Battle of Britain The battle of Britain was sometimes referred to as the greatest war of World War II. It started on July 10, 1940. It was the biggest air battle ever fought during the War. The leading commanders were Churchill for the British and Hitler for the Germans. To avoid the massive destruction from the Germans the British set up plans to protect and save lives. The Germans attacked Britain in two phases, the first being the Luftwaffe, German fighter planes bombed the inland air fields, and second phase, they blitzed London and other civilian centers.
The British people knew war would come quickly, and they knew that because their country was small, the Germans could easily bomb it.
They prepared for this by setting up a new device called ?radar.? Radar used radio waves to find out how far away certain objects like German fighter planes were located.
Battle of Britain Operations Room, RAF Duxford
British propaganda poster during the Battle of Bri...
This Spitfire Mk 2A, now owned by the Battle of Br...The British also prepared by figuring out ways to save lives from the bombing raids they knew would come. The main way of doing this was evacuation, or moving large numbers of people out of the cities. Most of the people evacuated were kids from ages 0-15. Their moms and dads weren?t allowed to come along with them when they were evacuated to the countryside. Out in the country, the kids lived with host families, who took the kids in and gave them a place to sleep and food to eat.
Some British kids were even evacuated out of the country. Many went to the United States and Canada (Internet 2.) By the middle of 1940, 1.25 million people had been evacuated from Britain?s big cities. Some people decided not to evacuate, though. To get away from the bombing, they slept in fields on the outskirts of the cities or...