A TURNING POINT? Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain had important ramifications for the course of
World War II. The most immediate of those that aided the Allied cause
were the dividends that accrued from the fact that Germany had suffered
its first major defeat in the war. The British triumph gave hope to the
peoples of occupied countries in Europe and helped feed partisan
resistance against German occupation forces. More important, this battle
helped convince many in the neutral United States to favor offering
greater assistance to Britain. Increasing popular support assisted
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in securing passage of the March 1941
Lend-Lease Act, which provided vital war supplies to Britain and to
other countries fighting the Axis powers.
In military terms, the Battle of Britain had a tremendous impact on
Germany’s war effort. The Luftwaffe never fully recovered from its
losses in the battle, as Britain then surpassed Germany in aircraft
production. Also, because Britain remained in the war, Germany now had
to spread its military resources even more thinly, including assisting
Italy in combatting British forces in the Mediterranean. Rather than the
quick conclusion of the war that German leader Adolf Hitler and
commander of the Luftwaffe Reichsmarschall (Reich Marshal) Hermann
Göring had believed was inevitable, the Germans faced a protracted
conflict that placed great strain on their limited military resources.
This situation became far worse for Germany with the June 1941
commencement of Operation BARBAROSSA, the German invasion of the Soviet
Union. The Battle of Britain played a role even before the opening of
hostilities between the Germans and the Soviets. Hitler’s decision to
conquer the Soviet Union was based on his long-held belief in the need
to secure Lebensraum (living space) for the German people, but he also
expressed the opinion that a German defeat of the Soviet Union would in
turn force Great Britain to surrender. Ultimately, BARBAROSSA resulted
in a protracted two-front war in Europe. Following the entry of the
United States into the conflict as an Allied power, U.S. military might,
as well as substantial American material and military resources
provided to Britain and the Soviet Union, presented the Germans with a
war that they could not win, for Allied resources far surpassed those
available to Germany. The June 1944 Allied landing in Normandy was the
final proof of the importance of the Battle of Britain. This amphibious
assault on Hitler’s Europe was made possible only because Britain
remained a secure base for the assembly of the vast armada needed for
the operation. In many respects, the 1940 struggle for mastery of the
skies over Britain had changed the entire outcome of World War II in
Europe.