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От
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Chestnut
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Chestnut
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Дата
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25.08.2006 12:33:08
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Рубрики
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WWII; Флот; ВВС;
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продолжение
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/08/25/do2501.xml&sSheet=/opinion/2006/08/25/ixopinion.html
Военный историк Корелли Барнетт считает, что оба рода войск сыграли важную роль в БЗБ
"On May 26, 1940, as the Royal Navy prepared in desperate haste to evacuate the BEF from Dunkirk, the Chiefs replied that as long as the Royal Air Force remained "in being", then the Navy and the Air Force together "should be able to prevent Germany carrying out a serious seaborne invasion". But if Germany obtained air superiority, the Navy could hold up an invasion for a time, but not "for an indefinite period". As for Britain's land defences, they were simply not strong enough to prevent the German army from landing and marching on. Therefore, concluded the Chiefs, "the crux of the matter is air superiority".
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As it happened, Adolf Hitler had still not made up his mind whether to launch the invasion, even though, at the end of July, he had directed that all preparations for "Operation Sealion" must be complete by the middle of September. Although there were signs that RAF Fighter Command might be beginning to weaken, the outcome of the air campaign still lay in doubt. So, on September 14, Hitler postponed the countdown for Sealion for the third time. It would now be September 27 before noon and the tide would again be favourable.
But on September 15 came Fighter Command's crushing defeat of the Luftwaffe's climatic mass attack. Two days later, Hitler postponed Sealion yet again - but also ordered some of the invasion barges to be dispersed. Soon, British aerial reconnaissance and analysis of German radio traffic revealed that the invasion fleet of barges had shrunk by one third. On October 12, Hitler put off Sealion until spring 1941 - in reality, for good. Like Bonaparte in 1805, he was turning his back on the stubborn islanders and preparing to march his army off eastwards to attack a more accessible land-power victim: in this case, the Soviet Union.
There can be no question, therefore, that RAF Fighter Command had won a historic victory - one rightly celebrated ever since on September 15 as Battle of Britain Day. In fact, it was an admiral, Sir Charles Forbes, the commander-in-chief of the Home Fleet, who was the first in the British high command to recognise that (in his words to the Admiralty that very day) the RAF's successes "had removed the threat of invasion completely".
When, on October 31, Admiral Forbes was directly asked by the prime minister at a meeting of the War Cabinet Defence Committee whether an invasion was still possible, he answered that, "while we are predominant at sea and until Germany has defeated our fighter forces, invasion by sea is not a practical operation of war". This was also the firm opinion of the German navy and the German army. It is therefore fair to say that, in celebrating the Royal Air Force's victory, we must not forget that the Royal Navy made an equally decisive contribution to the thwarting of Hitler's invasion plans."
В общем, итог вполне отражает итог дискуссий по Зеелёве на ВИФе))))
In hoc signo vinces