47[3][6]–48[7] aircraft destroyed (air) 39 severely damaged[7] circa 200 killed or captured including: 44 killed 23 wounded at least 45 missing[8]
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Adlertag ("Eagle Day") was the first day of Unternehmen Adlerangriff ("Operation Eagle Attack"), an air operation by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe (German air force) intended to destroy the British Royal Air Force (RAF). The operation came during the Battle of Britain after Britain rejected all overtures for a negotiated peace with Germany. However, Adlertag and subsequent operations failed to destroy the RAF or gain local air superiority.
On July 16, 1940 Hitler gave the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) a directive (Directive No. 16) that ordered provisional preparations for invasion of Britain.[9] This operation was codenamed Operation Sea Lion (Unternehmen Seelöwe). Before this could be carried out, air superiority or air supremacy (control of the air) was required. The Luftwaffe was to destroy the RAF in order to prevent it from attacking the invasion fleet or providing protection for the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, which might attempt to prevent a landing by sea. On 1 August Hitler gave the Luftwaffe's commander-in-chief, Reichsmarschall (Empire Marshal) Hermann Göring and the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (High Command of the Air Force) Directive No. 17 ("or the conduct of air and sea warfare against England")to launch the air assault.
The essential target was RAF Fighter Command. The service's destruction would deny the British their air superiority asset and feeling vulnerable to air attack might negotiate for peace. Throughout July and early August, the Germans made preparations for Adlertag. The date of the assault was postponed several times because of bad weather. Eventually, it was carried out on 13 August 1940. The German attacks on 13 August inflicted significant damage and casualties on the ground, but, marred by poor intelligence and communication, they did not make a significant impression on Fighter Command's ability to defend British air space.[10]
Göring had promised Hitler that Adlertag and Adlerangriff would achieve the results required within days, or at worst weeks.[11] It was meant to be the beginning of the end of RAF Fighter Command, but Adlertag and the following operations failed to destroy the RAF, or gain the necessary local air superiority.[10] As a result, Operation Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely.
^Bungay 2000, p. 207.
^ abcdefBungay 2000, p. 211.
^ abBungay 2000, p. 371.
^Donnelly 2004, pp. 88–89.
^Note excluding 4 casualties from Australia; the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists only 25 Civilian casualties 13 August 1940
Adlertag ("Eagle Day") was the first day of Unternehmen Adlerangriff ("Operation Eagle Attack"), an air operation by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe (German air...
issued on 1 August attempted to keep all the options open. The Luftwaffe's Adlertag campaign was to start around 5 August, subject to weather, with the aim...
Adlertag (Eagle Day) was the Goring designated code name for the first day of German offensive air operations aimed at destroying the RAF. Adlertag ("Eagle...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
invasion of France: June 1940 Battle of Britain: July–October 1940 Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Battle of Graveney Marsh Operation...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
German attacks on airfields took place; it was known to the Luftwaffe as Adlertag ("Eagle Day"). Bf 109s of Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG 26) were sent out in advance...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
British Aluminium, and British Aircraft Corporation. Chief of Air Staff Adlertag Strategic bombing during World War II Strong advocate of area bombing....
operations Adler, the symbol of the Germanic eagle Adler-32, checksum algorithm Adlertag, or the Day of the Eagle, German name for the first day of operations of...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
occasionally RAF airfields. On 13 August, a major German effort, known as Adlertag (Eagle Day), was made against RAF airfields, but failed. The failure did...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
operations to the British mainland and RAF-related targets. On 13 August (Adlertag, Eagle Day) the main air offensive against the RAF began. The Kanalkampf...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
Dynamo Abbeville Lille Paula 1st Alps Haddock Force Britain Kanalkampf Adlertag The Hardest Day Battle of Britain Day Sea Lion 1941–1943 Cerberus Donnerkeil...
off Malin Head, Ireland, by German submarine U-56. August 13 – WWII: The Adlertag ("Eagle Day") strike on southern England occurs, starting the rapid escalation...
the British mainland. The campaign opened on 13 August 1940, christened Adlertag (Eagle Day) by Hermann Göring. The entire day met with repeated German...