Following the fall of France in the Battle of France, Adolf Hitler contemplated launching Operation Sealion, the cross-channel invasion of England. Encouraged by the claims of Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goring, Hitler believed that bombing raids on principal English cities and industries would, at the very least, prepare the way for the invasion and, even more important, might well render the invasion unnecessary by bringing Britain to its knees.

At Hitler's disposal were the forces of the Luftwaffe now based on French and Belgian airfields. The available forces amounted to approximately 2,679 aircraft, including 1,015 medium bombers, 350 Stuka dive bombers, 930 fighters, and 375 heavy fighters. These included some of the most advanced aircraft of the war at this time. To oppose these forces, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) could muster no more than about 600 Hurricane and Spitfire fighters. Outnumbered as they were, these were excellent planes, and they were manned by superbly trained, highly skilled, and extraordinarily motivated pilots under the command of the venerable Air Chief Marshall Hugh Dowding.

The battle, the first in history fought entirely in the air, unfolded in three successive, albeit overlapping, phases, beginning on July 10, 1940, with a heavy German air raid. This signaled the start of the battle's first phase, which was directed at destroying the southern ports from Dover west to Plymouth. This area was the most likely site for invasion landings, and Hitler sought to neutralize its defenses. Almost every day, German medium bombers, escorted by fighters, crossed the English Channel and bombed ships as well as port installations. On August 15, the first phase of the battle reached its point of greatest intensity when approximately 940 German aircraft attacked in the south as well as in the north. The RAF managed to shoot down 76 of the German planes, losing 34 fighters in the exchange. The Germans also destroyed 21 British bombers on the ground. . .

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