by Norman Gelb
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Pilot Officer Bobby Oxspring
Our squadron commander was a great personal friend of Douglas Bader. Sometimes, after an action, Bader would land at our airfield and come to have a cup of coffee and chat about tactics. He was a bit frustrated because Keith Park never seemed to ask for help from 12 Group. He certainly didn’t ask for help as much as he might have. Bader said that many a time, when he was in a nice position and could hear on the radio what was going on, he’d want to sally forth and help out, but was told not to go.
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Squadron Leader Tom Gleave
Douglas Bader was completely wrong on tactics at the time. He was very brave. But he’d been out of the air force for ten years. He lagged completely behind in modern concepts. All he could think of, as far as I could see, was the old First World War flying circuses, which had nothing to do with what we were up against in the Battle of Britain.
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Pilot Officer Denis Crowley-Milling
For my part, there has never been a leader to match Douglas Bader. As young, relatively inexperienced pilots we were completely captivated by him and his indomitable fighting spirit. He never ceased to encourage us and, most of all, he helped us to conquer our fears. In the air over the radio, he kept up a constant flow of talk, cracked jokes and made us all feel twice the men we were. I have always thought how lucky I was to have been under his guidance throughout the Battle of Britain.
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Flying Officer Barrie Heath
People in 11 Group told us, ‘We don’t know what you buggers are doing in those great big balbos. You’d do a damn sight better if you did some real fighting instead of going around in a huge formation, being nothing but a bloody nuisance.’ Normally, my response was, ‘Balls!’ or words to that effect.
Take-offs of the Wing were always fairly fraught because Douglas Bader was short-tempered. He was always in a hurry. He always had a good aircraft. He’d whiz off and expect everybody to stick with him and be able to climb as fast as he could. When you were manoeuvering three or four squadrons, it wasn’t easy keeping in the same piece of air at the same time. You’d be going flat out one minute, throttling back the next, trying to stay in some sort of formation. There wasn’t a lot of radio help in those days. VHF radio was just about coming in.
I’d known Bader before the battle started. He was a bombastic, aggressive CO. We had eyed him with great suspicion. I don’t think our feelings towards him turned to admiration until the time he was leading the Duxford Wing. We all came together under his leadership. We suddenly realized he was a bloody good leader and not a bad chap. But he was a very hard taskmaster.
Differences over the Big Wing remained pronounced and bitter and relations between the 11 and 12 Group commanders continued to be strained. But circumstances did not permit the luxury of indulging in intra-mural squabbles. With Fighter Command wondering, as each gruelling day came to a close, whether it would have the men and the planes to turn back the Germans when the next dawn broke, Britain’s situation was extremely precarious.
Kept for the most part in the dark, the British public remained almost casually confident of ultimate victory. But awareness of how desperate things really had become was not confined to the upper echelons of the government and the military services in London. In Washington, United States Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes noted in his diary that there were reports that Britain might be forced by the German onslaught to sue for peace. However, no one knew more than the men of Fighter Command exactly how close to the brink of disaster their country had been brought.
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Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding
When the Germans found that our fighters could deliver a well-timed attack on the bombers before their fighters could intervene, or when our fighters attacked from ahead or below, each move was met by a counter-move on the part of the Germans so that, in September, fighter escorts were flying inside the bomber formations, others were below, and a series of fighters stretched upward to 30,000 feet or more. One squadron leader described his impression of the appearance of one of these raids. He said it was like looking up the escalator at Piccadilly Circus.
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Flight Lieutenant Alan Deere
I thought towards the end of August that we were on a bit of a loser. Each time we went up, there seemed to be more and more Germans up there.
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Squadron Leader Sandy Johnstone
If the airfields had got another heavy thumping, I’m not sure we could have stood it.
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Pilot Officer Pat Hancock
Had they gone on bombing the airfields, I might have been speaking German instead of English today, except I wouldn’t still be here.
LONDON’S BURNING
German bomber pilots were instructed to steer clear of London unless specifically ordered to attack the British capital. Their primary target was Fighter Command, its bases and its supply installations. Destroying those would give the Luftwaffe mastery of the skies over England and pave the way for the conquest of Britain. Bombing London would be a pointless diversion which might create problems.
But on the night of 24 August, German bombers, seeking designated targets near London, lost their way in the dark and, without knowing exactly where they were, jettisoned their bomb loads over the centre of the city. The British did not intend to let such an incident, and the impact it might have on public morale, pass without a suitable rejoinder. RAF Bomber Command was instructed to retaliate against Berlin. It was one of the most important decisions of the Second World War.
For several nights, British bombers struck at the German capital, which Goring had solemnly promised would never be a target of enemy aircraft. Damage done to Berlin was not extensive, but damage done to the pride of the Nazi leaders was enormous. They were furious and vowed that the British would pay for their effrontery with the destruction of their cities.
On 7 September, the Luftwaffe launched its first mass raid on London. It marked the beginning of the fourth phase of the Battle of Britain. Commercial and residential areas of the densely inhabited metropolis were blasted that day and in the days and weeks that followed. London’s docks were turned into roaring infernos. There were many casualties and widespread devastation. Bombs fell on Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. The people of the British capital were beginning to experience what the people of Warsaw, Rotterdam and other cities had earlier suffered. But coming at a time when the Luftwaffe had finally brought Fighter Command to the verge of collapse, the bombing of London had a far different significance — for Britain, for Germany, and for the direction the war would take.
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Flight Lieutenant A. D. Murray
11 Group commander Keith Park summoned his station commanders, senior squadron commanders and Controllers to a conference. He said, ‘Gentlemen, I don’t know how much longer we can keep this up. But somebody has dropped a bomb on Berlin.’
It didn’t mean much to me at the time. ‘Bombed Berlin. Good.’ But he obviously meant the higher command believed that as soon as Berlin was bombed, the Luftwaffe’s target would shift from our fighter airfields to London, which would give us a breather.
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Reichsmarshal Hermann Goring
AN IMMEDIATE REPORT IS REQUIRED IDENTIFYING THOSE CREWS WHO DROPPED BOMBS WITHIN THE PERIMETER OE LONDON. LUFTWAFFE HIGH COMMAND WILL ITSELF UNDERTAKE THE PUNISHMENT OE EACH AIRCRAFT CAPTAIN INVOLVED. THEY WILL BE POSTED TO INFANTRY REGIMENTS.
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Adolf Hitler
Mr Churchill is demonstrating his new brainchild, the night air raid [on German cities]. Mr Churchill is carrying out these raids not because they promise to be highly effective, but because his air force cannot fly over German soil in daylight. For three months I did not answer because I believed that this madness [the war] would be stopped. Mr Churchill took this as a sign of weakness. We are now answering night for night. When the British air force drops three or
four thousand kilograms of bombs, we will in one night drop two hundred, three hundred or four hundred thousand kilograms. When they declare they will increase their attacks on our cities, then we will raze their cities to the ground. We will stop the handiwork of these night pirates, so help us God ... The hour will come when one of us will break, and it will not be National Socialist Germany!
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Pilot Officer Steve Stephen
One German bomber formation stretched from over London right out towards Southend, twenty miles long or more and, I suppose, about a quarter of a mile wide. And with an escort of fighters above.
It was a breathtaking sight. You couldn’t help feeling you’d never again ever see anything as remarkable as that.
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Squadron Leader Sandy Johnstone
I’d never seen so many aircraft. It was a hazy sort of day right up to about 16,000 feet. As we broke through the haze, you could hardly believe it. As far as you could see, there was nothing but German aircraft coming in, wave after wave. We lost Harry Moody and Roger Coverly that day. We never discovered what happened to Harry. They found Roger’s aircraft the day after, I think, but it was two weeks before they found his body. He’d come down by parachute. He was very much dead, caught up in a tree about ten miles from where his aircraft had come down.
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Pilot Officer Jan Zumbach
We were climbing at full speed when I saw a burst of ack-ack fire over London harbour and then, a little to the right, below us, a formation of German bombers escorted by a surprisingly large number of Me 109s. Coming from the south, the bombers approached the Thames to drop their bombs and then turn north. I thought we were going to rush at the enemy, but this was not so. It seemed that the squadron leader, a British officer, did not realize exactly which direction the bombers were taking. Then I heard someone shout in Polish, ‘Attack! Follow me!’ It was Lieutenant Paskiewicz, a very experienced pilot, who shook his wings to show the others he was leaving the formation. He started to attack and was immediately followed by the other sections, and also by the leader, who now understood the manoeuvre.
In front of me, two Dorniers were already on fire and parachutes were opening in the sky. The German bombers were approaching at tremendous speed. My leader was already firing. It was my turn. I pressed the button. Nothing happened. I swore violently. Already I had to move out. Tracer bullets were whizzing by on all sides and then I realized I had forgotten to release the safety switch.
Turning violently, crushed down by centrifugal force, bent in two, I found myself on the tail of a stream of bombers, with a Dornier 215 in front of me growing bigger and bigger in my sights, until it blotted out everything else. I saw the rear gunner aiming at me. I pressed the button and the rattle of my eight machine-guns shook my plane. A long cloud of smoke came out of the Dornier’s left engine. Another burst and it was ablaze. Over the radio, everyone was shouting, in English, in Polish.
I saw a Hurricane having trouble with a bandit. I was about to rush to his help when the Hurricane burst into flames. A parachute opened up almost immediately. It was Flying Officer Daszewski who had been able to bale out after losing half of his left buttock to a burst of Messerschmitt gunfire. Flying Officer Pisarek also had to jump, leaving one of his boots stuck in his burning plane. He landed in a suburban garden full of roses. A man came over to him and said, ‘Sir, I would like you to know this is private property,’ and then invited him to tea. Pisarek was terribly embarrassed because he was without that missing boot and he had a hole in his sock.
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Cabinet War Room Summary
Enemy Aircraft Activity, 7 September
At 11.30 about seventy aircraft crossed our coast near Folkestone, thirty turning west towards Hastings, the rest spreading out over east Kent ... Enemy formations totalling some ninety aircraft commenced an attack on London and Thames Estuary areas at about 16.30. These were followed half an hour later by a second wave involving 250 aircraft and by 18.00 a heavy attack had been made on industrial and dock property on both sides of the Thames ... At dusk, enemy activity recommenced and from 20.10 until 04.30, a stream of single aircraft crossed the coast between Beachy Head and Dungeness, their main objectives being docks, railway and power stations in the Greater London area ... A few aircraft also reached Liverpool, Birmingham and South Wales ...
Preliminary reports do not permit an accurate review of the damage caused in the London area, but a great number of key points were hit and probably damaged, affecting chiefly food storage, flour mills, granaries and oil installations. In dockland, severe damage was caused to the Royal Victoria and Albert Docks, the East and West India Docks, Millwall and London Docks and serious fires necessitated the complete evacuation of Silvertown. In the case of railways, many lines in east and south London have been blocked and approximately nineteen stations hit and damaged. The southern entrance to the Rotherhithe Tunnel has been blocked.
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Associated Press
Berlin, 8 September — An unending German offensive by all types of planes hurled ‘several million pounds’ of bombs on London yesterday and last night in an onslaught so gigantic that the Nazis said it put everything previous ‘in the shade’. German sources emphasized the strength of British defences, but said the British were unable to stem the continuous waves of attacking planes.
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Chicago Sunday Tribune
London, 8 September — The mightiest aerial assault ever made upon this capital raged on early today amid fire-reddened skies and exploding bombs in the heart of the city. Flames touched off by Nazi incendiary bombs set the sky aglow ... The Germans struck the most savage blow yet to fall in the battle for Britain at 8.32 p.m. last night, after a heavy daylight raid of hundreds of planes, which itself broke through the city’s inner defences.
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Anthony Weymouth
Personal Journal, 8 September
We are alive, but we have passed a night such as I never wish to spend again. We have been lying in the dark on our mattresses for eight hours listening to the characteristic drone of the German aircraft. They seemed to be flying round and round our flat. How close are they? Have they passed? Yes. No — for the exhaust, which was becoming less loud, is now increasing again. And then — the first bomb fell. I could hear the swish and then the explosion, which shook even this apparently sturdy building. I switched on a torch and I heard Audrey say, ‘Steady, peoples.’ It seemed a matter of seconds only before a new sound reached us. The clanging of bells, as one after another, the fire-engines raced along the Marylebone Road. The sounds grew in intensity, then became less and less ... I switched out the torch and lay down. I could hear Hod [his son] turning over on his mattress. Quite suddenly, I heard the drone of an aeroplane, and almost immediately, the shattering noise of a bomb exploding. How near was it? We had no experience by which to judge. All I knew was that the building shook, and my heart raced. Subconsciously, I was waiting to hear the crash of falling masonry. But silence followed the shattering crash. Once more, I lay down, my heart thumping against my ribs. Would this nightmare never end? It was only just after two o’clock. The Huns could — and doubtless would — keep it up till daylight.
And they did. A constant drone and bomb after bomb. We heard the ‘All clear’ about 4.30 and promptly went to sleep on our mattresses.
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Pilot Officer Denis Wissler
Diary, 8 September
What complete swines these Jerries are.
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Mrs Gwladys Cox
War Diary, 9 September, 7.45 a.m.
What an awful night! Last evening, after a fairly quiet day, we settled down at 8.00 p.m. to listen to the National Prayer Day Wireless Service, when the sirens wailed. Almost immediately, we heard the nearest and most intense gunfire yet. From the windows, we saw ... large fires and as we gazed, holding our breath, swift stabs of flame shot down from the sky in quick succession. Every stab sent up a vivid flash of flame while, already, a
high wall of pure lightning-coloured fire glowed for miles along the eastern horizon. The rest of London was aflame with searchlights, bursting shells, floating flares and the quaking radiance of Molotov bread baskets — and the noise! Booms, bangs, pops, crashes, screams, warden’s whistles — while below, in the inky street, the traffic crawled, dim-lit, ghostlike. I gasped, shut the window and suddenly felt we should no longer remain in the flat.
Hurriedly packing Bob into his basket and collecting rugs and pillows, we made for our basement shelter. Here we remained till 5.30 a.m. The place, though dusty and gloomy, is dry, and being below ground and surrounded by walls, comparatively protected. We were soon joined by Mr and Mrs Veasey, she lying on a mattress on the floor, he sitting bolt upright in a chair. We used our deck chairs, covered with rugs and eiderdowns, while a boxstand did for a table to hold our only light, a candle. Before we settled down, Mrs Samuels, warden of the shelter next door, looked in and seemed rather disgusted with conditions, declaring the place altogether ‘too stuffy’.
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Helen Kirkpatrick, Chicago Daily News
London, 9 September — It is pretty incredible to find people relatively unshaken after the terrific experience. There is some terror, but nothing on the scale that the Germans may have hoped for and certainly not on the scale to make Britons contemplate for a moment anything but fighting on. Fright becomes so mingled with a deep almost uncontrollable anger that it is hard to know when one stops and the other begins.
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Squadron Leader Sandy Johnstone
It’s a terrible thing to say, but it was an immense relief when we realized they weren’t coming for the airfields again. They were going for London. I thought, ‘Sorry about this, London,’ but it was the thing that saved us. By taking it, the Londoners gave the fighter chaps a chance to recover.
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Winston Churchill