Despite the RAF sending 74 squadrons (and the Royal Navy sending 237 ships including eight destroyers), the Allies were overrun. Fire support was massively inadequate and the landing forces became very quickly trapped on the beaches. There was a distinct lack of intelligence about the German defences (who knew in advance what the Allies were going to do thanks to French double agents), there was confusion and last-minute changes to operational plans and crucially for a raid of this nature, there was little or no element of surprise.Īlmost none of the objectives were met. However, the raid was destined for failure even before it started. In addition, the operation was designed to boost morale and to demonstrate Britain’s commitment to opening up a western front in northern Europe. Over 6,000 mostly Canadian infantrymen landed at the German-occupied French port of Dieppe tasked with seizing and holding the port, destroying the coastal defences, gathering intelligence and rendering the port entirely inoperable. The largest single-day air battle of World War II was also an unmitigated disaster for the Allied forces. It had a devastating effect on the city and its residents but crucially gave the RAF time to recover. In an error of what came to be of critical importance (and potentially cost the Germans the entire war), the Germans moved the weight of their attacks to London rather than continuing to cripple airfields and infrastructure. Moving inland, they focused their attention on airfields and communications centres and while they did some serious damage, the German High Command over-estimated what damage they had done and wrongly assumed the RAF was on its last legs. He wanted the swastika flying over Big Ben by Christmas 1940 and gathering three air fleets made up of 2,500 aircraft, the Luftwaffe began their airborne assault by attacking coastal targets and ships operating in the Channel.
In July 1940, Hitler suggested that ‘the British Air Force must be eliminated to such an extent that it will be incapable of putting up any sustained opposition to the invading troops’. I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin…’
‘What General Weygand called ‘The Battle of France’ is over. It was mentioned in a speech given by the Prime Minister three weeks before it started. Who: the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffeĭescribed as the first major battle fought entirely in the air, the Battle of Britain holds the odd distinction of being named before it was fought.
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