How Successful Was The Bombing Of Germany In 1940

The Luftwaffe first targeted shipping convoys and shipping centers, but later focused on destroying RAF infrastructure, including radar sites and airfields (Axelrod). In the later stages of the campaign, they targeted aircraft factories, towns and cities. British fortunes were also helped by the fact that the Luftwaffe had never subscribed to a concept of strategic bombing. “British anti-aircraft and civil-defense preparations were inadequate in the summer of 1940”, yet the Luftwaffe was unable to wreak the devastating effects feared by many (Axelrod). German tactics were changed again and the Luftwaffe resorted to indiscriminate bombing of larger cities, including London, Plymouth and Coventry. British fighters were also inexperienced compared
Even if Germany had defeated Britain, causing no need for bombing on London, the British might have never sent bombers to attack Berlin. Importantly, later in the war there would have been no country of Britain to serve as a base for the Allied freeing of Europe from Nazi rule. “If the Royal Air Force had failed in the attempt to stop Germany, Hitler would have been able to invade southern England, thus taking entire control over Europe” (Stewart).When the German forces reached the Channel they had, by their standards, won the war in the West. They had occupied Belgium, the Netherlands and most of France and driven Britain from the continent. By any reasonable definition, it was a victory. “Goering and the Luftwaffe were the only possible key to a German victory, either by permitting an actual invasion or by so demoralizing the British Establishment”(Stewart). Luckily, Goering and his generals were as new at all this as anyone. If they had understood the nature of the command and control system that had integrated the radar stations into it, they could have disrupted Fighter Command's ability to detect incoming raids and command squadrons to intercept them. Hitler decided to turn to the lands in the East which had been his prime target all along, and invasion was never seriously considered again. In the eyes of the world Britain had proved that it was still a force in the war. Roosevelt could
Hitler's forces, in an attempt to achieve air superiority, were preparing for an invasion of Britain code-named "Operation Sea Lion." Prime Minister Winston Churchill, speaking of the British pilots in an August speech, said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." The British defenses held, and Hitler quietly canceled Operation Sea Lion in October. The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date. The Battle of Britain marked the first defeat of Hitler’s military