upport an invasion. What the report did not allow for was the dogged, stubborn attitude of the British in general, or the skilled determination of the pilots who stood in the of German victory. (Franks 21).With the conclusion of phase one, Hitler recognized that air dominance would either make or break his invasion. With that, he decided to swing his mighty axe with full force into Britains throat hoping to sever the last remnants of resistance. The time to attack was now.The second phase of the Battle of Britain focused on the destruction of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command. Heavy focus was placed on neutralizing the RAF through the destruction of its airfields, radar stations, and, ultimately, the annihilation of the aerial forces that separated Hitler from victory (Franks 108). Leonard Mosley wrote, On August 13 the Luftwaffe swarmed across the Channel toward England in force. To begin with, their targets were radar stations( Mosley, Leonard. The Battle of Britain. Virginia: Time-Life Books, 1977. 111). On that day, the German Air Force flew 1,485 sorties en masse to destroy key radar stations positioned in the south of Great Britain. While destroying only thirteen British planes, they lost forty-five planes and pilots that day (Mosley Battle 112). They hoped that by flying and destroying key radar stations and airfields, that the RAF would be forced to leave the ground and use up the last of their reserves to fight and defend its bases and stations (Collier, Richard. Eagle Day. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company. 74). This worked to some extent, forcing some British planes to engage in battles they wouldnt have otherwise been involved:Though the RAF pilots were still hitting back, they were hurting even more than the Germans, for they had fewer planes to spare. If something were not done soon, they would bleed to death. Though British aircraft factories were now working at full speed turning out planes, they could not keep up with...
