How well prepared for war was Britain in 1939?

[spidge]

How well prepared for war was Britain in 1939?


The British Army in 1939 was a small, professional force. It was supported by the Territorial Army. At the outbreak of war the British Expeditionary Force dispatched to France was 12 divisions in size. This was from a total force of 50 full and part-time divisions. In addition to the forces of the british Army, also consider the size of the forces that the British army could draw on from the dominions and British colonies. These included a number of divisions from Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand along with a large armed force of approximately 200,000 stationed on the Indian sub-continent. In terms of immediate preparedness this force was relatively small compared with the forces of other major combatants. The fully trained professional army was limited in size and it would take some time for troops from the dominions to reach Europe. The size of the army is only one indicator of military readiness for war, however. The machinery used by these forces also needs to be considered. The British forces had the advantage of having a fully motorised system of troop movement. This enabled relatively fast deployment of forces (The Wehrmacht were not entirely motorised at this stage). British artillery pieces were of high quality, a British 25 pound artillery piece was particularly accurate and successful in destroying enemy tanks, for example. However the armed vehicles of the British army at the time do not compare particularly favorably with those of their opponents. Tanks such as the 'Matilda' were difficult to destroy but lacked the maneuverability to engage in rapid attacks. Other armed vehicles, such as the tanks initially deployed into Northern Africa, had insufficient armour and suffered at the hands of an experienced Panzer commander. Other equipment included the Lee Enfield 303 rifle, the 'Tommy gun' which was a semi automatic sub-machine gun and the Sten gun. There were some problems with the reliability of some of these weapons, the Mark 2 Sten gun has been noted as being susceptible to jamming. However this gun could be easily dismantled and concealed which made it an ideal weapon to provide to resistance forces throughout Europe. The rifles and semi automatic weapons were supported by use of the 40lb Vickers 303 heavy machine gun which was extremely accurate and fired over 400 rounds per minute.
The RAF in 1939 consisted of 135 squadrons. This comprised 74 bomber and 24 fighter squadrons. In addition to the 'fighting' wing of the RAF there were a number of army support squadrons, reconnaissance squadrons and torpedo bombers. These were assisted by an Auxiliary airforce of some 19 squadrons. Throughout 1939 preparations were made for a possible air war. This included large exercises in Southern France and practice blackouts in parts of England. By the outbreak of war, radar had been fitted to a number of Bleinheim bombers. This increased the chances of the bombers finding their target and provided early warning of enemy attacks.
The on plane radar was supported by two systems of Radar detection. Chain Home and Chain Home Low were two networks of Radar station built along the south coast of England in the mid to late 1930's. Chain Home could detect formations of aircraft flying over the coast of France. This enabled the RAF to scramble fighter squadrons to intercept bomber formations and would allow the RAF to counter any Luftwaffe movements in the event of an attack on Northern france, the Low Countries or Britain. Chain Home Low provided radar coverage against low flying aircraft. The development of this system of Radar (there were 21 Chain Home stations and 30 Chain Home Low stations operational in 1940) meant that defensive sorties against the Luftwaffe could be easily coordinated. This was of paramount importance during the Battle of Britain.
The Royal Navy was, in 1939, the largest naval force in the world. The fleet contained 15 Battleships, 7 Aircraft carriers, 66 cruisers, 184 Destroyers, 60 submarines and a number of support vessels. The main Naval base at Scapa Flow was considered to be impregnable and dominated the passage between the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally there were navies controlled by British Dominions. Though impressive in terms of size, the Royal Navy in 1939 had several weaknesses. Many of the capital ships were old, only 2 post dated the First World War. The air power of the Royal navy was limited to short range reconnaissance. Many ships of the Fleet were fitted with ASDIC, a radar system that could detect submarines. Again, this suffered from having a short range and was not effective when the submarines had surfaced. This combines to leave the fleet open to attack from German U Boats, with only Depth Charges available as effective means of attacking enemy submarines from onboard the ships - air cover was provided by the Coastal Command and British submarines patrolled the North Sea and Northern approaches.

[spidge]

From: http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/mileston...tary/1939.html

British Military Aviation in 1939 - Part 1
Part 2 | Service Aircraft
1 January
On this date, the Royal Air Force consists of 135 squadrons: 74 bomber, 27 fighter, 12 army co-operation, 17 reconnaissance, 4 torpedo-bomber and 1 communications squadron.
Additionally, the Auxiliary Air Force has grown to 19 squadrons: 3 bomber, 11 fighter, 2 army co-operation and 3 reconnaissance squadrons.
17 January
The Auxiliary Air Force Reserve is formed to allow ex-members of the Auxiliary Air Force to serve with Auxiliary flying squadrons in an emergency.
1 February
Reserve Command is formed under the command of Air Marshal C.L. Courtney.
7-9 April
Italy invades and occupies Albania.
20 May
Sixty Royal Air Force Stations and eighteen other airfields take part in the last Empire Air Day, which receives approximately one million visitors.
24 May
The Fleet Air Arm reverts to Admiralty control.
26 June
The Secretary of State for Air, Sir Kingsley Wood, announces that the Royal Air Force will impress civil aircraft in the event of war.
28 June
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force is formed, with Miss Jane Trefusis Forbes appointed as the first Senior Controller.
11-25 July
Approximately 240 aircraft of Royal Air Force Bomber Command participate in a series of navigational exercises, including training flights over Central and Southern France. These sorties serve as a 'show of strength' and also provide valuable training in long-range overseas operations. At the same time, it is announced that an agreement has been reached with the French to allow such training flights.
August
The first airborne interception (AI) radar sets are fitted into 30 Royal Air Force Bristol Blenheim aircraft.
8-11 August
The last major British peacetime exercise takes place, with over 1,300 aircraft taking part in south-east of England and at the end of the practice, a civilian 'blackout' is ordered.
16-17 August
A smaller Anglo-French air exercise takes place over England with 200 aircraft taking part.
23 August
Messages are exchanged between Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler. Chamberlain warns that the United Kingdom is willing to use force to aid Poland and Hitler states that he will not renounce Germany's claim to Danzig.
24 August
Readiness State 'C' is declared by the Air Ministry and mobilisation commences. Aircraft are placed on 12-hour standby and personnel on special leave are recalled to duty. Auxiliary Air Force and Volunteer Reserve personnel are ordered to report to their mobilisation centres.
24 August
No.1 Group of Royal Air Force Bomber Command, is redesignated the Advanced Air Striking Force.
24 August
Royal Air Force Coastal Command squadrons begin to fly regular North Sea reconnaissance patrols.
26 August
Readiness State 'D' is put into force, aircraft are dispersed on their airfields and all personnel are recalled. 'E'-Class reservists are also ordered to report to their units.
1 September
At 0445hrs, German forces launch Fall Weiss (Operation White), the invasion of Poland.
1 September
The complete mobilisation of British Navy, Army and Air Force is ordered.
1 September
The Air Transport Auxiliary is formed to deliver new and repaired aircraft to Royal Air Force units.

[spidge]

From: http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/mileston...tary/1939.html

2 September
The Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF) is deployed to France. The AASF initially comprised twelve squadrons, ten equipped with Fairey Battle light bombers and two equipped with Hawker Hurricane single-seat fighters and is commanded by Air Vice Marshal P.H.L. Playfair.
3 September
At 1100hrs, an ultimatum issued to Germany by the British Government expires and in a radio address to the nation, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announces, "this Country is at war with Germany".
3 September
At 1130hrs, air-raid warning sirens sound in the London area for the first time. However, the warning is a false alarm, triggered by the detection of a French aircraft, en route to the United Kingdom, that had not filed a flight plan.
3 September
Australia, New Zealand and France declare war on Germany.
3 September
A Bristol Blenheim IV (N6215) of No.139 Squadron is the first Royal Air Force aircraft to cross the German frontier after war is declared. Between 1200hrs and 1650hrs the Blenheim, flown by Flying Officer A. McPherson, carries out a photographic and visual reconnaissance of German naval ports. Although the crew, which includes a naval observer, Commander Thompson, sight a number of warships in the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven, their radio is unserviceable and they are unable to report until they return to Wyton. Flying Officer McPherson is subsequently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
3 September
RAF Bomber Command conducts the Royal Air Force's first operational sorties of the Second World War, when eighteen Handley Page Hampdens and nine Vickers Wellingtons of RAF Bomber Command undertake a search for German naval shipping. However, they do not locate any targets and all return safely.
3 September
Pilot Officer John Noel Isaac of No.600 Squadron becomes the first Briton to die in the Second World War when his Bristol Blenheim crashes into Heading Street in Hendon at 1250hrs, 1 hour 50 minutes after the British declaration of war.
3-4 September
The first propaganda leaflet raid by Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys of No.51 and No.58 squadrons drops 5.4 million leaflets over targets included Hamburg, Bremen and the Ruhr.
4 September
A message from King George VI to the Royal Air Force on the outbreak of war:
"The RAF has behind it a tradition no less inspiring than those of the other Services and in campaigns which we have now been compelled to undertake you will have to assume responsibilities for greater than those which your Service had to shoulder in the last War. One of the greatest of them will be the safeguarding of this Island from the menace of the air. I can assure all ranks of the Air Force of my supreme confidence in their skill and courage and their ability to meet whatever calls may be made upon them."
4 September
Sergeant George Booth, an observer with No.107 Squadron becomes the first British Prisoner of War when his Bristol Blenheim is shot down over the German coast.
4 September
Following a second reconnaissance sortie by Flying Officer McPherson, fourteen Vickers Wellingtons of No.9 and No.149 Squadrons and fifteen Bristol Blenheims of Nos. 107, 110 and 139 Squadrons are despatched to attack German warships at Brunsbüttel, Wilhelmshaven and the Schillig Roads. However, five aircraft of each type do not locate their targets. Ten Blenheims from No.107 and No.110 Squadrons attack the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer and the cruiser Emden in Wilhemshaven. Three bombs hit the Scheer but fail to explode.
By a peculiar twist of fate a Blenheim piloted by Flying Officer H.L. Emden crashes on the deck of the cruiser of the same name. Two of the Wellingtons fail to find Brunsbüttel and bomb Esjberg in neutral Denmark, 110 miles north of their intended target. The error presaged the navigational difficulties which proved to be a consistent problem for Bomber Command. Flight Lieutenant K.C. Doran of No.110 Squadron is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in this raid.
4 September
The first Royal Air Force attack on an enemy aircraft occurs when a Lockheed Hudson of No.224 Squadron fires on a Dornier Do18 over North Sea.
4 September
The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) begins to cross the English Channel to France with Air support provided by the Air Component of the BEF. This comprises four army co-operation squadrons, equipped with Westland Lysanders, four bomber squadrons equipped with Bristol Blenheims and four fighter squadrons equipped with Hawker Hurricanes and Gloster Gladiators.
5 September
An Avro Anson of No.500 Squadron makes the first attack on a German submarine, 10 miles north of Ostend.
6 September
The first German aircraft sorties occur over the United Kingdom.
6 September
South Africa declares war on Germany.
6 September
A technical fault at the Chain Home Radio Direction Finding (radar) station at Canewdon, compounded by a series of mistakes within RAF Fighter Command's fighter control system, leads to friendly aircraft being plotted as an incoming air raid.
No.56 Squadron scramble Hawker Hurricanes to intercept this 'phantom' raid and are plotted also as hostile. Further squadrons are scrambled and, tragically, a section of No.72 Squadron (Supermarine Spitfires) misidentifies two Hurricanes of No.56 Squadron as Messerschmitt Bf109s and shoots both aircraft down. One pilot, Pilot Officer M.L. Hulton-Harrop, is killed. The 'Battle of Barking Creek', as the events of 6 September later became known, led to a wholesale review of RAF Fighter Command's plotting system.
10 September
Canada declares war on Germany.
17 September
Soviet forces invade eastern Poland.
20 September
The first Women's Auxiliary Air Force plotters go on watch in Fighter Command Filter Rooms.
20 September
The first engagement between the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Luftwaffe takes place, when three Fairey Battles of No.88 Squadron, Advanced Air Striking Force, are attacked by three Messerschmitt Bf109s of Jagdgruppe 152 west of Saarbrücken. Two Fairey Battles are shot down.

[spidge]

From: http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/mileston...tary/1939.html

23 September
The Royal Air Force's first dedicated photographic reconnaissance unit, the Heston Flight, forms at Heston within No.11 Group, RAF Fighter Command. The commander of the flight, Wing Commander Sidney Cotton, had conducted a series of clandestine photographic sorties over Germany on behalf of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) as a civilian in the late 1930s. The Heston Flight is renamed No.2 Camouflage Unit on 1 November in an effort to disguise its activities.
26 September
The first Luftwaffe aircraft is shot down during operations against the United Kingdom. A Dornier Do18D flying boat of 2/Küstenfliegergruppe 506 is shot down by a Blackburn Skua of No.803 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, operating from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, north of the Great Fisher Bank. The crew of the Do18 are rescued by the destroyer HMS Somali and the aircraft, which was still afloat, is sunk by gunfire.
27 September
By this date, the Royal Air Force (RAF) has dropped 18,000,000 leaflets over Germany.
28 September
Poland surrenders the Germany.
8 October
A Royal Air Force Lockheed Hudson of No.224 Squadron, operating out of RAF Leuchars, shoots down a German Dornier Do18 flying boat of 2/Küstenfliegergruppe 506 25km. This is the first victory recorded of an American-built aircraft in the Second World War and is the first German aircraft to be destroyed by a Royal Air Force aircraft operating from Britain.
10 October
An Empire air training scheme, operating in Canada, New Zealand and Australia, is announced.
16 October
British warships at Rosyth in the Firth of Forth come under attack from Junkers Ju88 of Kampfgeschwader 30 flying from Westerland. Three of the German raiders are brought down, and are the first aircraft destroyed over British territory in the Second World War. The first German aircraft to be shot down, is intercepted by Supermarine Spitfires and comes down in the Firth of Forth near Crail. The pilot, Hauptmann Helmuth Pohle survives and became a Prisoner of War. The successful pilots of No.602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force, are Flight Lieutenant G. Pinkerton and Flying Officer A. McKellar.
17 October
Two Luftwaffe air raids take place on warships at Scapa Flow and the first enemy bombs to explode on British soil land on the Island of Hoy in the Orkneys.
28 October
Supermarine Spitfires of No.602 (County of Glasgow) and No.603 (County of Edinburgh) Squadrons bring down a Heinkel He111 of Stab/Kampfgeschwader 26 near Haddington in Lothian. This is the first enemy aircraft to be brought down on mainland Britain during the Second World War.
30 October
Operational service trials of Very High Frequency Radio Telephone are held at Duxford.
30 October
A Hawker Hurricane, piloted by Pilot Officer P.W. Mould of No.1 Squadron, based at Vassincourt in France, shoots down a Dornier Do17 reconnaissance aircraft of 2 (Fernaufklärungs)/Aufklarungsgruppe 123. This is Royal Air Force's first air combat victory over the Continent during the Second World War.
November
The Women's Auxiliary Air Force has recruited 8,800 and has raised its upper age limit to 50 years, for women with experience in radar plotting of aircraft.
1 November The first Chain Home Low radar station becomes operational in Fifeness.
13 November
The first German bombs fall on British soil. The bombs are dropped on the Shetland Islands, with no casualties, except an uninhabited house.
18 November
The first German magnetic anti-ship mines are dropped in British coastal waters.
22 November
The first successful photographic reconnaissance sortie is made by a PR Supermarine Spitfire. Flight Lieutenant M.V. 'Shorty' Longbottom of the Special Survey Flight, a detachment of No.2 Camouflage Unit, flies Spitfire I Type A N3071 on a sortie from Coulommiers to photograph the Eupen - Elsenborn region of northern Luxemburg.
28 November
Six Bristol Blenheim IFs of No.25 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command, and six Blenheim IFs of No.601 Squadron, RAF Fighter Command make a low-level attack on the German seaplane base at Borkum, causing little damage. All the aircraft return safely.
30 November
Soviet Forces invade Finland and fighting continues until an armistice comes into force on 12 March 1940. Despite overwhelming numerical and technical superiority a combination of poor training and tactics sees the Red Air Force lose 280 aircraft in air-to-air combat and 314 to ground defences. Finnish losses total 62 aircraft destroyed in combat and 69 aircraft written off.
3 December
German warships at Heligoland are bombed by 24 Royal Air Force Vickers Wellingtons. A bomb from one of the aircraft hangs up briefly, before dropping on a German AA battery on shore. This is believed to be the first British bomb to strike German soil.
14 December
Six Vickers Wellingtons of No.99 Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, are lost from an attacking force of twelve during an attempted raid on the German Navy cruisers Nurnberg and Leipzig, which have been damaged in a naval action in the North Sea. The Wellingtons are intercepted by Luftwaffe Bf109 fighters, which shoot five down into the sea and the sixth crash lands near Newmarket.
18 December
A third repeat air attack on German shipping off Wilhelmshaven and the Schillig Roads is badly mauled. 12 out of 24 Wellingtons are shot down and others are badly damaged. This ends the British belief that bombers operating in daylight can successfully defend themselves by close formation flying.
21 December
The first 'Gift' squadron is announced, when Nizam of Hyderabad makes a donation to the Royal Air Force. No.152 Squadron is subsequently renamed No.152 (Hyderabad) Squadron.
26 December
The first Royal Australian Air Force squadron, No.10 Squadron RAAF, arrives in Britain for service alongside the Royal Air Force.

[Ron Goldstein]

In 1942 we still could hardly call ourselves "well prepared".

In December '42 I found myself defending the Yorkshire coastline as follows:

"Quite apart from our training we were also called upon to man pillboxes along the coast against the always threatening German invasion of England. Despite our best intentions we could never take this very seriously particularly when we found ourselves manning a pill box on a deserted strip of the coast outside Whitby armed with only a Lee Enfield rifle and five rounds of ammunition."

[morse1001]

Originally Posted by Ron Goldstein

In 1942 we still could hardly call ourselves "well prepared".

In December '42 I found myself defending the Yorkshire coastline as follows:

"Quite apart from our training we were also called upon to man pillboxes along the coast against the always threatening German invasion of England. Despite our best intentions we could never take this very seriously particularly when we found ourselves manning a pill box on a deserted strip of the coast outside Whitby armed with only a Lee Enfield rifle and five rounds of ammunition."

In Belize, during the falklands campaign, we were issued with live ammo. However, it was kept in a locked drawwer within the guard hut and the RAF Policeman who did guard duty with us had the key!

[Kyt]

And you couldn't even shoot the lock off to get at it. And it wasn't just Britain that wasn't prepared. How about Pearl Harbor? All those lovely aircraft lined up.