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15//9/25
Battle of Britain Day
On the 15th of September every year it is Battle of Britain Day. This year it is actually the 85th Anniversary, which means it’s been 85 years since this important event in the Second World War.
Battle of Britain Day is a day to remember the Royal Air Force’s impressive victory over Germany’s air force called the Luftwaffe, which helped prevent the Nazi’s being able to invade this country.
A Luftwaffe plane called the Heinkel He 111 bomber flying over London.
The Luftwaffe bombed London repeatedly. Here you can see smoke rising from bombs being dropped behind Tower Bridge. If you look closely you can also see the top of the Tower of London.
RAF pilots in front of a Hawker Hurricane on 7th September 1940
The Spitfire and the Hurricane were the RAF's planes used in the Battle of Britain.
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was an important battle of the Second World War which lasted for about four months, from July to October 1940.
It was a battle totally fought in the air between this country and the Nazi’s. Planes from this country and planes from Germany fought to control the air over Britain.
Hitler wanted to invade this country. France had just surrendered and the plan was that Britain would be next. To do this the Nazi’s needed to damage Britain’s defences first and defeat the RAF, Britain’s air force.
The first thing the Nazi’s did was send their Luftwaffe over to bomb Britain’s ships. This was to stop food and supplies getting to Britain. Then they tried to attack the RAF, in the sky and by bombing airfields and radar stations (radars were used to warn Britain that Germany’s planes were coming).
The Luftwaffe’s then also started bombing other military and industrial targets, trying to weaken Britain’s ability to defend itself. Then one night they bombed London. This caused Winston Churchill, Britain’s Prime Minister to order the bombing of a German city called Berlin in retaliation. This made Hitler incredibly angry and he then demanded that the Luftwaffe focus on destroying London and other British cities.
On 15th September 1940, the Germans launched a huge attack on London. Hitler believed on this date the RAF was going to be totally defeated. But the RAF fought back well and the Luftwaffe lost a huge amount of planes. On this date it became clear that the Germans could not win this battle. The victory on the 15th September was really important and because of this Hitler decided to stop his plans to invade Britain. After this the Luftwaffe continued to bomb Britain, focussing on night bombings on London which was called the Blitz. But the Nazi’s never invaded Britain.
Winston Churchill gave many important speeches during the Second World War. Of the RAF he said “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
‘The few’ were the men of the RAF, who were completely outnumbered by the German Luftwaffe. They fought incredibly hard to protect this country from Nazi invasion. We should never forget what they did to protect us.
The RAF were outnumbered but won the Battle of Britain against the German Luftwaffe.
A poster showing a quote by the Prime Minster Winston Churchill, celebrating the RAF's victory.
Find out more about the Second World War...
Photos and illustrations in this blog post are Whizzbots and Public Domain Images.