An article in the September issue of "History Today" argues that it was Britain's naval might - not its airborne prowess - which warded off a Nazi invasion in the early stages of World War II.

"To claim that Germany failed to invade in 1940 because of what was done by the phenomenally brave and skilled young men of Fighter Command is hogwash," wrote Andrew Gordon, head of maritime history at the Joint Services Command Staff College.

The debate over who might have played the key role in the Battle of Britain has hit a nerve in this island nation as it prepares to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the four-month period of fierce aerial combat between the Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe that ended in late 1940.

Those early months have also assumed a profound significance in the British psyche. The country often recalls its stalwart efforts of those early days, when it alone stemmed the onslaught of the Nazi war machine.

British pluck and grit was immortalized during its aerial defense and the subsequent bombings by German rockets.

The efforts of the RAF were immortalized in then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill's speech before the House of Commons while the air combat was still raging.

Although he thanked the navy, the army and the air force, his description of the latter - "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" - became one of the most memorable lines of the war.

But the scholars quoted by History Today said it was the sailors, not the pilots, to whom the Britons owed so much.

An amphibious invasion of Britain would have been "an absolute field day for our navy," Gordon, head of maritime history at the college, was quoted as saying, referring to Adolf Hitler's planned Operation Sea Lion.

He explained that Royal Navy ships - protected by steel hulls - would have withstood German air attack. German transports ferrying troops across the Channel from France would have been too weak and too slow to resist a naval attack.

The article also quotes the college's top land warfare historian, Gary Scheffield, as saying that, with the Royal Navy patrolling the Channel, Hitler would never seriously have contemplated a ground invasion.

Statements to the contrary, he said, were a ploy "to try to make Churchill be reasonable."

The article became the focus of immediate debate.

Richard Overy, a professor of history at the University of Exeter and the author of "The Battle of Britain," who was not interviewed for the article, agreed with the assessment that the RAF's role had been exaggerated, but said that the argument that the Navy alone had been enough to deter the German was "very misplaced."

"You can't argue that the British Navy could have steamed down and prevented an invasion, it would been extremely risky," he said.

Michael Fopp, director general of the RAF Museums and the son of a Battle of Britain pilot, agreed, saying the Royal Navy would have taken "massive casualties" without air cover.

Fopp said the RAF's efforts handed the Nazis their first defeat after an unbroken string of victories, and breathed new confidence into Germany's opponents all over the world.

"The myth of the few - that's not a myth," he said.

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