BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, SEPT. 12, 1949 "BATTLE OF BRITAIN WEEK”

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 37, 12 September 1949, Page 4

BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. MONDAY, SEPT. 12, 1949 "BATTLE OF BRITAIN WEEK”

“Battle of Britain Week” will be observed from September 12 to September 18 and various activities will be held on Air Force stations throughout the Dominion during that period. Air E’orce Day will be observed on all major stations of the R.N.Z.A.F. on September 17, the object being to acquaint the public by aerial and ground displays with the functions of the R.N.Z.A.F. . “Battle of Britain Week” commemorates Britain’s lone stand against the German Luftwaffe’s frightfulness, and ’ particularly the part played by “The Few” immortalised in Winston Churchill’s simple but telling tribute to the Empire’s airmen: “Never before in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

First bombs to fall on the mainland of Britain for 22 years fell near Canterbury on the night of May 9, 1940. The first in the London area hit ploughland at Addington in Surrey on June 18 that year, the night after the day of the French surrender. With the French disposed of, the Germans wasted no time in showing their intention to send night bombers over Britain in some numbers. Thus opened the approach to the Battle of Britain.

The battle proper began over the sea on August 8 and over the land on August 10. The story of the month of air struggle •that followed is now engraved on the pages of history. During it, the Germans came to realise that they had taken on a tougher task than they bargained for.

Could this hornet’s nest they had stirred up be the effete, decadent nation they had believed

themselves pitted against ? Could these people who laughed at death and refused to believe in the possibility of defeat be the cringing creatures Herr Dr. Goebbels had made them out to be?

Many a sadly disillusioned German airman had a chance to call Goebbels a liar before he spiralled to death in the hell of a plane in flames. Perhaps few on either side of the struggle realised until the facts were published afterwards just how strained the slender resources of Britain’s air defence had been. But, outnumbered and constantly on nerve-wrack-ing duty, the Emiper’s airmen beat off the attacks and paved the way for the victory that came years later. The Battle of Britain will stand for all time as an example of the triumph of quality over quantity, and of the potency of the morale factor in achieving victory. In those dark days, the steadfast courage of the British people became the admiration of the world, and their example the vital spark of the flame that finally engulfed the Nazi juggernaut. Let us all hope that the same determination and drive that' won the war will be steadfastly directed to preserving the peace.