ABSTRACT
The London target was obvious and had long been urged by many in the Luftwaffe Command who felt that a mass daylight raid would draw out the Royal Air Force (RAF) instead of allowing the British to conserve planes and pilots by using piecemeal tactics. London proved to be almost completely defenseless at night. The West End had been hit by intention and the jettisoning of bombs had produced scattered hits all over the London area. Luftwaffe intelligence reported the opposition of the RAF Fighter Command to be slackening and London obviously was being methodically battered to ruins. The Germans still had high hopes for the raids on London. There had been, except for the temporary resistance of Warsaw, no battle resembling a siege but only the rapid unfolding of the panzer attacks. Perhaps, as an added bonus, the raid would finally lure the outmatched Royal Air Force into a decisive battle with the massed German fighters.
