Is this a Battle of Britain myth or the most far-reaching error in the history of the 20th century?

[mariner2]

According to the film 'The Battle of Britain' the accidental bombing of London by a single lost German bomber led to an immediate reprisal raid by the RAF on Berlin which in turn caused Hitler to shift the focus of his attacks away from the airfields to London.
This saved us, as we were losing planes and pilots at an unsustainable rate until then, and the fact that we won that battle meant we were never invaded and knocked out of the war. This in turn meant that Germany was eventually defeated which probably never could have come about as the US couldn't have got involved.
If true, has there ever been a more far reaching mistake than that??

[Stephen_G]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Britain

Have a look at section 5.4: Raids on British Cities.

Hope this answers your question.

[123everton]

Operation Sealion was doomed to failure due to the German's lack of shipping. The converted barges would have turned into floating coffins because of their lack of manoeuvrability, the one good point of the Naarvik campaign was the heavy losses inflicted on the Kriegs Marine this meant the invasion would have to be delayed for another year.
The German's lack of strategic bombers and aircaft carriers also contributed considerably to their overall defeat.
Hitler knew that by then the Soviets would be in a better position to defend themselves and America would be on more war ready footing. He felt that the British were out of the fight and decided to attack to the East which was his preference anyway.
Luckily Churchill sank the remainder of the French Navy after they capitulated, otherwise things could have turned out very different.

[Peter Pedant]

Some historical questions run and run

The Putters debates in 1649 partly debated why they were there - ie the causes of the Civil War (1640s) and surprising to me, they didnt come up with answer.

But others are objective: Pearl Harbor occurred Dec 1941 and directly caused America's entry to WWII

The German conduct of the Battle of Britain seems a little like the first - bombing was switched from airfields to cities. Records show that both sides over estimated losses (by an equal factor of 3) but why this was done and why that date was chosen may never be known. It is quite possible that the Germans did not realised how critical the defences relied on radar, which at that time, apparently they did not have.

Actually, re-reading your question, I think you may be right. That bombing of Berlin caused chaos, as Goebbels had promised that B wd never be bombed.

BUT in the sixties, when the Germans were bad but had then become good, there was pressure to classify the Baedekker Raids as strategic.

[Hugh Spencer]

During September 1940 RAF Bomber Command carried out 19 sea sweeps, 18 raids on barges in ports on the Continent and several raids on airfields in France and Holland. On 30th September Bomber Command was notified that the imminent danger of invasion had passed.

[dundurn]

Arguably the most far-reaching error was Hitler's decision to support Japan at the time of Pearl Harbour. If he had just kept quiet Roosevelt would have had no reason to get involved in Europe and the eventual outcome on the Western Front could have been very different.