I was under the, I suppose possibly false, impression that the Battle of Britain was somewhat successful in its early stages when they attacked RAF airfields and facilities but failed when they switched to cities?
Indeed it was, although Hitler's involvement largely negated any benefits the Luftwaffe might have achieved in the long run.
I find it hard to agree given that the battle was both to tie down the Germans at a time when the French were in mutiny, Russia falling apart, and it was to break through to the coast and stop the Uboats. It didn't achieve the objective of stopping the Uboats, but it did bind the Germans and bring their morale down to the lowest ebb of the war yet and ground down their manpower reserves, while Britain still had ample ones. The problem then came out of politics when the British government held back reserves to keep GHQ from launching another bloody offensive, which backfired when the Germans launched their last major offensives of the war.
Not really. Recent scholarship has shown that the offensive was a strategic mess from the beginning and always doomed to failure despite the early tactical victories in July. The switch to cities was part of the general failure of the intelligence that convinced Hitler that the RAF fighter reserves were nearly exhausted and it was time to draw the last ones into a final battle, which bombing London would do. Instead the RAF had actualy increased in numbers over the period the Germans were bombing airfields (though the wrong ones in many cases and generally were ineffective in doing so to strategic effect). Stephen Bungay in "Most Dangerous Enemy" does a great job working with primary sources to show that the Brits were never in danger of losing given the muddled strategy the Luftwaffe/Goering/Hitler used IOTL. He proposed another much more effective one that is generally agreed would have worked, but much of that required hindsight or at least a better understanding of the enemy they faced and much more professionalism than the Luftwaffe displayed IOTL.
Agreed. Even when it was guaranteed that the Germans would withdraw once the armistice is in effect, the Entente simply refused to swallow their pride and wait it out. Many ended up dying retaking ground that would be handed over without a fight anyway, simply for the commanders to prove that they can.
