6. Hitler’s Decision to Bomb London Didn’t Work Out as he had Anticipated – It Turned the Battle in Britain’s Favor.
Initially, the bombing campaigns of the Germans were restricted to military bases and industrial targets. But that all changed in September 1940 when Britain’s RAF launched their own attack on Berlin. The attack on his own city infuriated Hitler and he called off the progressing Luftwaffe activities in attacking the RAF airbases. His aim was to redirect the Luftwaffe and their new orders were to focus on “erasing British cities from the map” starting with London.
On September 7th, 1940, Hitler began what has now become called The Blitz and sent his bombers directly to London. For the next 57 nights Luftwaffe bombers attacked London, destroying more than 1 million homes and killing 40,000 citizens. While devastating to London the shift in target gave RAF time to recuperate as they were temporally relieved of pressure. They were given time to refresh their pilots and repair all of their planes. The repaired, refreshed and angry RAF was then more than ready to intercept a massive air attack by the Germans on September 15. The RAF pilots brought down about 60 Luftwaffe planes, once again proving the superiority of the RAF over the Luftwaffe. At this point, Hitler had no option but to terminate operation Sea Lion (which was Hitler’s plan to invade the UK) a few days later. So despite the devastation in London the switch in targets gave the RAF the time they needed to win the battle.