The Battle of Britain: Britain defends against German attacks
Radar station RAF airfield
Luftwaffe base Direction of
German attack on Day of the Eagle, 13 August 1940
Firth of Forth BRITAIN Newcastle Belfast Manchester Birmingham
Coventry LONDON
Southampton Thames Estuary
The Spitfires and the Hurricanes of the British matched the German planes – Messerschmitts, Stukas and Heinkels. The British also had radar to detect incoming German planes. This gave the RAF the advantage of knowing when and where the Luftwaffe were going to attack. Then the Germans switched their attacks to the cities, which gave the RAF a chance to recover from the attacks on the airfields. Hitler soon realised that the Luftwaffe were losing too many planes and pilots. In the middle of September he postponed the invasion of Britain ‘until further notice’. This was Hitler’s first defeat because his invasion plan had failed.
BELGIUM Spitfire plane FRANCE
Did You Know? One of the most famous fighter pilots
of the Battle of Britain was Irish-born ‘Paddy’ Finucane.
