by Catherine Lear

Created on: November 24, 2010   Last Updated: November 26, 2010

Many battles can be seen as turning points in wars, none more so than the battle of Britain during World War 2. However, this would not be apparent at the time, first though we must look at this battle and what happened before the battle of Britain to understand the significance of the battle.

In 1939, after Germany overran Poland, Britain who was allied to Poland had no alternative but to declare war on Germany. The invasion of Poland became known as Blitzkrieg, that is to say a Lightning war, this meant that Germany used a highly mobile strategy not seen before using a combination of artillery, Tanks , troops and a highly trained air force. Many of Germanys’ pilots had gained valuable combat experience by fighting in the Spanish civil war to spearhead its way into Poland.

It is now a well known fact borne out in many modern day wars that by gaining air superiority, you gain a superior foothold in any invasion, and it was this fact alone that gave the Germans that vital foothold in Poland.

 First, you knock out all airfields by bombing and destroying aircraft, at the same time you down any aircraft flying with ruthless efficiency, this then leaves your enemy with a clear disadvantage. This then paves the way for your tanks, troops’ artillery to gain the upper hand in any invasion and at the same time, you can destroy at will anything that moves on the ground from the air.

Moreover, this tactic made the invasion and overrunning of Poland so easy for the Germans in September in 1939.

It was to this backdrop of history that Britain and France declared war once more on their old enemy the Germans, and on the 3rd September Britain deployed a expedition force to help the French to help repel any invasion of German troops into France.

An uneasy peace followed with the French and British troops defending what was known as the Maginot line, this was a defensive line of concrete fortifications built after World War 1 on the border between France and Germany.

The following year 1940 saw the Germans on the 10th May once more use the same tactics that had seen them take Poland, this time however instead of attacking France through the Maginot line as expected, they chose instead to invade Belgium and fall on the French and British troops from this little country.

British troops along with the French troops fought a rearguard action that found them on the French northern coast and it was at one particular port Dunkirk that most of the British and French

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