Battle of Britain

The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain began to become intense on July 10,1940, with German dive-bombers attacking convoys off the South and East coast of England and with raids on coastal towns from Dover to Plymouth. The RAF's seven hundred fighters faced four times that number of enemy fighters and bombers. Shipping losses increased but the real objective of destroying British fighters in combat was not achieved. At the end of the first week in August the RAF had lost ninety-six fighters and the Germans one hundred and ninety-two aircraft.
The second phase of the Battle began on the 8th of August, when the Luftwaffe intensified its attacks and also struck at fighter airfields and radar stations. A week later the Germans mounted their greatest effort in a series of attacks from Northumberland to Dorset, losing seventy-five aircraft to the RAF's thirty four. Pressure was maintained until August 18 but bad weather for the following five days gave RAF pilots a much-needed res...