This Day in History:
The Battle of Britain Begins
The Battle of Britain Begins
August 13th, 2008 9:55 am
On June 18, 1940, in a speech made before the British House of Common, Prime Minister Winston Churchill stated “The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin...”. On this day, August 13, 1940 that suspicion became a reality as German Luftwaffe bombers and fighters begin a systematic attack of British Royal Air Force airbases and radar installations.
The proposed German invasion of the British home islands, code-named ”Operation Sealion” scheduled for mid-September 1940, required total air superiority to have any chance of success. This necessitated the destruction of the RAF as well as the radar early warning stations.