Battle of Britain Facts for Kids

The Battle of Britain
  • Battle Name: Battle of Britain
  • Battle Start Date: July 10th, 1940
  • Battle End Date: October 31st, 1940
  • Battle Belligerents: United Kingdom, Canada, Nazi Germany and Italy
  • Battle Winner: United Kingdom and Canada
  • Total Casualties: 38,000+

20 Battle of Britain Facts for Kids

  1. The Battle of Britain was a military campaign on the Western Front during World War 2.
  2. The Battle of Britain was fought between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.
  3. The Battle of Britain was fought between July 10th, 1940 and October 31st, 1940.
  4. The Battle of Britain was fought for 3 months and 3 weeks.
  5. The Battle of Britain was won by the United Kingdom.
  6. The United Kingdom won the Battle of Britain because of the brave Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots, known as The Few, who never gave up and refused to surrender. They were also aided by strategic mistakes and intelligence mishaps by the Germans.
  7. The United Kingdom’s victory in the Battle of Britain was the first major defeat for Nazi Germany. It prevented the Germans from getting air superiority and eliminated the possibility an invasion of the United Kingdom by German armed forces.
  8. The primary goal for Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany was to force Britain into a peace agreement.
  9. The Battle of Britain was fought entirely by aircraft, either by bombing or air-to-air combat.
  10. The Battle of Britain resulted in 38,353 casualties, 35,033 for the United Kingdom and 3,320 for Nazi Germany.
  11. Out of the 35,033 casualties for the United Kingdom, 34,611 were civilians.
  12. The main air forces that participated in the Battle of Britain were the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Luftwaffe.
  13. The Royal Air Force had 1,963 serviceable aircraft at the start of the Battle of Britain.
  14. The Royal Air Force was armed with Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire fighter planes and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, Handley-Page Hampden, Vickers Wellington, Bristol Blenheim and Fairey Battle bomber planes.
  15. By the end of the Battle of Britain the Royal Air Force lost a total of 1,744 aircraft with 1,964 aircrew casualties.
  16. The Luftwaffe had 2,550 serviceable aircraft at the start of the Battle of Britain.
  17. The Luftwaffe was armed with Messerschmitt Bf 109E and Bf 110C fighter planes and Heinkel He 111, Dornier Do 17, Junkers Ju 88 and Junkers Ju 87 bomber planes.
  18. By the end of the Battle of Britain the Luftwaffe had lost a total of 1,977 aircraft along with 3,320 aircrew casualties.
  19. The Battle of Britain was named after a line in the speech given by Winston Churchill. The speech “This was their finest hour” had a line that said: “What General Weygand called the ‘Battle of France’ is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin.”
  20. The third Sunday in September is known as the Battle of Britain Day.

Find More Facts About the Battle of Britain

About the author
Facts Editor

This is an author profile for articles that are created from a collaborative effort. It is not uncommon that articles on this site were either written, researched or fact checked by several authors and team members. So this author profile will be displayed to reflect that. Our team of editors, writers and fact checkers do extensive research before publishing articles on the site, and we do our best to provide the most accurate information possible.