is 'targeting'. The selection of targets depends upon 'intelligence' of enemy's intentions, dispositions and likely mode of operations. Germans made no effort to update their intelligence during operations. Intelligence is and will continue to be the building block of military operations. It is vital to identify enemy's vulnerabilities, weaknesses and strengths to determine their centers of gravity. This, along with battle damage assessment, is the essence of effective targeting. CONCLUSION 30. At the end of WW I, Germany was a defeated nation. Adolf Hitler,with his single minded resolve once again made Germany a military might. After overrunning Low Countries in Europe, Hitler tried to invade Britain. Battle of Britain was fought in order to gain Air superiority over the British Isles. RAF Fighters overcame Luftwaffe bomber offensive as also the British public withstood the bombings of their cities. If British had a staggering surprise in the battle of France, Germans suffered an equally staggering one in the Battle of Britain. Battle of Britain was the first great air battle in history and the most far-reaching in its results. It marked the first German defeat in WW II, which occurred in the first year of war, at a time when. Hitler and his commanders had tremendous confidence in themselves and in their might. The defeat, therefore, proved that Germans could be countered and defeated if there was will and courage to fight. Thus Battle of Britain could well be considered as the turning point of WW II. A Battle that took place six decades ago, at a time when there were no supersonic fighters, complex radars or any of the sophisticated equipment that constitute arsenal of the Air forces of today. Nevertheless, all the lessons learnt in the battle have relevance to a modern Air Force like ours. One single factor that stands out is that, RAF never gave any indication of its plight when Luftwaffe gave up the fight. This 'Will to Survive' of RAF is perhaps the greatest message that the Battle of Britain leaves for us. Winston Churchill while paying tribute to the brave pilots of RAF said Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.