The Few

What about the view of some shiny-arses that the Battle of Britain was won by the presence of the Fleet, rather than the heroic resistance offered by the RAF to Luftwaffe bombing?

Whilst the RN has a very proud tradition and its presence (even if stuck up in Scapa) was hugely important to the country, its importance in the outcome of the war is paramount anywhere else but over the fields of southern England.

Credit where it's due, the Few deserve their place in history without being derided by a few thinkers in the history world.

 

What the Few did was nothing short of magnificent, but the myth that a few brave fighter pilots single-handedly prevented Britain from being invaded and crushed under the jackbooted heel of the Evil Hun, is precisely that - a myth. A much-needed one for propaganda purposes at the time, which in no way belittles the stunning victory over the Luftwaffe achieved by the RAF and the sacrifice and courage of their pilots, but it's a myth all the same. The truth, as is almost always the case, is a lot more complicated than what's trotted out to keep up the morale of the masses by politicians desperate for a tangible victory.

What the RAF achieved was to prevent the RN from having to save Britain from an invasion that wasn't practical or feasible, or even going to happen. This doesn't make what the RAF achieved any less remarkable or praiseworthy.

 

Like most others I in no way want to belittle the effort that was made by The Few, it was both effective and heroic, what more can one ask for, but it was not all that happened.

The RN was not just sitting in Scapa, it had been very active since the start of the war and importantly had already proved to the Germans that it would sacrifice ships and men to ensure victory, just think for example of the Plate and Narvik, to name some of the actions preceding the Fall of France. Not only that it had proved with Dunkirk that it could mount extemporised operations succefully with little or no notice. The only ships that kept close to Scapa were the modern capital ships covering Bismark and the other heavy ships in German ports.

The BOB was important as it did show the RAF could match Goering'sLuftwaffe in the air and hold it's own, but it was in no way the sole defender of these shores, and the fact there was no invasion was as much through the sacrifices the RN (9 submarines during the Narvik campaigns alone for example) the Army as well as the RAF.

Peter

 

We all know that it was a magnificent joint effort between all the services that defeated the Germans. However, it is a known fact that Hitler did not want to invade without first obtaining dominance of the skies above the channel and Britain. And they threw everything at us to acheive that aim. This is where the 'Few' took to the skies and the rest is history. It makes me feel very uncomfortable when I see people trying to re-write history just so they can make a name for themselves. I can only see a band of brave people from that era becoming distressed over this. Leave it be.

 

Agree with OH

The Battle of Britain was fought with pilots from the RAF Commonwealth Air forces and various free forces from the European Countries already over-run by the German war machine.

Blitzkrieg warfare couldn't be successful without air superiority and the German air force very nearly achieved their aims --however when Hitler decided to bomb the UK towns and cities instead of the RAF airfields in retaliation for us bombing Berlin it allowed the RAF to recover its losses and start to win against the Bombers etc .

As for the invasion of the UK by Hitlers Army well it was a flawed plan to begin with however it could have worked if they had gained the control of the air.

The RN at that time were removed from Scapa they were all in safe anchorages dodging mines and Submarine torpedo's --and doing Convoy escort work.

The Battle of the Atlantic was almost as damaging as the B.O.B.