The Battle of Britain took place 80 years

The Battle of Britain took place 80 years ago from this August. Find out how it started here:

LKS 2 Topic: WW 2: A Child’s Eye View from the Home Front Block C: The Battle of Britain Session 1 May 1940 A few months after the war began, Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Britain’s Prime Minister. © Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. We refer you to our warning, at the foot of the block overview, about links to other websites.

By the end of May 1940, Germany was in control of, or allied to, all the countries shown in red.

France had fallen to the Nazis and England now stood alone. Churchill was convinced that Hitler was planning to invade Britain next! He made plans to try to protect the coastline with gun emplacements and rolls of barbed wire. He appointed the “Home Guard” to keep watch and defend Britain’s coast. They were mostly men who were too old to enlist for the war. He made a speech to encourage everyone to do their duty and to be prepared to defend their country if an invasion came.

Hitler was planning to invade Britain from his newly conquered lands. He called his plan Operation Sealion. He planned to send troops across the channel in large ships from France, Holland Belgium. But he had a problem; he knew that the large British Royal Navy would destroy his ships before they reached the coast. He wanted to destroy the British ships by using aircraft but he thought the British Royal Air Force would stop his own planes from doing this.

To solve this problem he decided he would first send out his own air force (The Luftwaffe) to destroy The British Air Force.

This plan would lead to a battle between the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Luftwaffe that would become known as The Battle of Britain.

British Spitfire Mk 1 German Messerschmitt 109 British Hurricane Mk 1