WW1 Paved the Way for the Battle of Britain.

[baronWastelan]

And yet, the RAF still only avoided defeat in BoB owing to faulty German strategy.

[BadAim]

But what would defeat for the Brits have looked like? Sure the Germans might have gained air superiority over a quarter of the Island, but then what? Invasion? With the half hearted preparations they made? I'm not sure. (of course the lack of real planning for the invasion could be included in the poor German strategy)

[BadAim]

Had the Germans not wasted so much of their Naval resources on the utterly useless Norway operation, the whole Idea of an invasion of England might not have been so farfetched.

Of course England could possibly have been subdued by air and Naval action (Including, of course the U-Boats), had German (and Italian, and French) resources been managed properly, thus rendering an invasion unnecessary.

All of the above said, knowing as many Brits as I do, I can hardly entertain the thought of them being subdued by such minor inconveniences as starvation and overwhelming military force. Perhaps if you cut off the supply of Tea............

Sorry Avro, I've strayed horribly off topic. It's the Baron's fault.

[ElAurens]

The Germans had no chance of winning the BoB.

Their industry was not on a true war time footing.

Even during June and July they could not keep up with the losses they were incurring at the hands of the RAF.

The Luftwaffe was over politicized and poorly led, and it was organized as a tactical support branch of the Heer. It was not designed or equipped for long range strategic conflict, how could they be with only medium bombers and short range interceptors as the bulk of their force?

Coupled with the laughable state of the Kriegsmarine and the fact that Great Britain had the best planned and organized air defense on the planet at the time, and the world's largest navy and it's plain that they had no chance of success.

None.

[meplay]

Originally Posted by baronWastelan

And yet, the RAF still only avoided defeat in BoB owing to faulty German strategy.

Yup and the fact that we are on an island with the best (at that time) navy.

[Tiger27]

I dont think Germany could have taken Britain, we may have lost a fair bit of the fleet, but those invasion barges wouldnt have been able to take the necessary supplies nor withstand the Royal Navy ships that would have been able to get through the German bombers.

Germany was lucky in the early stages that no one called their bluff, they wern't really prepared for a lengthy war and probably suprised themselves at how easily they took France, Belgium etc, Britain called there bluff and no matter how much bombimg they did, you cant capture a country by bombing it, you have to have troops on the ground.

I think Hitler believed after the 1938 crisis and the Western power stance on many deeds on his part that he would never have to fight France or Britain as they would just do what they had done before: protest and then accept it.

If I remember well, I once heard in a documentary that he was really surprised when he got the declaration of war from France and Britain.

One may conclude from it that the German Luftwaffe and army was never actually meant to invade France, let alone Britain. It was done and attempted because facts were different from what was planned for and had to be accounted for by going into the offensive, trying to take out France and Britain, with what they had, before turning to their real objective.

[JimmyBlonde]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Blitz-.../dp/0552155489

I can highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the German bomber campaign against Britain during WW1.

As for Britain only winning due to bad German strategy...

I lol'd. The Luftwaffe was getting its arse handed to it in June 1940 by the AASF and continental air forces. Where do you dream this crap up? Even the Polish Airforce did remarkably well against it.

In 1939 the Poles managed to destroy 285 German aircraft, for a total 333 aircraft lost. Not bad for an airforce which was flying relics a which were a generation behind the Luftwaffe and outnumbered by almost 10 to 1.

Sorry dude but your much vaunted Luftwaffe is just a propagandists dream.

I feel slightly ignored ...

On a more factual basis and hopefully on a less bashing tone that settled in a couple of threads ago (it closes in on youtube comment level):

I too think that the Luftwaffe is usually overestimated. It had at the beginning of the war machines that outclassed usually the opposing types. They had a minor advantage in experience and tactics over a short time. This changed progressively with the campaign in the West, where they encountered the more advanced planes that were close or equal in performance and when the pilots gained more experience there. With slower pace the same happened in the Eastern campaign, when initially the Soviet planes were completely outclassed and pilot experience was bad. They cought up later. It ended up in a number game during the last stage of the war.

PS: The German planes lost in Poland were mostly lost to ground fire not Polish planes that had been primarily destroyed on ground.

[JimmyBlonde]

Oh crap sorry mate, It's like playing tennis with someone who keeps lobbing tha ball at you. I just couldn't...

You know.

My bad.