The Battle of Britain Was The First Defeat For The German Luftwaffe.

Originally Posted by Snapper

Right. So.....how did they cope with it?

What do you mean with "cope with it"?

I think the Nazi propaganda machine tried to convince the people that the campaign was successful (don't forget that after the failed BoB, there has been the Blitz and after the Blitz frequent incursions of low level attacks if I remember well) so possibly the broad public was not much informed about an eventual defeat or whatever name you want to give it. And soon public attention turned towards other theatres of war. So from the point of view public opinion might not have been much affected apart from those secretly listening to BBC and not taking BBC programme for too much of a propaganda itself.

About the military, I cannot tell.

In terms of planning:
Well, I guess Hitler hoped that wiping the SU off the maps (which was likely his primary goal anyway) would take away one potential ally for GB and hoping to keep GB on their island until he had finished Stalin so a two front war could be avoided (the initial motivation for seeking a decision in the West first). It might have worked if the campaign in Russia would have ended in a German victory (not likely in hindsight imho).

Beowulf: This clip is fantastic. Lol, all the remaining sparrows are so curious and want to see the end of the fight. Lol. Good find

[ATAG_Snapper]

Originally Posted by 41Sqn_Stormcrow

What do you mean with "cope with it"?


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I was getting back on track to the OP. Jim Blonde's reply was very similar to the one I gave the OP at the very beginning of this convoluted thread.

[JimmyBlonde]

Originally Posted by Snapper

I was getting back on track to the OP. Jim Blonde's reply was very similar to the one I gave the OP at the very beginning of this convoluted thread.

Yeah but what do you mean specifically? How did who cope with it? Do you mean the Luftwaffe as a force or the aircrews themselves?

The battle didn't seem to have any real overall influence on the way the Luftwaffe operated as a force. No serious strategic revisions were made and no big restructuring took place. Some people might have liked them to occur but it seems that the Luftwaffe was considered merely a supporting arm of the German war machine rather than a driving force behind it. Time and resources were against Germany also, all but the most delusional must have known it.

As for the crews, maybe biographies, diaries or PoW debriefings can tell. They remained optimistic enough to fight hard for the years after but I'm sure that a few must have seen the writing on the wall. Not many though, most people aren't that imaginative and contemplating defeat is not a good warrior trait.

[ACE-OF-ACES]

Let's see if we can not sum up this thread up..

AXIS 0
ALLIEDS 1

Nuff said?

[Wutz]

Originally Posted by ACE-OF-ACES

Let's see if we can not sum up this thread up..

AXIS 0
ALLIEDS 1

Nuff said?

On that bases you can say
Britons 0
Romans 1

Or
Normal people 0
Hooligans and looters 1

any more wacky comparisons?

[bongodriver]

Originally Posted by Wutz

On that bases you can say
Britons 0
Romans 1

Or
Normal people 0
Hooligans and looters 1

any more wacky comparisons?

Whacky?.......OMG you really are in complete denial.

how can a country that ended up split in two and occupied by 4 different nations for decades not consider itself defeated?

[DrDom]

I'm all outta popcorn