Battle of Britain

Britain, Battle of, air battle of World War II from Aug. 8 to Oct. 31, 1940, between the British Royal Air Force (RAF) and the German Luftwaffe. The Germans intended to weaken British defenses and morale before invading the country. The Luftwaffe forces were much larger than those of the RAF, but the latter proved technically and tactically superior. The Germans bombed shipping and ports, then airfields and Midland industries, and finally, London. Daylight raids proving too costly, the Germans turned to night attacks. At the end the RAF had lost some 900 planes, the Germans over 2,300, causing Hitler to postpone his projected invasion indefinitely, thus tacitly admitted failure.

See also: Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer; World War II.