Battle of Britain
On the 18th. of June, Winston Churchill stood in Parliament and delivered one of historys' most memorable speeches.

"What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands, but, if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and it's Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour".

Fighter Command was in real trouble, but Luftwaffe commanders did not fully appreciate the situation. German losses had been far higher than they had expected, especially in bombers, RAF fighter stations continued to operate despite heavy bombing, and consequently the invasion date had been moved back. Hitler, furious at the delay, demanded that the invasion should take place within a week, and that meant the destruction of Fighter Command must be accomplished immediately.

The decision was made to begin bombing London and other major cities as well as the fighter stations, and on the afternoon of Sept. 7th. the first full scale raid on London was mounted. The fighter defences were taken off guard, and the bomber formations reached the city, causing heavy damage especially in the London docks and East End.

Hitler had previously forbidden the bombing of London, but during a raid in August bombs had fallen on a London suburb, and in response Bomber Command had attacked Berlin. Angered by the raids, Hitler agreed to the full scale assault on London.

This change of tactics by the Luftwaffe is what saved the situation for Britain. No longer the sole target, Fighter Command was able to recover and rebuild. Also, attacking London brought the Luftwaffe formations within the range of fighters from 12 group, based north of London.

On the 15th. Sept. the battle reached it's climax. The Luftwaffe launched a series of massive attacks, and every available RAF fighter was in the air to oppose them, it was a day of maximum effort on both sides.

Raids on the Capital and fighter stations continued, the battle continued, but it was clear that the attempt to destroy the RAF had failed, for the moment at least, there would be no invasion.

No discussion of the Battle of Britain is complete without reference to the famous Winston Churchill quote: