Preliminary Phase : June - 10 July

Throughout June 1940, while the Battle of France was still going on, the Luftwaffe used a small part of its forces, about 5-10%, on active operations against the United Kingdom. Its objectives were to reconnoitre airfields, practice methods of navigation, give crews experience of flying over the British Isles (including night training) and to harass the civilian population and disrupt industry.

These flights were thus a cheap means of maintaining pressure on Britain until the full weight of the German Air Force could be brought to bear. At first they caused inconvenience and some loss of production, not from any actual damage inflicted but from the perpetual and protracted air raid alarms which they provoked. Once the nature of these nuisance attacks was recognised, however, the number of alarms initiated was greatly reduced and the raids became much less effective.

These raids continued into July when larger numbers of bombers also started to attack south coast ports such as Falmouth, Plymouth, Portland, Weymouth and Dover.

The next phase - Attacks on Coastal Shipping 10 July - 12 August