Adlertag (Eagle Day) was to be the first day of Operation Eagle Attack, a massive airborne assault by the German Luftwaffe that kicked off what today is known as the Battle of Britain. Miscommunication and poor weather contributed to the ultimate failure of the attack.

This weekend we recognize one of the most famous aerial battles in history with a 2x Crew XP bonus, special missions and discounts on aircraft and consumables! Select aircraft and all consumables are 50% off their normal Silver prices, while British- and German-specific missions offer a 50% XP bonus as rewards for completion! 

Historical Flashback

After defeating the Allies in Western Europe and Scandinavia in 1940, Hitler turned his attention to ever-resistant Great Britain and ordered his armed forces to prepare for an invasion, codenamed Operation Sea Lion. This offensive was to be preceded by the destruction of the Royal Air Force (RAF) in order to prevent it from attacking the invasion fleet or giving cover to the Royal Navy, which was also a thorn in the Germans’ side.

The result was Unternehmen Adlerangriff (Operation Eagle Attack) – a massive, concentrated aerial attack.  Its objective was to target and destroy British military targets such as bomber and fighter command airfields and coastal command stations, as well as shipping and aircraft factories in major manufacturing cities along the south coast of Britain. To this end, the German Luftwaffe assembled three armies across Europe, in France, Holland, Belgium and all the way up to Denmark and Norway. This force consisted of around a thousand bombers and an equal number of single-engined and twin-engined fighters.

The first attack, named Adlertag (Eagle Day), was initially scheduled for 10 August but had to be postponed twice due to bad weather. A third last-minute cancellation followed on 13 August. However, due to poor communication, the order to cancel failed to reach a group of bombers who took off on their own, thinking the offensive had begun according to plan. 74 Dornier Do 17 bombers started to make their way over the English Channel, planning to attack airfields at Sheerness and Eastchurch. Cut off from their base by what they believed to be the usual radio silence on an attack, the bombers could not be called back. As a result, they headed straight into a swarm of defending Spitfires and Hurricanes which British Fighter Command had summoned to intercept the invaders. Needless to say, without fighter protection, the German bombers didn’t stand much of a chance against their numerous opponents and lost ten planes while fleeing for their lives.

By the time they returned to their home base, the weather had improved enough for the Luftwaffe Command to seize the rest of the day and finally carry out the attack in full force. They mounted a formidable 1,485 offensive sorties against 727 British defensive ones but ultimately failed to achieve their overall objective. Despite the havoc caused by the German attacks, the RAF Fighter Command remained operational, as did most of the other airfields and factories that were damaged during the assault. Overall, the Germans lost 20 bombers, 15 Bf 110s and 9 Bf 109s as well as a couple of other heavily damaged aircraft. On the British side, the RAF reported 14 fighters shot down, as well as 11 bombers and almost 50 other aircraft destroyed during the bombing raids on the ground.

Operation Eagle Attack continued on after Adlertag and became famously known as the Battle of Britain. However, that’s a tale for a later special…