Britain Defences

By Jack Layton

Reasons for the defences Britain was positive it

was going to be invaded mainly because of the vast expanse in Europe that the Nazi force had invaded and conquered so far. Britain were surrounded so they needed to think of a plan and solution. They did and it was to prepare to be invaded.

The Home Front As Britain had all their main

soldiers out fighting abroad there were no other soldiers left to defend the land. So the country called on all the men too old for the army and the teenagers about 14 and older to join the home front. This is a mini army left to defend the country. They had no weapons as all the guns were already in use, but they did use the anti-aircraft guns to help the Battle of Britain. They were very successful shooting down over 10 fighter planes per night.

The channel on Fire

Many attempts to defend the country were a little absurd. Like this idea, to set the channel on fire. This was to try and stop the German u-boats from attacking our boats. Also as the Germans were only a few miles away and could see England the fire was a way of blocking their view.

Barbed wire

Many of Britain's Defences involved barbed wire. One attempt was to put barbed wire over key (A) roads. This was to stop German lorries from getting around Britain easily, unless they knew their way around the country.

Also, the barbed wire would stop German planes landing on the long straight strips

Signs

The British also painted over all the signs to make it even harder for the Germans to find their way around the country if they did invade. Again this had no effect on the British for they did not travel around much in the war, and if they did it was usually to do with evacuation so it was supervised by the military.

Pillboxes

Pillboxes were very common in WWII they could be found just about everywhere in Nazi occupied Europe. The British installed many pillboxes around Britain when they were under threat of invasion. Pillboxes are large concrete bunkers with a mounted machine gun inside which would shoot out at any enemy infantry.

Battle of Britain

Probably the most famous defence technique used by the British in world war II was the Battle of Britain. This was a huge air battle trying to fight off the German Luftwaffe whilst they were trying to bomb London and key military bases. It was a huge help in the war effort. For more information go to Battle of Britain.

The Consequence

No matter how ludicrous some of the plans were to defend the country, it showed that Britain felt there was a very real threat of invasion and if the Germans had invaded, the British would’ve been prepared.