TL;DR World War II #5 - The Battle of Britain
Shortly after the end of the French campaign, Adolf Hitler wanted to deal with the unruly UK which was still a serious force, especially in the sea. Despite of Germany's considerable military advantage, Winston Churchill has strongly rejected German peace proposals. Thus, he crushed Hitler's hopes of concluding a British-German agreement without all claimed territories in 1939-40 invasions. As a result, the German HQ began to develop a plan to seize the British Isles, named "Seelöwe" (Sea Lion), which assumed the defeat of the British air fleet and then the invasion force of the islands.
(src wikipedia.org - Heinkel He 111 bombers during the Battle of Britain)
On July 27, Hitler approved documents for the invasion and on 1 August he issued an order for a naval and air war against the United Kingdom (operation began on 13 August). Three powerful air fleets were formed - in total, 1300 bombers and 1000 fighters plus 55 reconnaissance aircraft were involved, with only 800 fighter jets from England. Initially everything looked like a quick victory for Germany. Royal Air Forces (RAF) was struggling to defend the British coast from a German storm. At first military factories and strategically important buildings were razed by German pilots, but after a few less successful German air raids Hitler decided to change tactics by ordering bombing of British cities. London raids almost broke the spirits of the civilian population of the capital. The change in German tactics, however, was good, as the exhausted British industry could breathe and start afresh again at the cost of the suffering population of bombed cities. Especially heavy raid was performed on english city Coventry on the night of November 14. The town, an important rearmament site, was almost completely destroyed with the death toll of 3 800 people. It is estimated that by the time of December 1940, 23 000 Britons had been killed and 32 100 were wounded because of German air strikes.
(src rafmuseum.org - Bomb damage in the centre of Coventry, England)
With the huge effort of British armaments companies, the Luftwaffe managed to catch up quickly and the RAF could enjoy a victory in the battle of Britain. It is worth mentioning the incredible prowess of pilots from the countries conquered by Nazi Germany in earlier years. It was them, who were the most successful in the sky of Britain, most of them revenging for the collapse of their own states.
(src historynet.com - Members of 303 Squadron return from a mission in September 1940, including (from left) John A. Kent, Bohdan Grzesczcak, Jerzy Radomski, Jan Zumbach, Witold Lokuciewski, Zdzislaw Henneberg, Jan Rogowski and Eugeniusz Szaposznikow.)
Foreign pilots in RAF fighting in Battle of Britain according to Wikipedia
| Nation | Number of pilots |
|---|---|
| Poland | 141 or 145 |
| New Zealand | 127 or 135 |
| Canada | 112 |
| Czechoslovakia | 84 or 88 |
| Belgium | 28 or 30 |
| Australia | 26 or 32 |
| South Africa | 22 or 25 |
| France | 13 or 14 |
| Ireland | 10 |
| United States | 9 or 11 |
| S. Rhodesia | 3 or 4 |
| Jamaica | 1 |
| Barbados | 1 |
| Newfoundland | 1 |
| N. Rhodesia | 1 |
Part #1: German invasion of Denmark, Norway and France
Part #2: Political and ideological background of Anschluss of Austria
Part #3: The outbreak of war: Poland 1939