Who saved England in 1940

[Matzos]

Three military historians have stated that they feel that the Battle of Britain was an overblown myth and the credit should have gone to the Royal Navy.

Read more at Who saved England (http://www.modoracle.com/?page=http://www.modoracle.com/news/detail.h2f?id=11455)Source - Modoracle.com

Speaking as a member of the RAF, if the luftwaffe had not been overpowered, Royal Navy or not, the Germans would have crossed the Channel.
What's the thing that they are always saying, gain control of the air battle, then you will have control of the land/sea battle.

I would be interested in what other members have to say on this,

ship; orstrafe;

[Hollis]

A little outlandish, It takes combine action from all the service to win. Interservice rivalry will alway be around especially with boots.


If one was able to remove the RAF or the RN from the equation, it could have possibley been a nazi win. I really don't think it was either or, but a combination of both along with the other services.


What might be argued is percent of "contribution".

[Bombardier]

Well, I see it like this and it goes along a similar line to Hollis.

The RAF reduced the amount of bombing raids which in turn helped keep the ship yards open, the Navy as has been said in the article was a sufficient deterent to Hitler to prevent an invasion which in turn forced Hitler to Bomb more and so on.......solthum

A very interesting question though mate (Y)

[Matzos]

a combination of both along with the other services.

I think that is the correct statement, we all would like to say that the one or the other carried out the act of saving the UK. But in fact it was a combination of all the services standing together.
Brave men and women from all branches of the armed forces and civil defence gave their lives in the defence of this country in those very dark times.
sal; med;

[Reloader]

Without denigrating the efforts of the other services, you have to acknowledge the effort and sacrifices of the RAF at that time. From what I have read on the subject, it was a close run thing and for the majority of the population at the time, the RAF were the only ones carrying the fight to the enemy. They deserve to be honoured and recognised for their efforts.
You only have to look at the later Ardennes offensive, the 'Battle of the Bulge' to see the difference air power made, once the skies were clear enough to fly missions against the Nazis' rampaging divisions.

[Hollis]

Without denigrating the efforts of the other services, you have to acknowledge the effort and sacrifices of the RAF at that time. From what I have read on the subject, it was a close run thing and for the majority of the population at the time, the RAF were the only ones carrying the fight to the enemy. They deserve to be honoured and recognised for their efforts.
You only have to look at the later Ardennes offensive, the 'Battle of the Bulge' to see the difference air power made, once the skies were clear enough to fly missions against the Nazis' rampaging divisions.


Wasn't it Churchill that said, "England has two huraahs for every Spit". or something like that. I don't think anyone can diminish the efforts of the RAF, their reputation is global.

I think some folks get upset because if you mention on service and not the other, one is diminishing the other. While that is not the case.

[John A Silkstone]

Let’s look at this from a different point of view.

All the services did their bit, but to the people of the time I believe only two stood out.

One was the RAF and the other was the Civil Defence.

My reason for saying this is obvious. The people could actually see these forces in action. The RAF fighting in the sky and the Civil Defence helping to rescue people after a bombing raid among the many other things that they did.

Reading about what others are doing far away is interesting, however, is not as memorable as watching something happen when it happens or someone else helping you in your hour of need.

My final word is: WELL DONE ALL THOSE THAT HELPED THE WAR EFFORT, NO MATTER HOW THEY DID IT.

Silky

[IronFootedBstrd]

I nearly started a thread myself on this the other day, but most of what I would have said has already been said by others now (& its nice to know we are in so much agreement!)

To add to what has been said above though I will say that it would be damned unfair to the R.A.F. to 'downgrade' it at all. The RAF most certainly 'won its spurs' with the Battle of Britain, a fact which even the Army & the Navy HAD to acknowledge, & it was no longer the 'new recruit'.

As Silky has said, in FACT, even if not in the public perception (though I think it WAS the public's perception) they were fighting & fighting bloody hard when even the Navy, & most certainly not the Army just were not in a position to get to grips with the enemy in the same way. What is more, it was an 'observable' battle to the public, & not just over the Weald of Kent, but every bloody night, with searchlights & anti-aircraft guns AMONG the civilian populace. The Civil Defence too were in the thick of it, of course, perhaps more perceptibly than the guns & searchlights even.

In strategic terms, what it boils down to, I.M.H.O. is that the Germans needed to gain complete air superiority, to give ANY chance of the Luftwaffe being able to protect the invasion fleet from the Royal Navy, & to cover the German Army IF, & when, they managed to get on shore. That the Luftwaffe couldnt do unless they destroyed the R.A.F.'s fighting capability completely.

Ooops, & editing my post to add this, Goering promised that he was able to destry the R.A.F. (Goering was, of course, a bloody idiot) but een he wasnt unrealistic eough to claim to be able to defeat the Navy.

Among the German High Command, there may have been an unspoken consensus to do what was achievable (though even they didnt seem to think that Op. Sealion WAS...) in the same way that we did with the bomber offensive when we couldnt really hit at the enemy in any other way. Destruction of the R.A.F. WAS achievable & nearly succeeded, as we all know....wheras even at his maddest, Hitler wasnt going to go toe to toe with the whole Royal Navy.