"The Battle of Britain," Chapter IV of Frank Capra's "Why We Fight"
series, begins after Hitler's conquest of Western Europe. Once firmly
in control of the parts of France and Norway closest to Great Britain,
the Nazis commence their massive air assault on the British isles.
Outnumbered six to one, the fighters of the Royal Air Force defend their
skies against the Luftwaffe for close to four months. Capra embellishes
the British successes, for example the film claims the RAF fought 200
dogfights in the first thirty minutes of the battle alone, and that by
the end of the first month they had destroyed 900 German planes. (In
truth, the number is closer to 260). However, the success of the
British defenses forced the Germans to change strategies, switching to
more frightening night raids that terrorized London. But the British
resolve won the day, in grand fashion. The film claims total German
losses of more than 2,700. The real number is closer to 1,600. The number of downed British planes equaled approximately half that of Germany.