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CRISIS and WAR in EUROPE, 1937 to 1940 (8 of 10)

"This man is a strange mixture of heroism and cunning. If he had come to power in 1933, we would not be where we are today."

Goebbels on Churchill, 7 May 1941

In addition to wanting France as a friendly and obedient ally, Hitler wanted peace with Britain. He wished for Britain to continue maintaining its empire. The disintegration of Britain's empire, he said, would not profit Germany. Crushing Britain, he said, would be spilling blood that would profit only Japan, the United States and others. And to Britain, still officially at war with Germany, Hitler offered peace.

Britain was now alone in its war against Germany. Britain had already lost 78 of its 178 destroyers. And having lost the support of the French navy, Britain's position on the trade route across the Mediterranean Sea was grim. And Britain was fighting to protect its ships in the Atlantic from air and submarine attacks.

Churchill would have none of Hitler's peace -- unless Germany withdrew from all the territories it had recently overrun. Churchill spoke of "every man and every woman" having the chance to show the finest qualities of their race." And he said:

We shall prosecute the war with the utmost vigor by all means that are given to us, until the righteous purposes for which we entered upon it have been fulfilled.

On June 10, 1940, Germany's airforce attacked the docks in South Wales, which the Germans considered a military target. British civilians killed numbered 194. On July 19 Hitler made a speech in Berlin outlining his peace offer to Britain -- as if he believed a little bombing might soften the British. He said he saw "no reason why the war must go on." Britain continued on course. German submarines attempted to blockade Britain, and, on August 8, Germany began sending an armada of airplanes against Britain -- their target radar stations and forward fighter-plane air bases. Britain's pilots, outnumbered, continued to shoot down German aircraft, prompting Churchill's statement that never had so many owed so much to so few.

On August 23 the Germans began attacking aircraft factories and inland fighter-plane bases. The British in two weeks lost 262 fighter planes and the Germans lost 378. British fighter pilots were worn out and extremely stressed, and these two weeks of fighting were described as the blackest days of the "Battle of Britain."

On August 24, a lost formation of German bombers mistakenly dropped their bombs on London, damaging a few buildings. The Germans pilots had been instructed not to bomb London, but in  retaliation the British sent bombers against Berlin. Cloud cover limited the bombing, and the damage to buildings was slight. Ten Germans were killed and twenty-nine wounded. But it was the first bombing of Berlin, and the Germans were shocked. Hitler told an audience that when the British declare they will raze "our cities" then we will "raze their cities to the ground."

Hitler began a massive bombing campaign against London. This change of tactics saved the radar system that the Germans had almost destroyed, which British fighter pilots needed to warn them and not be caught on the ground. And attacking London rather than fighter-plane bases gave reprieve to British air defenses. Fighter-pilot morale improved.

Germany's massive bomber attack on London did not wear down the British, nor did it do much damage to British industry. A lot of buildings were destroyed, 6,954 people were killed and 10,615 were wounded in September, but the bombing campaign against London also led to a serious loss of German pilots and aircraft. Having had his retaliation and being disappointed over Germany's losses in the air, Hitler, on September 17, reduced the size and frequency of his assaults against Britain -- just in time for the relief that Britain needed. And Hitler postponed an invasion of Britain "until further notice."