Editing Battle of Britain (section)

===Small scale raids===
Following Germany's rapid territorial gains in the Battle of France, the Luftwaffe had to reorganise its forces, set up bases along the coast, and rebuild after heavy losses. It began small scale bombing raids on Britain on the night of 5/6 June, and continued sporadic attacks throughout June and July.{{sfn|Overy|2001|pp=47–49, 61}} The first large-scale attack was at night, on 18/19 June, when small raids scattered between Yorkshire and Kent involved in total 100 bombers.{{sfn|Bishop|2010|p=54}} These ''Störangriffe'' ("nuisance raids") which involved only a few aeroplanes, sometimes just one, were used to train bomber crews in both day and night attacks, to test defences and try out methods, with most flights at night. They found that, rather than carrying small numbers of large high explosive bombs, it was more effective to use more small bombs, similarly incendiaries had to cover a large area to set effective fires. These training flights continued through August and into the first week of September.{{sfn|Overy|2013|pp=71–72}} Against this, the raids also gave the British time to assess the German tactics, and invaluable time for the RAF fighters and anti-aircraft defences to prepare and gain practice.{{sfn|Overy|2001|p=66}}

[[File:Interior of RAF Fighter Command's Sector 'G' Operations Room at Duxford, Cambridgeshire, September 1940. CH1401.jpg|thumb|Interior of RAF Fighter Command's [[RAF Fighter Command Order of Battle 1940|Sector 'G']] Operations Room at [[Duxford Aerodrome|Duxford]], 1940]]
The attacks were widespread: over the night of 30 June alarms were set off in 20 counties by just 20 bombers, then next day the first daylight raids were carried out during 1 July, on both [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull in Yorkshire]] and [[Wick, Caithness]]. On 3 July most flights were reconnaissance sorties, but 15 civilians were killed when bombs hit [[Guildford]] in Surrey.{{sfn|Bishop|2010|pp=80–81}} Numerous small ''Störangriffe'' raids, both day and night, were made daily through August, September and into the winter, with aims including bringing RAF fighters up to battle, destruction of specific military and economic targets, and setting off air-raid warnings to affect civilian morale: four major air-raids in August involved hundreds of bombers; in the same month 1,062 small raids were made, spread across the whole of Britain.{{sfn|Overy|2013|p=80}}