In his Adlertag - Eagle Day order, Hitler instructed his air force: 'Within a short period of time, you will wipe the British Air Force from the sky. Heil Hitler.' Thus, the Luftwaffe (the German air force) attacked British air-force targets in a vast operation. With clear supremacy in the skies (2,700 warplanes against 700), Hitler hoped to bring Britain to its knees quickly from the air and thereby set the stage for a ground invasion of the island. When the Germans' attempt to defeat the British air force failed, the Luftwaffe changed its tactics and began to bombard cities, mainly to brutally intimidate the civilian population.
Churchill had the following to say about Hitler: 'This wicked man, this monstrous product of former wrongs and shame, has now resolved to break our famous island race by a process of indiscriminate slaughter and destruction.'
Hitler's gambit failed; Operation Sea Lion was delayed again and again. Great Britain spent that summer in utter isolation, fighting not to rescue its air force, but to save the country itself.
