MAPS OF HISTORY · ON THIS DAY · September 15 · 1940
ON THIS DAY · 15 SEPTEMBER 1940
Battle of Britain Day: the Luftwaffe’s maximum effort against London…
Battle of Britain Day: the Luftwaffe’s maximum effort against London is met, wave for wave, by radar-guided squadrons. Invasion is quietly shelved.
THE MOMENT IN CONTEXT
To invade Britain, Germany must first rule the air over the Channel. Through the summer of 1940 the Luftwaffe tries to break RAF Fighter Command — first the radar stations and airfields, then, fatefully, London itself.
From Chapter 4 — The Battle of Britain of The War Room — WW2, 1936–1945 (AUG 1940).
OPEN THE INTERACTIVE MAP →TEACH THIS IN 5 MINUTES
- Why it happened — Sea Lion’s impossible arithmetic. Germany’s navy, gutted off Norway, could never protect an invasion fleet from the Royal Navy — unless the Luftwaffe owned the sky completely. Air…
- The turn — The system holds, 15 September. On “Battle of Britain Day” the Luftwaffe mounts its maximum effort against London — and radar-guided squadrons meet every wave. Losing 2:1, Berlin…
- What it changed — The first hinge. Britain’s survival keeps a western front possible — the aircraft carrier off Europe’s coast from which everything in 1944 will be launched.
Then ask the room: Why was switching the bombing from airfields to London a war-losing mistake? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
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