Battle of Britain won 30 years ago

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32406, 19 September 1970, Page 13

Battle of Britain won 30 years ago

Thirty years ago the dark clouds of war over Britain parted and the first rays of hope shone through. That day was September 15, 1940, the way that the tide of the German onslaught on Britain changed. Pummelled by weeks of unceasing, attacks by the Luftwaffe, British A n d Commonwealth pilots of Fighter Command of the Royal Air Force fought back to overwhelm the German Air Force.

On that day, September 15, London was the target for the German aircraft Heavy attacks were being made but Fighter Command caused the Germans to suffer their highest losses. According to official sources the Battle of Britain began on August 8 and by October 31 was over. However,the build-up to the battle had been in progress for some time. A much depleted but doggedly courageous British Army was licking its wounds and gazing out across the English Channel where much of its equipment had been left during the epic of Dunkirk. That Channel, grave of so many of Britain’s enemy in history, stood between Hitler and his greatest prize. German Hopes With their eyes on the Royal Navy, still supreme on the seas, German admirals were less enthusiastic than the other services on the possible success of “Operation Sealion”—the German invasion plan—and their very minimum demand before they would attempt to transport the German Army across the Channel was air superiority.

This they knew would mean the destruction of the R A F. as an effective fighting force.

In spite of his victories in Europe, Hitler knew that time was not on his side. The longer he delayed the invasion the stronger the opposing forces would become and Britain, now fully geared to war production, would be putting into willing hands the means to face any invaders from across the Channel Hitler’s generals promised that it would take between a fortnight and a month to destroy the R.A.F. The Luftwaffe assembled three air fleets based in Belgium, Holland, France, Norway, and Denmark. . Their combined resources amounted to 3500 aircraft, of which 250 dive-bombers, 1000 long range bombers and 1000 fighters could be expected to be ready to begin the attack. On the RA..F. side, Fighter Command—at least with aircraft—was not on equal terms with its adversary. Nearly 300 fighter pilots had been lost over France and the Low Countries. On June 4, Fighter Command had 446 operationally serviceable aircraft, of which 331 were Hurricanes and Spitfires. Nevertheless, by midAugust, in time to meet the main attack, the aircraft industry had built up this number to 704 aircraft, of which 620 were Hurricanes and Spitfires. Vital Radar To restore the balance, however, was the fighting spirit of the R.AF., its sound training and the then secret radar chain which made the economic deployment of aircraft during the battle possible. On August B—the official beginning of the battle—the German Air Force lost heavily when aircraft at-

tacked two convoys off the Isle of Wight They attacked Portland and Weymouth as well as convoys on August 11. Dover, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight bore the attacks the following day and after a blitz on R.A.F. fighter airfields on August 15, when 180 German aircraft were destroyed, the total losses of the Luftwaffe from the start were 472.

The Germans maintained their attacks, some more deadly than others, and in the next three days another 225 were shot down. After

a brief respite they started again but their effectiveness was waning. They jettisoned their bombs on many occasions when contact was made with R.A.F. fighters. During the period of the battle the number of German aircraft known to have been destroyed in daylight was 2375. The RA.F. lost 375 pilots and 358 were injured. The Germans killed 1700 people and seriously injured 3360 by day. At night when the enemy was protected by darkness heavier casualties occurred ■

By August 24 the Luftwaffe was becoming desperate in the face of the increasing air supremacy of the R.AF. and more and more raids were made on airfields and night raids on various targets throughout Britain were stepped up. Towards the . end of the month a further switch was made, the bombers attacking Liverpool and Birkenhead by night. The damage resulting was slight in spite of the number of aircraft involved. London Attacked On September 11, London was to face its greatest Attacks switched to London and over 250 bombers made their way to the target Thameshaven and other areas down the river suffered greatly, especially from fire. Greater London endured the ordeal, and the climax was reached on September 15 when heavy and sustained fighting took place over the capital and the south of England. Damage was great, but this turning point in the Battle of Britain brought home the hopelessness of the task that the Luftwaffe had been set when the R.A.F. struck heavily against the Invaders and destroyed at least 56. Their own losses were 26. On September 17 it was recorded in the German Headquarters War Diary that: “The enemy air force is still by no means defeated; on the contrary it shows increasing activity . . . the Fuhrer therefore decides to postpone ‘Sealion* indefinitely." Fighter Command was Indeed becoming stronger. Its tactics improved in the testing reality of battle and the flow of aircraft from factories had been stepped up.

The Luftwaffe continued to press home its attacks, but the scale diminished and on October 12 Hitler was forced to “postpone ‘Sealion’ until the spring of 1941.” By the end of that month the plan to destroy the R.A.F. in order to gain air superiority over the Channel for the invasion had been snuffed. The battle had been won.