by Jakob Holmberg

Created on: March 17, 2009

The Battle of Britain was definitely a turning point for the Second World War since it prevented Hitler from controlling western Europe. Germany had already invaded France, Britain partner in the declaration of war, and if the British isles had fallen, Germany might have won the war. However, as I will show in this article, Operation Sea lion, The Nazi plan for invasion of Britain, was not planned well, and would probably not have succeeded even if the RAF had not taken down the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain.

By 1939, Germany's decision to invade Poland had caused France and Great Britain to declare war on her. Germany's invasion plans had at first been limited to domination in Eastern Europe, but now they had extended to the west. France and Great Britain had become the biggest threats to Hitlers plans and were therefore to be neutralized Hitler wanted to seize France, but was unsure what to do with Britain1
In Britain, the newly appointed Prime Minister: Winston Churchill, had been supporting war with Germany for quite a long time. The admiralty of Germany began studying for an invasion of France, and then Britain:

On the 20th
of June 1940, Directive 16: Preparations for the invasion of Britain: Operation Sea lion was issued by Adolf Hitler. It stated:

"As England, despite her hopeless military situation, still shows no sign of willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare, and if necessary to carry out, a landing operation against her. The aim of this operation is to eliminate the English motherland as a base from which war against Germany can be continued and, if necessary, to occupy completely."

The focus of the invasion was on taking out the British armed forces, especially airplanes and anti-air weaponry, before launching a major landing which would land troops by airplanes and ships. This directive was largely intended as a threat in order to force Britain to sign a peace agreement.
However, Britain refused to make peace, and prepared for war. Hitler announced the plans to make aerial attacks on Britain in Directive no.17, issued on the 1st
of August.
These aerial attacks were carried out by the Luftwaffe,
the air counterpart of the German
Wehrmact. This air force initiated Operation Eagle, which was an operation with the goal of taking out the British Royal Air Force, RAF, so that Britain's defenses were weak enough for German troops to land. Hitler knew that the entire plan relied on swift victory in the air, and he gave the Luftwaffe eight days

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