After a 4-day truce, during which the General Staff of the Luffwaffe reconsidered its plans, the assault resumed on the 24th and continued until September 7, the German bombers now concentrating their efforts on vital objectives, such as the airfields in Kent, Sussex and Surrey. Fighter Command saw its most critical period, exhausted pilots flying out, mechanics working day and night, in hangars or on airstrips devastated by bombing. On average, 37 German aircraft are shot down every day, for only 20 British fighters, and English pilots who parachute can be reemployed, while German pilots who survive the destruction of their aircraft are permanently lost to the Luftwaffe. But Fighter Command is on its last legs. Its installations and airfields are destroyed; its pilots, subject to too much nervous tension, are on alert practically 24 hours a day, the lost crews are no longer replaced. On September 6, despite desperate resistance, the R.A.F. is on the verge of collapse when Hitler, by changing the objectives of the Luftwaffe, saves it from disaster. The decision to bomb London and the major cities of southern England was taken by the Führer after a British raid on Berlin, itself demanded by Churchill following the involuntary bombardment of the London docks by a German formation. In reality, the idea of breaking the British resistance by terrorizing the civilian population was studied by the Luftwaffe and suggested by Goering from the start of the Battle of Britain, in view of the results obtained a few months earlier in Poland and in Europe. West, and Hitler only rallied to it after he had lost all hope of reaching a compromise with Great Britain. The Blitz (bombing of London) begins on September 7, with a day raid of 400 bombers, followed by a night raid of 250 aircraft. The Luftwaffe then ceased its attacks for a week, which Fighter Command used to reorganize its decimated squadrons. On the 12th, Bomber Command attacked and destroyed part of the German invasion fleet gathered in the ports of Antwerp, Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais and Le Havre. On the 14th, when the Blitz resumed, the Germans had lost a decisive week, but victory was still within their reach, and the R.A.F. gained only a short respite. But this unexpected reprieve enabled him to cope. On the 15th, a raid of several hundred bombers was attacked by 300 Spitfires and Hurricanes, which broke up the German formations and inflicted losses on the Luftwaffe. The battle is for 16, but it is now clear that the Aller will not acquire before long months - acquires it one day - the mastery of the sky above the Channel and the south of England On the 17th, day planned to trigger Operation Sea Lion, Hitler ordered the dispersal of the invasion fleet and postponed the attack on the British Isles indefinitely. In principle the OKW must be ready for the spring of 1941, but in reality Hitier abandoned the idea of landing in Great Britain, and the project was never resumed. This is Hitler's first setback since 1933, the first failure of the Wehrmacht since the start of the conflict. By accumulating errors, to the point of losing their chance to eliminate the R.A.F., the Germans allowed Fighter Command to achieve its first great victory. However, all danger is not definitively eliminated. The diurnal and nocturnal bombardments of English towns, pursued methodically, can still tip the scales in favor of Germany. Until October 31, the situation remained critical, but in November - when the raids increased throughout the winter of 1940-1941 - the British won the Battle of Britain.
In 80 days of air warfare, the Luftwaffe lost 2,265 aircraft, Fighter Command 945 fighters. The bombardments left 15,000 dead and 20,000 injured in the civilian population, the material destruction was considerable. But none of the goals set by the O.K.W. has not been reached. Far from having been terrorized or demoralized by the Blitz, the people of the United Kingdom organized themselves united behind their political and military leaders with a will to win increased, not diminished by the ordeal. On the other hand, the bombers, which some strategists considered before the war as a virtually unstoppable absolute weapon, proved to be extremely vulnerable, and of questionable effectiveness, to say the least. The daylight bombers were decimated by the fighters; the night bombers were only able to achieve their targets thanks to complex guidance systems, based on wave beams, which the British were able to neutralize or inflect using electronic countermeasures. Finally, the heroic, almost desperate struggle of the pilots of Fighter Command, who sacrificed themselves to compete for mastery of the skies with the German fighter, saved Great Britain - and probably the world - from an irreparable disaster. “Never in history, Winston Churchill will say of them, have so few men held the destiny of so many in their hands. »