WHY WE FIGHT BATTLE OF BRITAIN

[Music] [Applause] [Music] the shadow of the conquering German armies covered Western Europe the self-styled master race was riding high [Music] [Music] now Adolphe Hitler stood just as Napoleon had stood more than a hundred years before and looked across the English Channel to the one fighting obstacle that stood between him and world domination the top clips of Britain rose sheer and white out of the trophy waters and beyond a little island smaller than the state of Wyoming crush that little island and it's stubborn people and the way was open for world conquest the fall of Austria Czechoslovakia Poland Denmark Norway Holland Belgium France had given him more than 100 million slaves to work for him or starve the preliminaries were over it was time for the main event the Battle of Britain [Music] it learned his generals feverishly drafted their plans for the conquest of Britain every detail must be anticipated a slip now might wreck the whole timetable of world conquest six weeks of final preparation went into those plans six weeks to determine the history of a thousand years the thing was foolproof see for yourselves how simple the whole operation was to be look German plan for invasion of England phase one knock out the Royal Air Force and its bassist get control of the air and the sea lanes across the channel follow the Blitz plan that had wiped out Poland the Low Countries and France destroy communication and transport lines above all get command of the air [Music] to pulverise the coastline with dive-bombers stop parachute troops to take over the airfields and establish beachheads [Music] Phase three actual invasion for the German Panzer divisions across in high-speed barges under an umbrella protecting fighter planes [Music] then send spearheads of armed might to divide surround destroy all opposition that's all there was to it [Music] conquer Britain force the surrender of the British fleet then with the combined sea power of Germany Britain Italy France and Japan he could control the seas and tell us where to head in the torch of freedom flickered low on the channel invasion costs more than a hundred fully equipped German divisions were singing the Nazi theme song we are sailing against England as they waited the word from Hitler [Music] here for weeks all the supplies and weapons of the Nazi war machine had been turned toward Britain [Music] the jaws of the Nazi whale were set to swallow Jonah and what about Jonah how was he doing well Britain also had an army but it was an army dragged from the sea at Dunkirk [Music] the army without weapons these have been left behind on the roads of France tanks done motorized equipment all abandoned to save the one priceless items men in all of Britain there was not enough equipment for one modern division only one tank for every thousand square miles of territory only one machine gun for every fifteen hundred yards of beach Britain had a Navy too but it was scattered all over the globe guarding vital food and supply lines and the British knew it would be suicide to use their fleet in the narrow waters of the English Channel with the German air force in control of the air Britain also had an Air Force an Air Force outnumbered 10 to 1 by the enemy both in men and machines and then there was Britton herself the people of Britain the people who were to be terrorized and forced to surrender they knew that every man woman and child in uniform or out would be hit this target in the onslaught that might come at any moment they knew they had a job to do and not much time to do it the young the not so young and the old the butcher the farmer the Member of Parliament they formed the civilian army Brittany's Home Guard they started from scratch [Music] experience equipment supplies or whiskers only one shell to fire at each factory the women have written refused to be left out we're in this to you'll put up the barrage balloons [Music] Magne ack-ack guns will run the railroads and get the trains through on time very the planes carry the dispatches [Music] ride the ambulances and run the buses and you'll see that on their octet and don't go hungry [Music] are those work men and women alike they worked full time overtime double time 40 hours a week 50 60 70 powers meant nothing fatigue meant nothing until the government forced them to cut down ours because over fatigue was hurting production [Music] and when they weren't working the men patrolled the moors for parachutists blocked the roads rehearsed invasion defences [Music] or something had happened here the Germans could never understand in a democracy it is not the government that makes war it is the people [Music] to lead them the people had chosen Winston Churchill as a prime minister and he spoke the words in every British heart when he said we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be we shall fight landing ground Indians in streets but on the Hills we shall never this was Britain in its darkest hour the people knew they were in for the worst the maps in mind could invent yet they didn't panic or run away they patrol and wait they drilled and wait they worked and waited waited for the terror they knew was coming [Music] then it came [Music] the sound that became part of the life of every man woman and child [Music] August 8 1940 and the battle for Britain is on thirty enemy a part of the channel find you [Music] here comes the Luftwaffe in dozens of flights hundreds of planes bombers fighters dive bombers across that 21 miles of channel left eight short minutes of water their first tactics were to bomb convoys in the channel convoys loaded with food and munitions bound for the great Port of London [Music] [Music] [Music] german fighters weighted overhead for the defending planes of the royal air force the raf to appear they didn't have long to wait [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the RAF came facing odds of six eight ten to one and Dovan shouting the old hunting cried Tallyho [Music] [Applause] [Music] these one the Nazi plan called for the RAF to be knocked out of the air if the men of the RAF hadn't read the Nazi plan [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the first four days the RAS knocked 182 German planes out of the sky [Music] for the next week the Germans attacked the coast cities from the Thames river to wing [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] take cover [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Hitler paid off with 180 more planes then the Luftwaffe battered the great port towns of Southampton Plymouth trying for a knock out before the flow of supplies from overseas the ports took a terrible pounding but they couldn't be knocked out cargoes went on being unloaded with the protection of the RAF overhead battling Spitfires and hurricanes in the air wasn't panning up so Goering switched his main attacks to the fighter airfields Dover deal Bucky maybe he could destroy the planes on the ground he bombed the airfields and the fields were hit but the planes were saved or Britain unlike Poland in the Low Countries didn't make the mistake of bunching its planes on the runways the planes of the RAF were scattered and hidden only a few on any one field and those in the far corners the Spitfire still went up to meet the enemy in the first 10 days of the Battle of Britain Goering launched 26 major attacks to get command of the air and lost 697 aircraft the British lost 153 and 60 British pilots bailed up [Music] [Music] valuable trained men were saved and ready to fight again but the crews of gearing's planes were lost to him forever [Music] the pace was too hot something was going haywire the Nazis had to call time up on a 2,000 mile front from Norway to France the whole Nazi blitz program was being stalled because the RAF was still in the air thing against England [Music] the long-range German guns were getting hot from throwing shells across the channel in public Hitler assured the Germans mr. Churchill tells his people that England will win but I tell you that victory will belong to Germany but in private he sent for Goering the boss of the Luftwaffe and put him on the hot seat earring was told to do something and do it quick so on August 30th he ordered all out attacks on inland air drones and industrial centers maybe he could knock out the RAF on the assembly line and he adopted new tactics two more fighters fewer bombers or maybe he just had fewer bombers to send anyway those he did send were well protected fighters above at high altitudes fighters on both sides fighters in the front and in the rear fighters weaving in and out of the bomber formations [Music] winner of the first round was ready with higher morale and sharper defense improved listening posts were set up all along the coast and warned of the enemy's approach before he left the continent a quick flash from the control station to the fighter station and pilots were on their way to meet the enemy while he was still over the channel [Music] day after day out of sight and almost out of sound of the watchers on the clips four five and six miles above the battles raged over the Dover area [Music] adora area became known as house corner by sheer weight of mama the enemy again and again broke through the coastal defenses [Music] and reached inland to the airdrop [Music] munition factories and machine shops [Music] find the southeast right [Music] but the workers kept on working and the RAF kept on flying these two men with wings alone in the sky behind their motors and machine guns were shooting down more than the Moose clock they were smashing the whole Nazi plan of world conquest [Music] he claims Julie 109 destroyed but it is good show between August 24th and September 5th 35 major attacks were launched they cost the Germans 562 planes while the British lost only 219 plane and saved 132 pilots invasion plans were going completely haywire the Nazis were blind with rage the German mind has never understood why free people fight on against overwhelming odds Hitler now knew he was superior in every weapon except the weapon of spirit so he told Goering break that spirit crush the people crush the spirit of democratic life itself invasion now would have to wait the Nazis would avoid the RAF and smash the great city of London into the rubble heap they had made of Warsaw and Rotterdam good London take it even the people themselves didn't know the answer the defenses they trusted in were London's hastily assembled anti-aircraft the attack gun the balloon barrage which kept the Raiders at high altitude the Royal Air Force now down to its last reserves and the plain downright guts of people [Music] except more children out of the city [Music] tightened air raid precautions stationed more airplane spotters rehearsed firefighters moved into bomb shelters they blacked out their city and carried off the first blow aimed crushed the British spirit came on September 7 [Music] [Music] speaking third floor yeah second floor feel that day when 375 German planes came rolling up the Thames River the Battle of Britain became the Battle of London the Germans broke through the charge of hurricanes and Spitfires that went out to meet them [Music] dawn was any pretence of aiming at military objectives this was just savage destruction [Music]