The Battle of Britain

199 Pages·2015·23.49 MB·English

by  Kate Moore

Kate Moore studied Modern History at ‘We had about nine aeroplanes that day. We were pulling our harness straps tight THE BATTLE
the University of Cape Town and completed and turning on the gun sight and getting all the anticipatory moves necessary.
a Masters in the same subject at Oxford Then the controller said, “Bandits now twenty miles ahead of you, you should see T
OF BRITAIN
University, where her final thesis was on them directly.” Almost immediately the clear sky ahead started to turn into a mass of
H
little black dots… Our CO continued to lead us straight towards it… He bored straight
the Battle of Britain. She has an interest in
on into the middle of this lot until we seemed to be going into the biggest formation
all periods of history but her first love will E
of aeroplanes you ever saw. Then his voice came on the radio and he said, “Target
always be the key events of 1940. Based in
ahead, come on chaps, let’s surround them.”’ In 1940 Britain was an island under siege.
the Osprey editorial office, she works on a B The march of the Nazi war machine had been
variety of titles, but this is the first book she has Roland Beaumont, No. 87 Squadron, IWM Sound 10128
unrelenting: France and Belgium had
A
written for Osprey. She is married with
quickly fallen and now the British Empire and
two children and lives near Oxford. T
the Commonwealth stood alone to counter the
In partnership with IWM T grave threat. However, their fate would not be
decided by armies of millions but by a small
IWM (Imperial War Museums) is a global L
band of fighter pilots. It was on their shoulders
authority on conflict and its impact, from the
E
that Britain’s best chance of survival rested.
First World War to the present day, in Britain, its
Empire and Commonwealth. Above the villages and cities, playing fields
O and market towns, the skies of southern
Founded in 1917 when the First World War
England were the scene of countless dogfights
F THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
was still being fought, IWM collects material
as the fledgling Fighter Command duelled daily
that records people’s experiences of modern against the might of the Luftwaffe. The Battle
war. The collections include everyday objects B
of Britain offers an in-depth assessment of the
such as uniform, clothing, mementoes or
situation leading up to the summer of 1940,
R
household items, whereas other objects testify
K AT E M O O R E the strategies employed by the adversaries
to the most extraordinary events of modern I and the brutal aerial battle itself. Lavishly
times. Together, they tell of human spirit and T
illustrated with photographs, contemporary
resilience, creation and destruction, lives torn A
art and posters, and accompanied by
apart or brought back together. Our evolving
numerous first-hand accounts, this is a
I
collections reveal stories of people, places, N volume that captures the reality of a defining
ideas and events. They will change the way
UK £9.99 chapter in British history.
ISBN 978-1-4728-0872-1
you think about war. US $14.95
5 1 4 9 5
CAN $17.95
iwm.org.uk 75tH 75tH
KATE
Anniversary MOORE Anniversary
edition 9 781472 808721 edition
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THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
O
SPREY
PUBLISHING
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Contents
Preface 7
Introduction 9
Fighter Command 19
The Luftwaffe 55
Blitzkrieg: Germany’s Lightning Strike 83
Spitfire Summer: The Air Battle for Britain 97
Aftermath 181
Notes 188
Appendices 191
Bibliography 195
Index 198
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Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
‘To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods?’
Thomas Babington Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome
Memorized by Winston Churchill at age 13
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Preface
N
OW, AT LAST, his hour had come. For years, he had destroyers and other Royal Navy vessels, with many of the exhausted
haunted the corridors of power but as the Nazi soldiers ferried directly from the beaches to the waiting destroyers by
juggernaut continued its unassailable assault on the fleet of civilian manned ‘little ships’.
France, Belgium and the Low Countries, Winston But, as Churchill rightly pointed out, ‘wars are not won by
Churchill was summoned to see the king and asked to form a evacuations’ and as the nation braced itself, only the Royal Air Force’s
government. A mere fortnight later, his War Cabinet braced itself for inexperienced Fighter Command could prevent the seemingly
the worst military defeat in British history. Even with Churchill at inevitable invasion from being attempted. As Churchill electrified
the helm, nothing could prevent the disastrous retreat of the British the nation with his soaring oratory, strengthened the resolve of the
Expeditionary Force (BEF) as it fell back towards the Channel ports. embattled British people and gave them hope, it was a rather
The 220,000 Tommies waited on the Dunkirk beaches in the hope different character who would conduct the nation’s defence. Taciturn,
of salvation, which seemed destined not to come. The king and the prickly and politically inept, Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding was
House of Commons were warned that they would be lucky to save everything Churchill was not. And yet, they shared some crucial
a tenth of the force. The call went out for vessels of all shapes and qualities. Both had recognized the danger that Nazi Germany had
sizes to assist in the evacuation and a strange armada of ships started posed from the start and had done everything in their power to
to gather. From all along the Thames, from Kent and Essex, pleasure prepare for what they felt was an unavoidable conflict. Now
craft and trawlers, tugboats and rowing boats, gathered alongside the Churchill would allow Dowding to conduct the defence he had so
Royal Navy. Even today what follows seems miraculous. In a carefully planned for and as the enemy gathered at the gate, the men
brilliantly executed Royal Navy operation which lasted nine long and women of Fighter Command, outnumbered but defiant, braced
days 338,226 British and French soldiers were successfully evacuated themselves for battle.
from the port of Dunkirk, most directly onto the 42 British
Opposite:
Pilots scrambling for their aircraft
on 25 July 1940. (IWM HU 49253)
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Intr oduction
“
War is horrible, but slavery is worse, and you may be sure that the British people would rather go
”
down fighting than live in servitude.
Winston Churchill to the New Statesman journalist Kingsley Martin in January 1939
O
N1 SEPTEMBER1939, Hitler unleashed his armies and had rapidly proven to be a red herring. With the growing
raced into Poland. Europe had been floundering disillusionment of the British people, the press had clamoured for
towards war for months, but Britain, together with Churchill’s return to government. Now Chamberlain asked him to
France, had continued to attempt to negotiate a become a member of his War Cabinet when it was officially formed.
settlement that would appease the German dictator. Their attempts But war had not yet been declared. While Chamberlain’s government
had failed and instead 56 German divisions, nine of them armoured, delayed the inevitable, the Panzers had continued to roll into Poland.
had crossed the Polish borders under the cover of darkness in the early Within Britain itself blackouts were declared and gas masks distributed
hours of the morning. The Anglo-French governments, despite their to everyone, but an air of unreality prevailed, the Football Association
alliances with Poland, failed to immediately declare war. As the declaring that there was no need to cancel any games, just as sandbags
Siegfried Line stood virtually defenceless, manned by a mere ten went up round London’s monuments and government buildings.
divisions, the Allies baulked at the thought of yet another world This sense of unreality continued within the government. Despite
conflict. Instead, Paris and London expressed their willingness to Hitler’s continued rejection of Anglo-French calls for withdrawal,
negotiate should Hitler withdraw his forces from Poland. The Führer Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, persisted in his negotiation
had no intention of doing so. As the realization slowly dawned attempts, assuring the Italian Foreign Minister that no ultimatum Opposite:
Prior to the official declaration of
throughout the course of the day that war was unavoidable the British had been issued and that the role of the British government was
war, the evacuation of children from
Prime Minister sent for Winston Churchill. The Member of simply that of a mediator, despite Britain’s mutual defence treaty the East End of London was begun
Parliament for Epping had been a virtual pariah for most of the decade, with Poland. Churchill’s hands were tied. He had been invited to on 1 and 2 September 1939, amid
growing fears of the destruction
accused of warmongering and troublemaking. But in recent months join a War Cabinet that did not yet exist, but the acceptance of the
that would be caused by German
his star had been in the ascendant. The Munich Agreement of 1938 post meant that he was reluctant to openly criticize the government. bombing raids. (IWM HU 36238)
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He did not need to do so. The groundswell of public and On 3rd September, a beautiful autumn day, we listened to the fatal
parliamentary opinion was turning against Chamberlain. The House broadcast with dismay but not surprise. We expected to be bombed at
of Commons met the delaying tactics of the Prime Minister and once, and were quite surprised to wake up the next day to an equally
Foreign Secretary with horror, and in a revolt of conscience beautiful, peaceful day.2
An evening newspaper seller’s
Chamberlain’s own Cabinet repudiated their leader. Chamberlain
placard declares that Germany has
invaded Poland. Forty-eight hours realized that he could delay no longer and formally issued an She was not alone. Fighter Command immediately sprang into
later another newspaper seller’s ultimatum to Germany. The deadline came and went. At 11.15am action. Edward Morris was a pilot with No. 79 Squadron and later
placard announces that Britain is
on 3 September 1939, Chamberlain addressed the nation over the recalled how they were instantly scrambled:
once again at war with Germany
following Prime Minister radio, officially announcing that Britain was once again at war.
Chamberlain’s official Edith Heap was 21 and still living at home when she first heard Immediately after the Prime Minister’s announcement we were ordered
announcement on 3 September
the announcement. Like most people, she expected the declaration to Cockpit Readiness. When we had strapped in and switched on the
1939. (IWM HU 5517, IWM
HU 36171) to be immediately followed by a stream of German bombers: R/T we were ordered to start engines and Stand By. We sat for what
seemed ages with the engines getting hotter all the time until the
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Squadron Commander called Operations and told them either we had
to take off or close down the engines before they all boiled. Rather
reluctantly they agreed to stopping our engines but we had to remain
at Cockpit Readiness.3
Britain seemingly expected an imminent attack and her armed forces
were willing to defend her, but would the youth of 1939 rally as
enthusiastically as that of 1914? Churchill had been predicting war
for six long years. Now he would have to inspire the British people
and her armed forces to fight, as the road ahead would be both
long and arduous. The following day he addressed the House of
Commons. Churchill was the fourth speaker of the day, and the
House was growing restless, but he gave his audience a taste of the
electrifying oratory that was still to come. Churchill had realized
instinctively that the violation of a treaty alone was not enough to
inspire the British people, declaring:
This is not a question of fighting for Danzig or fighting for Poland. We
are fighting to save the whole world from the pestilence of Nazi tyranny
and in defence of all that is most sacred to man. This is no war of
domination or imperial aggrandisement or material gain; no war to shut
any country out of the sunlight and means of progress. It is a war, viewed
in its inherent quality, to establish, on impregnable rocks, the rights of
the individual, and it is a war to establish and revive the stature of man.4
Churchill was now once again a member of a Cabinet at War,
appointed First Lord of the Admiralty as he had been in 1914.
Despite the Dardanelles fiasco in 1915, in many ways he was a naval
Chamberlain waves to the crowds gathering outside 10 Downing Street on the day
war was declared. An experienced politician who had been a member of
Parliament since 1918, Chamberlain had sought to contain Hitler’s ambitions
through gradual and limited concessions, including the annexation of Sudetenland,
then part of Czechoslovakia, by Germany in 1938, through the Munich Agreement.
Six months later Hitler would defy the terms of the agreement by invading the
remainder of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain’s attempts to secure peace had failed.
Less than a year after Munich Britain was once again at war. (IWM HU 5538)
Introduction 11
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Fearful that the British population
would not rally to the nation’s
defence as willingly as they had
done in 1914, a series of posters
were designed throughout 1939,
with the intention of driving up
recruitment through a mixture of
patriotism, inspiration, cajolement
and fear. (IWM PST 13959, IWM
PST 14818)
man: he spoke the same language as his admirals, had spent years some isolated successes against the Kriegsmarine. What really
studying German naval developments and could easily recite from worried him was not in his remit, and that was the air force.
memory the specifications of British and enemy classes of ships. Nearly two thousand German aircraft had annihilated the Polish
He had condemned the Anglo-German Naval Agreement of 1935, Air Force as it lined up on its runways. Then fleets of Junkers 87
which had reined in Britain’s control of the seas, but he retained his Stukas, the dreaded dive-bombers of the Luftwaffe, had screamed
confidence in this, the senior service. Despite the batterings the down on the massing Polish armies and decimated them. The Poles
Royal Navy received from U-boats almost immediately there were actually had 250,000 more men under arms than the invaders. But
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