Today in History: “The Hardest Day” in Battle of Britain (1940)

"Don't blame me: I voted Conservative"

[dude]

At this point in the war, practically all of Europe was conquered, the French, who just before the war were considered be one of the most powerful nations in the world, had been smashed in just a few weeks, and British forces had been forced to flee the mainland at Dunkirk. The Nazi Empire looked invincible. Britain stood alone against the might of the Third Reich.The battle of Britain was the first main turning point in the war, it was the first time the Germans had been thwarted. Although casualties for the battle were quite low for the Germans by WWII standards, it was still a major blow, and perhaps the most important turning point until the Nazis were smashed and turned around at Stalingrad. Had the Nazis succeeded in the battle of Britain, the course of the war would have been very different, and the outcome of WWII perhaps different too.

[TonoFonseca]

What makes me most sad about the Battle of Britain is that half of all Hawker Hurricanes were lost on the runways by young pilots who had little flight experience and crashed when attempting to land.

[thunberbolttwo]

Dont forget the eagle squadrons.American pilots in the raf.

[j.danaclark]

I absolutely love these history lessons! keep them coming!

[PanzerF]

There is a Stalin quote on the Internet, that to win WW2, "the British gave time, the Americans gave money, and the Russians gave blood". Those Luftwaffe aircraft over the U.K. were using Russian fuel ...

[torinjones]

Harold should have rallied more troops in London and rested his army before facing William. He was too rushed after defeating Harald.

[leary]

I've always been amazed at the number of airmen who died. Combined allied losses are twice that of US Marine deaths in the pacific and all losses make Canai look like a picnic spread near the bandstand

[Drache]

We have to thank those brave men. They saved Britain for the muslims.

[Galland_]

Ahhh ja, the good old days, when i was young and handsome..

[harpersneil]

6 People don't understand how grateful they should be "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." I love this channel... (fck Vice!)

[primpal]

Hitler turned into his own worst enemy. His early successes convinced him that he knew better than his own generals. The Battle of Briton was lost by the Germans when they stopped going after the British air forces & started hitting the cities instead. The battle delayed the invasion of the Soviet Union, which ended up giving the Soviets valuable breathing space (it would have been better for the Germans to have delayed the invasion until the following spring - Stalin's purges were weakening the Soviet army & weren't about to stop if the Germans had delayed.) By the time of Stalingrad the war had turned into a simple numbers game - the Soviets could replace their losses (& then some) faster than the Nazis (who were struggling just to replace their losses at all.)

[ThermicLight]

People commonly think Britain won the Battle of Britain but in effect the encounter was a stalemate. To win an encounter you need to actually conquer your foe. Rather then sit in constant defense. And actually Britain was lucky on some level that Germany opted to bomb civilian spots than purely concentrate on strategic points of military value. Had Germany concentrated on the latter events may of been quite different.

[ketsan]

Nice sly Henry V band of brothers speech quote. Well done, sir!

[EdVanMeyer]

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, it was a great moment when the tide of war started to turn in our favour.

[alexg]

There were also Australians flying for the RAF as well.