Tactical Air Power and the Battle of France, 1940

Abstract

This chapter investigates the RAF and Luftwaffe’s actions during the Battle of France, particularly the crossing of the Meuse River at Sedan where the Luftwaffe’s employed its air resources in a close air support role. It also demonstrates the roles that the RAF were expected undertake when operations began, the changes that were made to RAF’s organisational structure and developments in communications systems. It highlights the importance the Luftwaffe’s placed on using tactical air power to impact at the operational level through the gaining and maintaining of air superiority over the battlefield through battlefield air interdiction missions and acting as advanced flank guards. It also analyses the reports made by the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), General Lord Gort, and the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief British Air Forces in France Air Marshal Sir Arthur Barratt in the aftermath of the Battle of France.