After the surrender of France on June 22, 1940, the Nazi leadership also wanted to crush Great Britain as quickly as possible in order to have its back free for the intended war against the Soviet Union. In order to gain the necessary air superiority for the planned invasion of England, the "Battle of Britain" began on August 13, 1940. The German Luftwaffe's large-scale attacks were concentrated on British naval units, armaments industries, air defense positions and Royal Air Force bases in southern England. Within a few weeks, the southern English defense network was to be shattered or, at best, Britain forced to surrender.

In a completely inaccurate assessment of British air defense and aircraft production, Hermann Göring painted a picture of a German air force superior in almost all areas. But the major missions over England revealed German armament and training deficiencies. Frequently, German pilots were inadequately trained in protecting fighters in formation flying. On the day of the Battle-of-Britain alone, the climax of the air battle on September 15, 1940, the Luftwaffe lost 56 of 1,700 aircraft engaged. After heavy losses, major German raids ceased in mid-September. Since the average British aircraft production of 470 fighters per month was twice that of Germany, the air superiority sought by the German Empire had become an illusion. Continued, however, were the night raids on London and other British industrial cities to break Britain's economic and defensive strength and the morale of the population. For the first time, London was cleared as a target for attack on September 5-6, 1940. In mid-October, air raids were extended to the central English industrial area. 500 bombers flew the heaviest attack against an English city on the night of November 15, 1940, almost completely destroying Coventry. Subsequently, the cynical term "coventrieren" found its way into German military parlance. But even the constant area bombing could not break the will to resist of the Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had been in office since May 1940. In the spring of 1941, the air war against England was stopped: Hitler now needed the planes for the invasion of the Soviet Union. The German Reich lost 2,265 aircraft in the air battle, and another 867 were more than ten percent damaged. The nearly 2,000 pilots who died and about 2,600 who were missing or captured were almost impossible for the Luftwaffe to replace in the months that followed.