The Battle of Britain officially ended in October 1940, I suspect that the date was determined upon as a result of lessening daylight activity on behalf of the Luftwaffe in conjunction with the decision to postpone “operation Sea lion”
Subsequently the effort to knock Britain out of the war continued by means of naval blockade (Surface Raiders and U Boats) and night bombing of cities throughout the United Kingdom. The latter continued throughout the winter of 1940 / 1941 and finally came to an end in late spring 1941, as the result of a need to transfer Luftwaffe units to the east.
Having given the matter some thought and official dates aside is there a case for saying that the German night offensive was in reality the last major phase of the Battle of Britain?
I await your thoughts with interest!
Regards
WF
By: Firebird - 25th September 2008 at 09:58
Something that will be argued about for ever pretty much. Plenty of daytime action took place well into November of course.
Personally, I’ve always thought of the Battle of Britain period timeline to be that of the RAF’s close to 100% commitment to the defence of the UK, i.e. from the surrender of the French on 25th June 1940 through to the start of the RAF going over to more offensive oreintated ops with Circus No1 on 10th Jan 1941.
By: Moggy C - 25th September 2008 at 08:18
Tricky one.
If you extend to the night raids and the provincial blitz how about the Baedeker Raids, then the V Weapon campaign?
I suppose we need to have official dates for it but the cases of Messers Lott and McKellar are patently unjust. But if we move the dates to encompass them there will be somebody else ill served. (Interesting to see Tom Gleave quoted as arguing against McKellar’s case. BoB snobbery?)
To me anyone who served from the Fall of France to the end of 1940 can count themselves a BoB pilot if they wish. I wouldn’t argue with them.
Moggy
By: Arabella-Cox - 25th September 2008 at 07:40
The setting of dates for the “Battle of Britain” is often a contentious subject.
Initially, the Air Ministry set the start date as 8th August. There was some logic to this, in a way, because it marked the commencement of really heavy air attacks against the UK – in this instance, against Convoy “Peewit”. In fact, this was the date set down in the wartime Air Min publications on the Battle of Britain. Later, the start date was amended by Dowding in his August 1941 Dispatch to 10 July. The end date, 31 October, went unchanged. The reality, of course, was that somebody had forgotten to tell the Germans when it started and ended! This meant that, for example, George Lott was shot down and wounded in one eye – never to fly operationally again – on 9th July. As a result, he did not “qualify” as a Battle of Britain pilot. At the other end of the scale, we have “Archie” McKellar killed in action on 1st November but not included on the Battle of Britain roll of honour. From the German perspective, it might be argued that their start date was Adler Tag (Eagle Day) on 13th August – a date that marked the official start of their campaign for air supremacy. In fact, though, German bombing attacks on the UK itself had started on 5/6 June – althought there were isolated attacks before then. Most battles have clearly defined beginning and ends – not so the Battle of Britain. There is, perhaps, some merit in the German view that there was no such thing, per-se, as the Battle of Britain – just an ongoing campaign of air assaults against the UK ranging from June 1940 into the Spring of 1941. At the Air Historical Branch there is a fascinating dissertation on this topic by Adolf Galland. Either way, the daylight “Battle” as such went on way beyond 31st October!
The attached press clipping from my files touches on this topic.
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September 24, 2008 at 9:03 pm