Hitler wanted Britain on her knees – but the RAF demurred

EICHSMARSCHALL Hermann Goering, the obese, drug-addicted commander of the Nazis’ air force throughout the war, was at his most bombastic as he addressed his senior officers in early August 1940 about the forthcoming clash with Britain.

- By Leo McKinstry

Promising that his aerial armada would destroy the resistance of the British, he declared: “I plan to have this enemy down on his knees in the near future.”

Goering’s confidence seemed justified. In almost a year of conflict, the German war machine had proved invincible. Much of Europe was now under its control - and France had fallen with dramatic rapidity. The conquest of Britain, however, was a different challenge. Because of the natural defensive barrier created by the English Channel, Germany would have to gain the mastery of the skies over southern England before an invasion could be mounted.

That meant obliterating the RAF, both at its bases on the ground and through combat in the air. But even on its home territory, Goering believed that defeat of Britain’s air force would be swift and inevitable, especially given the huge numerical superiority of the Luftwaffe, which comprised 4,100 aircraft, including more than 1,500 fighters and almost 2,000 bombers, compared with just 1,900 planes in the RAF — of which less than 800 were modern fighters.

Hitler was so confident of victory that on July 16 he issued a directive to his high command, instructing that detailed plans be drawn up for a full-scale invasion of England once the Luftwaffe had gained air supremacy.

Codenamed Operation Sealion, it was a massive undertaking that involved 260,000 troops, 34,000 vehicles and 2,000 troop-carrying vessels.

Germany’s build-up of its invasion forces in occupied France added to the sense that the imminent aerial struggle could decide the future not just of Britain but the destiny of mankind. “Hitler knows he will have to break us on this island or lose the war,” Winston Churchill told Parliament in one his greatest, most prescient speeches. Goering was sure there could be only one outcome.