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The Splendid and the Vile
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ARCHIVE - BUDDY READ - THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE: A SAGA OF CHURCHILL, FAMILY, AND DEFIANCE DURING THE BLITZ - DISCUSSION THREAD (No Spoilers, please)
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A picture of a piece of sky with several clouds and many condensation trails caused by many aircraft. Each trail curves around the other indicated an air battle.
Adlertag ("Eagle Day") was the first day of Unternehmen Adlerangriff ("Operation Eagle Attack"), which was the codename of a military operation by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe (German air force) to destroy the British Royal Air Force (RAF).
By June 1940, the Allies had been defeated in Western Europe and Scandinavia. Rather than come to terms with Germany, Britain rejected all overtures for a negotiated peace.
During the Battle of Britain, Hitler gave the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) a directive (Directive No. 16) that ordered provisional preparations for invasion of Britain.
This operation was codenamed Operation Sea Lion (Unternehmen Seelöwe). Before this could be carried out, air superiority or air supremacy was required. The Luftwaffe was to destroy the RAF in order to prevent it from attacking the invasion fleet or providing protection for the Royal Navy's Home Fleet which might attempt to prevent a landing by sea.
On 1 August Hitler gave the Luftwaffe's commander-in-chief, Reichsmarschall (Empire Marshal) Hermann Göring and the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (High Command of the Air Force) a directive (Directive No. 17) to launch the air assault.
The essential target was RAF Fighter Command. The service's destruction would deny the British their air superiority asset. Throughout July and early August, the Germans made preparations for Adlertag. The date of the assault was postponed several times because of bad weather. Eventually, it was carried out on 13 August 1940.
The German attacks on 13 August inflicted significant damage and casualties on the ground, but, marred by poor intelligence and communication, they did not make a significant impression on Fighter Command's ability to defend British air space.
Göring had promised Hitler that Adlertag and Adlerangriff would achieve the results required within days, or at worst weeks.
It had meant to be the beginning of the end of RAF Fighter Command, but Adlertag and the following operations failed to destroy the RAF, or gain the necessary local air superiority.
As a result, Operation Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely.
Remainder of article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adlertag
Battle of Britain boundaries, bases and RADAR coverage
More:
(no image) Messerschmitt Bf 110: The Luftwaffe's Fighter-Destroyer in World War II by Ron Mackay (no photo)
(no image) Phoenix Triumphant: The Rise and Rise of the Luftwaffe by E.R. Hooton (no photo)
(no image) KG55 by Steven Hall (no photo)
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Patrick Bishop
by
Richard Collier
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Michael Korda
by Wolfgang Dierich (no photo)
by Henry L. de Zeng IV (no photo)
by Henry Zeng (no photo)
by Larry Donnelly (no photo)
by Uwe Feist (no photo)
by Chris Goss (no photo)
by Chris Goss (no photo)
by E.R. Hooton (no photo)
by T.C.G. James (no photo)
by Ron Mackay (no photo)
by Ron Mackay (no photo)
by Francis K. Mason (no photo)
by Williamson Murray (no photo)
by Brian Bond (no photo)
by Paul Addison (no photo)
by Stephen Bungay (no photo)Source: Wikipedia
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Richard Overy
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John Terraine
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by John Weal (no photo)
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Link: https://www.findmypast.com/blog/histo...
Source: Find My Past
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Summary: A gripping ninety minute special first broadcast on BBC1 and presented by Hollywood Superstar Ewan McGregor and his brother Colin to mark the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain – arguably the most important event in modern British history and the only aerial war in world history.
Colin is a twenty years served R.A.F veteran and war hero - Ewan a hero of the big screen and fledgling pilot himself. Together they take us on a journey to honour the heroes of 1940 both on the ground and in the air.
Link: https://youtu.be/bRPmFXcL7mU
Source: Youtube
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CHAPTER 28
“Oh, Moon, Lovely Moon”
"ONE OF THE MOST DISTINCTIVE aspects of Churchill’s approach to leadership was his ability to switch tracks in an instant and focus earnestly on things that any other prime minister would have found trivial.
Depending on one’s perspective, this was either an endearing trait or a bedevilment.
To Churchill, everything mattered.
On Friday, August 9, for example, amid a rising tide of urgent war matters, he found time to address a minute to the members of his War Cabinet on a subject dear to him: the length and writing style of the reports that arrived in his black box each day.
Source: Larson, Erik. The Splendid and the Vile (p. 154). Crown. Kindle Edition.
Discussion Topics and Questions:
1. Isn't it amazing how Churchill could go from the monumental to the mundane without missing a beat? Do you think that it was his attentiveness to details which is what "made the difference" for Britain. They say that "the devil is in the details". Sometimes failure can be caused by missing or not listening to the smallest detail resulting in "missed targets" and "failed strategies". What are your thoughts regarding Churchill's strengths, weaknesses, proclivities, quirks?
"To Churchill, everything mattered!"
2. Did anybody else wonder once again about the significance of Colville's tête-à-têtes with Mary or Gay or whomever?
3. What was the significance of this poem? (Shaking my head)
Oh, Moon, lovely Moon,
with thy beautiful face
Careering throughout
the boundaries of space
Whenever I see thee,
I think in my mind
Shall I ever, oh ever,
behold thy behind.
4. Why were Hitler and Goring so sure about Britain's early demise?
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CHAPTER 29
Eagle Day
"AT DAWN ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, two groups of German bombers totaling about sixty aircraft rose into the skies over Amiens, France, climbing in broad ascending circles to flight altitude, where they assembled in battle formations. This took half an hour.
Getting so many planes into position was difficult even on clear days, but this morning the challenge was compounded by an unexpected change in the weather.
A high-pressure zone over the Azores that had seemed poised to deliver fair weather in Europe had abruptly dissipated. Now heavy clouds covered the channel and the coasts of France and England, and fog clung to many German airfields.
Over England’s southeastern coast, the ceiling was as low as four thousand feet.
Source: Larson, Erik. The Splendid and the Vile (p. 161). Crown. Kindle Edition.
Discussion Topics and Questions:
1. Why didn't the Germans realize that this great weather day had turned suddenly and that it was prudent to abort the mission and regroup on the next good day? This is why you have to feel some compassion for the poor German fliers who were being sent to their demise by foolhardy leaders - all somebody's sons. Of course, arrogant and foolhardy decisions result in major miscalculations. What are your thoughts on Hitler's single-mindedness? Would he have changed his mind if his underlings had been able to speak truth to power?
2. Would Churchill have been so arrogant to not take into account all variables and important details?
3. What was Goring trying to prove by this conflict which eventually had to be called off due to weather? What does this say about Goring himself?
For this purpose, and for the sake of drama, he had amassed a force totaling twenty-three hundred aircraft, including 949 bombers, 336 dive-bombers, and 1,002 fighters. At last he would show Hitler, and the world, what his air force truly could do.
Source: Larson, Erik. The Splendid and the Vile (p. 161). Crown. Kindle Edition.
4. Eighty German bombers took off anyway not receiving any communication that the mission was aborted for the day. How could such an elite force not be in full and accurate control of their communications allowing such a mishap and yet their designated escorts received the communication leaving these eighty bombers exposed?
5. Once the mission began again, what were some of the deficiencies of the German bombers and planes that were noticed by both the German pilots and the English pilots who were protecting their homeland. How did the English take advantage of these deficiencies?
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Three German Junkers Ju 87D dive bombers, Stuka, over Yugoslavia, in October 1943. SG 3 (Fighter-Bomber Wing 3) operated in the Mediterranean region at that time.
The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from Sturzkampfflugzeug, "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft.
Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War and served the Axis forces in World War II.
The aircraft is easily recognisable by its inverted gull wings and fixed spatted undercarriage. Upon the leading edges of its faired main gear legs were mounted the Jericho-Trompete (Jericho trumpet) wailing sirens, becoming the propaganda symbol of German air power and the so-called Blitzkrieg victories of 1939–1942.
The Stuka's design included several innovations, including automatic pull-up dive brakes under both wings to ensure that the aircraft recovered from its attack dive even if the pilot blacked out from the high g-forces.
The Ju 87 operated with considerable success in close air support and anti-shipping at the outbreak of World War II. It led air assaults in the invasion of Poland in September 1939. Stukas were critical to the rapid conquest of Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and France in 1940. Sturdy, accurate, and very effective against ground targets, the Stuka was, like many other dive bombers of the period, vulnerable to fighter aircraft.
During the Battle of Britain, its lack of manoeuvrability, speed and defensive armament meant that it required a heavy fighter escort to operate effectively.
After the Battle of Britain, the Stuka was used in the Balkans Campaign, the African and Mediterranean theatres and the early stages of the Eastern Front, where it was used for general ground support, as an effective specialised anti-tank aircraft and in an anti-shipping role.
Once the Luftwaffe lost air superiority, the Stuka became an easy target for enemy fighter aircraft. It was produced until 1944 for lack of a better replacement. By 1945 ground-attack versions of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 had largely replaced the Ju 87, but it remained in service until the end of the war.
An estimated 6,500 Ju 87s of all versions were built between 1936 and August 1944.
Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the most successful Stuka pilot and the most highly decorated German serviceman of the Second World War.
Stuka - German Junkers Ju 87 “Stuka” dive-bomber - UPI/Bettmann Archiv
Remainder of article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers...
More:
https://www.britannica.com/technology...
https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0...
https://www.airforcemag.com/article/1...
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/...
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/202...
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/202...
Propaganda Film - Ju87 Stuka Dive Bombers in Action with Sound and Sirens WW2 Luftwaffe Footage
Link: https://youtu.be/5uvqhA4_2tU
Sources: Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica, The Air Force Magazine, University of Chicago, Warfare History Network, Military Aviation History, Youtube
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Bentley wrote: "What were your thoughts about the focus of Hitler's strategy?This was the aftermath when a Heinkel 111 of 3./KGr126 was hit and disabled by the Harwich anti- aircraft battery before crashing ou..."
I can imagine that Hitler wanted the Brits to be “on his side” after defeat and he wanted his triumphal entry into London likely similar to the one in Paris - Short of the aircraft manufacturing he likely wanted as much as possible of the British industrial infrastructure intact after the imagined German take over.
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Chamberlain's appeasement was probably still front and center in Hitler's mind and part of his thinking I imagine. If they did it once, they would do it again. He really misjudged Churchill as well as the English people - don't you think?
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So agree. People of their time had certain data and information in front of them - they did the best they could and they were folks who were not shunned but revered in their times by their fellow men and women in their communities. I know - what would we have done without a Jefferson, Washington, Sanger, Churchill for that matter (flawed as they were and like all of us are).
Never could understand the waving of the confederate flag in 2020 - the South lost the war - why celebrate the losing generals - never could figure that one out. And I can understand the process of eliminating such practices and Nascar did for example. And it should have been done long ago.
But destruction and vandalization and looting should be apprehended for what it is. Tough times and a tough year.
Bentley wrote: "Such was the volume of aircraft being shot down in the East Kent area that a temporary 'holding' depot was established at Elham in Kent where assorted wreckages of locally-crashed aircraft were as..."
So the Aluminmum industry in WW2 is very interesting. The need to produce vast quantities of aluminum for aircraft led to massive subsidies to manufactures - in fact making what were government owned plants in the US.
The reason that aluminum was and is so much salvaged - recycled in today’s words, is that most used aluminum alloys are very very high in aluminum Content - often 99% - and aluminum is very expensive to produce from bauxite and a lot of electricity is saved if you work from scrap. - it has to be rewarded to recycle - i.e. deposit cans - in part because unlike steel it cannot be sorted with a big magnet which is what is done fpr example after shredding cars.
Anyway as I was told by friends who worked for Reynolds Aluminum in my working days - so much of the US nationally owned industry during the war was controlled by Alcoa that when the government sold off plants to create a more competitive industry Reynolds got a lot of the stud and their logo (look for it on aluminum foil) of St. George laying the dragon is - again I am told - Reynolds slaying Alcoa.
In any case as a side note there was a lot of aluminum capacity after the war with no naturally developed peacetime application and the industry went thru a long time trying to make everything metal - including screws, nuts, etc and although those markets continue much of them is gone.
A big attempt at a big big market, for those of us who remember the 70s was for automotive trim - replacing chromed steel - and many of us Remer the pitting that occurred in the trim after a coupe of years and that was abandoned. For those who care to know most “shiny chrome auto trim” these days is stainless steel.
Part of aluminums attraction as a corrosion resisting metal (which stainless is also “corrosion resisting” - not actually “stainless”) is that it is 1/3 the weight by volume of stainless and therefore one gets three times as many quart feet per pound Than steel or stainless - why it continues to be so attractive For aircraft and is now being used for some automotive parts (i.e. hoods of vehicles) where weight reduction yields better mileage. It is still less strong per pound than treated steel so it cannot be used everywhere and it is notable more expensive.
Anyway just some commentary on the aluminum recycling
Bentley wrote: "And so we begin:CHAPTER 28
“Oh, Moon, Lovely Moon”
"ONE OF THE MOST DISTINCTIVE aspects of Churchill’s approach to leadership was his ability to switch tracks in an instant and focus earnestly..."
Just to comment on question one - I think that Churchill could focus on the one subject (not in my opinion the overrated ability of "multi-tasking" today) - so at that moment that was his only thought - but maybe he could really effectively multi-task?
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Bentley wrote: "And so we begin:CHAPTER 29
Eagle Day
"AT DAWN ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, two groups of German bombers totaling about sixty aircraft rose into the skies over Amiens, France, climbing in broad ascen..."
just to comment on question one - maybe his underlings were telling "their truth" to power - I think that Goring believed he could defeat the RAF - as pointed out the Luftwaffe had succeeded and succeeded etc. before the Battle of Britain
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Such was the volume of aircraft being shot down in the East Kent area that a temporary 'holding' depot was established at Elham in Kent where assorted wreckages of locally-crashed ..."
Very interesting about the aluminum industry - facts not well known and very helpful. I will look for the logo on aluminum foil!
Bentley wrote: "Vincent wrote: "Bentley wrote: "You know one thing that is interesting about today's moral climate - for example - Winston Churchill did so much for Britain (although he was human with flaws); but ..."On the Confederate ballet flag - I just recently realized how hurtful that could be to African Americans - so forgetting the lost war mentioned by Bentley think of the impact on African Americans seeing that flag in so many places - on bumpers - at rallies etc - at sporting events etc. Just think if you know Jewish people if they could have to walk past a swastica on a flag or a bumper sticker etc on their way to work, or synagog etc? Totally uncool and it took me seven decades to face and realize it. - although I had previously objected to the Confederate flag (and ignored)
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Yes, Vincent all accurate and completely understandable points.
Ah Bentley - with the short chapters in this book I am pretty sure when you comment reading your comments takes more time than reading the book - and if I get to watch or look at some of your included references I will be approaching several times the reading minutes for reflection.
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CHAPTER 30
Perplexity
ONCE AGAIN, ENGLAND’S CHAIN HOME radar network detected the approach of German aircraft, but this time the number of bombers and fighters exceeded anything the radar operators had seen before.
At about three-thirty P.M., they identified three formations of German aircraft with some thirty bombers, each crossing the channel from bases in Normandy.
Then came two more formations, totaling roughly sixty aircraft. RAF sector commanders ordered their fighter squadrons into the air. At about four P.M., more than one hundred RAF fighters were airborne and racing toward the attackers, guided by ground controllers using location information provided by the radar stations and by ground observers, who began reporting the types of approaching aircraft and their altitude, speed, and location.
A massive formation of German fighters flew well ahead of the approaching bombers. Both forces met in a tumult of roaring engines and chattering machine guns, maneuvering wildly through a scree of heavy-caliber bullets and cannon fire.
The bombers continued forward. Bombs fell on Southampton and a range of other locales, in Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Canterbury, and Castle Bromwich.
Source: Larson, Erik. The Splendid and the Vile (p. 165). Crown. Kindle Edition.
Discussion Topics and Questions:
1. Did anyone else wonder how the bombing by the Germans was so erratic and how London was spared? Was this the result of Lindemann, Dr. Jones and Bletchley Park?
2. How did FDR propose getting the fifty aging destroyers to England? Was using his executive powers to authorize the ships-for-bases deal without seeking congressional approval palatable to Churchill? Why or why not? What could potentially have been the fallout for FDR? And what were the legal ramifications?
3. How did the Germans fare on the the second day of the offensive? Was Goring feeling successful?
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That is OK - take your time (lol) - I have added a lot of interesting ancillary material too. And you are right - it takes ten times what it takes to read the book but it is all useful and helpful information to make the book and the topical areas come alive for everyone.
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Week Eleven - August 3rd - August 9th
Chapter 30: Perplexity
Chapter 31: Göring
Chapter 32: The Bomber in the Pasture
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CHAPTER 31
Göring
"THE WEATHER CONTINUED TO DISRUPT Göring’s grand plan for the annihilation of the RAF, grounding most of his aircraft.
On Thursday, August 15, the day his bombers and fighters should have nearly completed the campaign, he used the lull to summon his top officers to his country estate, Carinhall, and reproach them for their lackluster performance thus far.
Late that morning, however, as his inquisition progressed, the weather suddenly improved, yielding clear skies, prompting his field commanders to launch a colossal attack involving more than twenty-one hundred aircraft.
Forever after, within the Luftwaffe, the day would be known as “Black Thursday.”
Source: Larson, Erik. The Splendid and the Vile (p. 169). Crown. Kindle Edition.
Discussion Topics and Questions:
1. What was the significance of "Black Thursday"? What impacted the performance of the Germans and how had their strategy misread the English RAF forces?
2. Did the reading of the diary of the young German pilot arouse sympathy and sadness for such a young life snuffed out by war? Young men on both sides of the Black Thursday offensive suffered immeasurably and it was sad that they died in a war that was not created by any of them nor did they share any culpability for the hand that they had been dealt.
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CHAPTER 32
The Bomber in the Pasture
THROUGHOUT THURSDAY, JOHN COLVILLE FOUND himself once again called upon to deliver the latest count of downed aircraft. The tally of successes seemed incredible.
The RAF claimed its fighters shot down 182 German aircraft for certain, and possibly another 53. Churchill, caught up in the excitement, commandeered Pug Ismay for a visit to the RAF operations room at Uxbridge, which directed fighters attached to No. 11 Group, charged with defending London and southeast England.
In the car afterward, he admonished Pug, “Don’t speak to me; I have never been so moved.”
After a few minutes, Churchill broke the silence, saying, “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.”
Source: Larson, Erik. The Splendid and the Vile (p. 171). Crown. Kindle Edition.
Discussion Topics and Questions:
1. What images does Churchill's iconic line evoke: "Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.”?
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August 20, 1940
House of Commons
On August 15, the crisis of the battle of Britain was reached. All the resources of Fighter Command in the South were used. The most difficult and dangerous period of the Battle of Britain was between August 24 and September 6, when the German attack was directed against the R.A.F airfields in the South of England with considerable success. In this speech Churchill coined the phrase “The Few” to describe the R.A.F fighter-pilots. The phrase stuck. The final sentence of this speech, including the use of the word “benignant,” is a good example of Churchill’s choice of unexpected and assertive adjectives to make a phrase memorable.
Almost a year has passed since the war began, and it is natural for us, I think, to pause on our journey at this milestone and survey the dark, wide field. It is also useful to compare the first year of this second war against German aggression with its forerunner a quarter of a century ago. Although this war is in fact only a continuation of the last, very great differences in its character are apparent. In the last war millions of men fought by hurling enormous masses of steel at one another. “Men and shells” was the cry, and prodigious slaughter was the consequence.
In this war nothing of this kind has yet appeared. It is a conflict of strategy, of organisation, of technical apparatus, of science, mechanics, and morale. The British casualties in the first 12 months of the Great War amounted to 365,000. In this war, I am thankful to say, British killed, wounded, prisoners, and missing, including civilians, do not exceed 92,000, and of these a large proportion are alive as prisoners of war. Looking more widely around, one may say that throughout all Europe for one man killed or wounded in the first year perhaps five were killed or wounded in 1914-15.
The slaughter is only a small fraction, but the consequences to the belligerents have been even more deadly. We have seen great countries with powerful armies dashed out of coherent existence in a few weeks. We have seen the French Republic and the renowned French Army beaten into complete and total submission with less than the casualties which they suffered in any one of half a dozen of the battles of 1914-18.
The entire body – it might almost seem at times the soul – of France has succumbed to physical effects incomparably less terrible than those which were sustained with fortitude and undaunted will power 25 years ago. Although up to the present the loss of life has been mercifully diminished, the decisions reached in the course of the struggle are even more profound upon the fate of nations than anything that has ever happened since barbaric times. Moves are made upon the scientific and strategic boards, advantages are gained by mechanical means, as a result of which scores of millions of men become incapable of further resistance, or judge themselves incapable of further resistance, and a fearful game of chess proceeds from check to mate by which the unhappy players seem to be inexorably bound.
There is another more obvious difference from 1914. The whole of the warring nations are engaged, not only soldiers, but the entire population, men, women, and children. The fronts are everywhere. The trenches are dug in the towns and streets. Every village is fortified. Every road is barred. The front line runs through the factories. The workmen are soldiers with different weapons but the same courage. These are great and distinctive changes from what many of us saw in the struggle of a quarter of a century ago.
There seems to be every reason to believe that this new kind of war is well suited to the genius and the resources of the British nation and the British Empire and that, once we get properly equipped and properly started, a war of this kind will be more favourable to us than the sombre mass slaughters of the Somme and Passchendaele. If it is a case of the whole nation fighting and suffering together, that ought to suit us, because we are the most united of all the nations, because we entered the war upon the national will and with our eyes open, and because we have been nurtured in freedom and individual responsibility and are the products, not of totalitarian uniformity but of tolerance and variety.
If all these qualities are turned, as they are being turned, to the arts of war, we may be able to show the enemy quite a lot of things that they have not thought of yet. Since the Germans drove the Jews out and lowered their technical standards, our science is definitely ahead of theirs. Our geographical position, the command of the sea, and the friendship of the United States enable us to draw resources from the whole world and to manufacture weapons of war of every kind, but especially of the superfine kinds, on a scale hitherto practised only by Nazi Germany.
Hitler is now sprawled over Europe. Our offensive springs are being slowly compressed, and we must resolutely and methodically prepare ourselves for the campaigns of 1941 and 1942. Two or three years are not a long time, even in our short, precarious lives. They are nothing in the history of the nation, and when we are doing the finest thing in the world, and have the honour to be the sole champion of the liberties of all Europe, we must not grudge these years of weary as we toil and struggle through them. It does not follow that our energies in future years will be exclusively confined to defending ourselves and our possessions. Many opportunities may lie open to amphibious power, and we must be ready to take advantage of them.
One of the ways to bring this war to a speedy end is to convince the enemy, not by words, but by deeds, that we have both the will and the means, not only to go on indefinitely but to strike heavy and unexpected blows. The road to victory may not be so long as we expect. But we have no right to count upon this. Be it long or short, rough or smooth, we mean to reach our journey’s end.
It is our intention to maintain and enforce a strict blockade not only of Germany but of Italy, France, and all the other countries that have fallen into the German power. I read in the papers that Herr Hitler has also proclaimed a strict blockade of the British Islands. No one can complain of that. I remember the Kaiser doing it in the last war. What indeed would be a matter of general complaint would be if we were to prolong the agony of all Europe by allowing food to come in to nourish the Nazis and aid their war effort, or to allow food to go in to the subjugated peoples, which certainly would be pillaged off them by their Nazi conquerors.
There have been many proposals, founded on the highest motives, that food should be allowed to pass the blockade for the relief of these populations. I regret that we must refuse these requests. The Nazis declare that they have created a new unified economy in Europe. They have repeatedly stated that they possess ample reserves of food and that they can feed their captive peoples.
In a German broadcast of 27th June it was said that while Mr. Hoover’s plan for relieving France, Belgium, and Holland deserved commendation, the German forces had already taken the necessary steps. We know that in Norway when the German troops went in, there were food supplies to last for a year. We know that Poland, though not a rich country, usually produces sufficient food for her people. Moreover, the other countries which Herr Hitler has invaded all held considerable stocks when the Germans entered and are themselves, in many cases, very substantial food producers. If all this food is not available now, it can only be because it has been removed to feed the people of Germany and to give them increased rations – for a change – during the last few months.
At this season of the year and for some months to come, there is the least chance of scarcity as the harvest has just been gathered in. The only agencies which can create famine in any part of Europe now and during the coming winter, will be German exactions or German failure to distribute the supplies which they command.
There is another aspect. Many of the most valuable foods are essential to the manufacture of vital war material. Fats are used to make explosives. Potatoes make the alcohol for motor spirit. The plastic materials now so largely used in the construction of aircraft are made of milk. If the Germans use these commodities to help them to bomb our women and children, rather than to feed the populations who produce them, we may be sure that imported foods would go the same way, directly or indirectly, or be employed to relieve the enemy of the responsibilities he has so wantonly assumed.
Let Hitler bear his responsibilities to the full and let the peoples of Europe who groan beneath his yoke aid in every way the coming of the day when that yoke will be broken. Meanwhile, we can and we will arrange in advance for the speedy entry of food into any part of the enslaved area, when this part has been wholly cleared of German forces, and has genuinely regained its freedom. We shall do our best to encourage the building up of reserves of food all over the world, so that there will always be held up before the eyes of the peoples of Europe, including – I say deliberately – the German and Austrian peoples, the certainty that the shattering of the Nazi power will bring to them all immediate food, freedom and peace.
Rather more than a quarter of a year has passed since the new Government came into power in this country. What a cataract of disaster has poured out upon us since then. The trustful Dutch overwhelmed; their beloved and respected Sovereign driven into exile; the peaceful city of Rotterdam the scene of a massacre as hideous and brutal as anything in the Thirty Years’ War. Belgium invaded and beaten down; our own fine Expeditionary Force, which King Leopold called to his rescue, cut off and almost captured, escaping as it seemed only by a miracle and with the loss of all its equipment; our Ally, France, out; Italy in against us; all France in the power of the enemy, all its arsenals and vast masses of military material converted or convertible to the enemy’s use; a puppet Government set up at Vichy which may at any moment be forced to become our foe; the whole Western seaboard of Europe from the North Cape to the Spanish frontier in German hands; all the ports, all the air-fields on this immense front, employed against us as potential springboards of invasion. Moreover, the German air power, numerically so far outstripping ours, has been brought so close to our Island that what we used to dread greatly has come to pass and the hostile bombers not only reach our shores in a few minutes and from many directions, but can be escorted by their fighting aircraft.
Why, Sir, if we had been confronted at the beginning of May with such a prospect, it would have seemed incredible that at the end of a period of horror and disaster, or at this point in a period of horror and disaster, we should stand erect, sure of ourselves, masters of our fate and with the conviction of final victory burning unquenchable in our hearts. Few would have believed we could survive; none would have believed that we should to-day not only feel stronger but should actually be stronger than we have ever been before.
Continued:
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Let us see what has happened on the other side of the scales. The British nation and the British Empire finding themselves alone, stood undismayed against disaster. No one flinched or wavered; nay, some who formerly thought of peace, now think only of war. Our people are united and resolved, as they have never been before. Death and ruin have become small things compared with the shame of defeat or failure in duty.
We cannot tell what lies ahead. It may be that even greater ordeals lie before us. We shall face whatever is coming to us. We are sure of ourselves and of our cause and that is the supreme fact which has emerged in these months of trial.
Meanwhile, we have not only fortified our hearts but our Island. We have rearmed and rebuilt our armies in a degree which would have been deemed impossible a few months ago. We have ferried across the Atlantic, in the month of July, thanks to our friends over there, an immense mass of munitions of all kinds, cannon, rifles, machine-guns, cartridges, and shell, all safely landed without the loss of a gun or a round. The output of our own factories, working as they have never worked before, has poured forth to the troops. The whole British Army is at home. More than 2,000,000 determined men have rifles and bayonets in their hands to-night and three-quarters of them are in regular military formations. We have never had armies like this in our Island in time of war. The whole Island bristles against invaders, from the sea or from the air.
As I explained to the House in the middle of June, the stronger our Army at home, the larger must the invading expedition be, and the larger the invading expedition, the less difficult will be the task of the Navy in detecting its assembly and in intercepting and destroying it on passage; and the greater also would be the difficulty of feeding and supplying the invaders if ever they landed, in the teeth of continuous naval and air attack on their communications. All this is classical and venerable doctrine. As in Nelson’s day, the maxim holds, “Our first line of defence is the enemy’s ports.” Now air reconnaissance and photography have brought to an old principle a new and potent aid.
Our Navy is far stronger than it was at the beginning of the war. The great flow of new construction set on foot at the outbreak is now beginning to come in. We hope our friends across the ocean will send us a timely reinforcement to bridge the gap between the peace flotillas of 1939 and the war flotillas of 1941. There is no difficulty in sending such aid. The seas and oceans are open. The U-boats are contained. The magnetic mine is, up to the present time, effectively mastered. The merchant tonnage under the British flag, after a year of unlimited U-boat war, after eight months of intensive mining attack, is larger than when we began. We have, in addition, under our control at least 4,000,000 tons of shipping from the captive countries which has taken refuge here or in the harbours of the Empire. Our stocks of food of all kinds are far more abundant than in the days of peace and a large and growing programme of food production is on foot.
Why do I say all this? Not assuredly to boast; not assuredly to give the slightest countenance to complacency. The dangers we face are still enormous, but so are our advantages and resources.
I recount them because the people have a right to know that there are solid grounds for the confidence which we feel, and that we have good reason to believe ourselves capable, as I said in a very dark hour two months ago, of continuing the war “if necessary alone, if necessary for years.” I say it also because the fact that the British Empire stands invincible, and that Nazidom is still being resisted, will kindle again the spark of hope in the breasts of hundreds of millions of downtrodden or despairing men and women throughout Europe, and far beyond its bounds, and that from these sparks there will presently come cleansing and devouring flame.
The great air battle which has been in progress over this Island for the last few weeks has recently attained a high intensity. It is too soon to attempt to assign limits either to its scale or to its duration. We must certainly expect that greater efforts will be made by the enemy than any he has so far put forth. Hostile air fields are still being developed in France and the Low Countries, and the movement of squadrons and material for attacking us is still proceeding.
It is quite plain that Herr Hitler could not admit defeat in his air attack on Great Britain without sustaining most serious injury. If, after all his boastings and blood-curdling threats and lurid accounts trumpeted round the world of the damage he has inflicted, of the vast numbers of our Air Force he has shot down, so he says, with so little loss to himself; if after tales of the panic-stricken British crushed in their holes cursing the plutocratic Parliament which has led them to such a plight; if after all this his whole air onslaught were forced after a while tamely to peter out, the Fuehrer’s reputation for veracity of statement might be seriously impugned. We may be sure, therefore, that he will continue as long as he has the strength to do so, and as long as any preoccupations he may have in respect of the Russian Air Force allow him to do so.
On the other hand, the conditions and course of the fighting have so far been favourable to us. I told the House two months ago that whereas in France our fighter aircraft were wont to inflict a loss of two or three to one upon the Germans, and in the fighting at Dunkirk, which was a kind of no-man’s-land, a loss of about three or four to one, we expected that in an attack on this Island we should achieve a larger ratio. This has certainly come true. It must also be remembered that all the enemy machines and pilots which are shot down over our Island, or over the seas which surround it, are either destroyed or captured; whereas a considerable proportion of our machines, and also of our pilots, are saved, and soon again in many cases come into action.
A vast and admirable system of salvage, directed by the Ministry of Aircraft Production, ensures the speediest return to the fighting line of damaged machines, and the most provident and speedy use of all the spare parts and material. At the same time the splendid, nay, astounding increase in the output and repair of British aircraft and engines which Lord Beaverbrook has achieved by a genius of organisation and drive, which looks like magic, has given us overflowing reserves of every type of aircraft, and an ever-mounting stream of production both in quantity and quality.
The enemy is, of course, far more numerous than we are. But our new production already, as I am advised, largely exceeds his, and the American production is only just beginning to flow in. It is a fact, as I see from my daily returns, that our bomber and fighter strength now, after all this fighting, are larger than they have ever been. We believe that we shall be able to continue the air struggle indefinitely and as long as the enemy pleases, and the longer it continues the more rapid will be our approach, first towards that parity, and then into that superiority in the air, upon which in a large measure the decision of the war depends.
The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day; but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest navigational skill, aim their attacks, often under the heaviest fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate careful discrimination, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power. On no part of the Royal Air Force does the weight of the war fall more heavily than on the daylight bombers who will play an invaluable part in the case of invasion and whose unflinching zeal it has been necessary in the meanwhile on numerous occasions to restrain.
We are able to verify the results of bombing military targets in Germany, not only by reports which reach us through many sources, but also, of course, by photography. I have no hesitation in saying that this process of bombing the military industries and communications of Germany and the air bases and storage depots from which we are attacked, which process will continue upon an ever-increasing scale until the end of the war, and may in another year attain dimensions hitherto undreamed of, affords one at least of the most certain, if not the shortest of all the roads to victory. Even if the Nazi legions stood triumphant on the Black Sea, or indeed upon the Caspian, even if Hitler was at the gates of India, it would profit him nothing if at the same time the entire economic and scientific apparatus of German war power lay shattered and pulverised at home.
The fact that the invasion of this Island upon a large scale has become a far more difficult operation with every week that has passed since we saved our Army at Dunkirk, and our very great preponderance of sea-power enable us to turn our eyes and to turn our strength increasingly towards the Mediterranean and against that other enemy who, without the slightest provocation, coldly and deliberately, for greed and gain, stabbed France in the back in the moment of her agony, and is now marching against us in Africa.
The defection of France has, of course, been deeply damaging to our position in what is called, somewhat oddly, the Middle East. In the defence of Somaliland, for instance, we had counted upon strong French forces attacking the Italians from Jibuti. We had counted also upon the use of the French naval and air bases in the Mediterranean, and particularly upon the North African shore. We had counted upon the French Fleet. Even though metropolitan France was temporarily overrun, there was no reason why the French Navy, substantial parts of the French Army, the French Air Force and the French Empire overseas should not have continued the struggle at our side.
Shielded by overwhelming sea-power, possessed of invaluable strategic bases and of ample funds, France might have remained one of the great combatants in the struggle. By so doing, France would have preserved the continuity of her life, and the French Empire might have advanced with the British Empire to the rescue of the independence and integrity of the French Motherland.
In our own case, if we had been put in the terrible position of France, a contingency now happily impossible, although, of course, it would have been the duty of all war leaders to fight on here to the end, it would also have been their duty, as I indicated in my speech of 4th June, to provide as far as possible for the Naval security of Canada and our Dominions and to make sure they had the means to carry the struggle from beyond the oceans. Most of the other countries that have been overrun by Germany for the time being have preserved valiantly and faithfully. The Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Dutch, the Belgians are still in the field, sword in hand, recognised by Great Britain and the United States as the sole representative authorities and lawful Governments of their respective States.
Continued:
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That France alone should lie prostrate at this moment, is the crime, not of a great and noble nation, but of what are called “the men of Vichy.” We have profound sympathy with the French people. Our old comradeship with France is not dead. In General de Gaulle and his gallant band, that comradeship takes an effective form. These free Frenchmen have been condemned to death by Vichy, but the day will come, as surely as the sun will rise to-morrow, when their names will be held in honour, and their names will be graven in stone in the streets and villages of a France restored in a liberated Europe to its full freedom and its ancient fame.
But this conviction which I feel of the future cannot affect the immediate problems which confront us in the Mediterranean and in Africa. It had been decided some time before the beginning of the war not to defend the Protectorate of Somaliland. That policy was changed when the French gave in, and when our small forces there, a few battalions, a few guns, were attacked by all the Italian troops, nearly two divisions, which had formerly faced the French at Jibuti, it was right to withdraw our detachments, virtually intact, for action elsewhere. Far larger operations no doubt impend in the Middle East theatre, and I shall certainly not attempt to discuss or prophesy about their probable course. We have large armies and many means of reinforcing them. We have the complete sea command of the Eastern Mediterranean. We intend to do our best to give a good account of ourselves, and to discharge faithfully and resolutely all our obligations and duties in that quarter of the world. More than that I do not think the House would wish me to say at the present time.
A good many people have written to me to ask me to make on this occasion a fuller statement of our war aims, and of the kind of peace we wish to make after the war, than is contained in the very considerable declaration which was made early in the Autumn. Since then we have made common cause with Norway, Holland, and Belgium. We have recognised the Czech Government of Dr. Benes, and we have told General de Gaulle that our success will carry with it the restoration of France.
I do not think it would be wise at this moment, while the battle rages and the war is still perhaps only in its earlier stage, to embark upon elaborate speculations about the future shape which should be given to Europe or the new securities which must be arranged to spare mankind the miseries of a third World War. The ground is not new, it has been frequently traversed and explored, and many ideas are held about it in common by all good men, and all free men. But before we can undertake the task of rebuilding we have not only to be convinced ourselves, but we have to convince all other countries that the Nazi tyranny is going to be finally broken.
The right to guide the course of world history is the noblest prize of victory. We are still toiling up the hill; we have not yet reached the crest-line of it; we cannot survey the landscape or even imagine what its condition will be when that longed-for morning comes. The task which lies before us immediately is at once more practical, more simple and more stern. I hope – indeed I pray – that we shall not be found unworthy of our victory if after toil and tribulation it is granted to us. For the rest, we have to gain the victory. That is our task.
There is, however, one direction in which we can see a little more clearly ahead. We have to think not only for ourselves but for the lasting security of the cause and principles for which we are fighting and of the long future of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
Some months ago we came to the conclusion that the interests of the United States and of the British Empire both required that the United States should have facilities for the naval and air defence of the Western hemisphere against the attack of a Nazi power which might have acquired temporary but lengthy control of a large part of Western Europe and its formidable resources.
We had therefore decided spontaneously, and without being asked or offered any inducement, to inform the Government of the United States that we would be glad to place such defence facilities at their disposal by leasing suitable sites in our Transatlantic possessions for their greater security against the unmeasured dangers of the future.
The principle of association of interests for common purposes between Great Britain and the United States had developed even before the war. Various agreements had been reached about certain small islands in the Pacific Ocean which had become important as air fuelling points. In all this line of thought we found ourselves in very close harmony with the Government of Canada.
Presently we learned that anxiety was also felt in the United States about the air and naval defence of their Atlantic seaboard, and President Roosevelt has recently made it clear that he would like to discuss with us, and with the Dominion of Canada and with Newfoundland, the development of American naval and air facilities in Newfoundland and in the West Indies. There is, of course, no question of any transference of sovereignty – that has never been suggested – or of any action being taken, without the consent or against the wishes of the various Colonies concerned, but for our part, His Majesty’s Government are entirely willing to accord defence facilities to the United States on a 99 years’ leasehold basis, and we feel sure that our interests no less than theirs, and the interests of the Colonies themselves and of Canada and Newfoundland will be served thereby.
These are important steps. Undoubtedly this process means that these two great organisations of the English-speaking democracies, the British Empire and the United States, will have to be somewhat mixed up together in some of their affairs for mutual and general advantage.
For my own part, looking out upon the future, I do not view the process with any misgivings. I could not stop it if I wished; no one can stop it. Like the Mississippi, it just keeps rolling along. Let it roll. Let it roll on full flood, inexorable, irresistible, benignant, to broader lands and better days.
© Chartwell Trust, published by permission Curtis Brown, London
Source for the speech: International Churchill Society
More:
Excerpt from The Few Speech:
https://winstonchurchill.org/resource...
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Biggin Hill Fighter Base played a decisive part in the Battle of Britain. Biggin Hill gained the nickname “The Strongest Link”, which was later incorporated into the fighter station’s crest.
Biggin Hill was a sector or controlling station in No 11 Group, Fighter Command.
It commanded ‘Sector C’, which meant that by the very geography of its setting, Biggin Hill had to play a decisive part in the Battle of Britain.
Biggin Hill had been fully completed as an air base in 1930. Great importance had been attached to the base’s development after it became clear that the site was perfectly placed for the defence of London. As was approached, the base was expanded. In 1938, Biggin Hill received its first Hurricane fighters. At this time the base still had a grass runway and a decision was taken to construct a tarmac one.
When war was declared on September 3rd 1939, Wing Commander R Grice commanded Biggin Hill. The resident squadrons were No 32 and No 79. Just as the war started, these 2 squadrons were joined by No 601 (County of London) Auxiliary Squadron that flew Bristol Blenheims – the first twin-engine planes to fly from Biggin Hill. The 90th AA Regiment protected the base while 74 men from the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment protected Biggin Hill from an attack by paratroopers.
Little initially happened as the ‘Phoney War’ kicked in but both 32 and 79 squadrons were able to get in plenty of practice, each one ‘attacking’ the other as one or the other played at being the Luftwaffe. Hurricanes from Biggin Hill went into combat for the first time on November 21st 1939 when two of the fighters intercepted and shot down a Dornier 17 just off of the Kent coast.
Early 1940 saw the dispersal of all three squadrons based at Biggin Hill. The Blenheims went to Tangmere, 79 Squadron to Manston and 32 Squadron to Gravesend. This allowed the opportunity for major building works at the base. Deep air raid shelters were built along with a concrete runway. When these were finished 32 and 79 Squadrons returned.
Remainder of article:
https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...
More:
Battle Of Britain Bunker STEADICAM FULL EXPLORE 4k
Link to Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAHkS...
Summary of video: This is probably the most complete explore of the Battle of Britain Bunker on youtube where we take you on an uncut walkthrough of the entire site and emergency exitways and even a drone flythrough of the site. As the location of No. 11 Group RAF's Operations Room, The Battle of Britain Bunker was one of the key parts of the world's first integrated air defence system. Often known as the "Dowding system" (after Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, Commander-in-Chief Fighter Command at the time of installation), the system linked Fighter Command with Anti-Aircraft Command, Barrage Balloon Command, the Observer Corps, Chain Home Radio Direction Finding (radar), and the intelligence services. Under the system, these organisations worked together for the first time in order to achieve one goal: the successful defence of the UK's airspace.
No.11 Group was an important part of the system for several reasons: Firstly, as one of four group headquarters, No.11 Group's Operations Controller was responsible for making key decisions that would affect the outcomes of aerial battles - how many fighter aircraft to scramble, which type of aircraft, which squadrons to use, when to scramble them, where to scramble them from, where to scramble them to, etc. Secondly and also due to its role as a group headquarters, No.11 Group was responsible for organising and coordinating the activities of seven sector stations at which its fighter squadrons were based - RAFs Kenley, North Weald, Debden, Biggin Hill, Tangmere, Hornchurch and Northolt. And thirdly, the Bunker and its Operations Room were the prototypes by which the other five group headquarters (No. 9 Group at RAF Barton Hall, No. 10 Group at RAF Box, No. 12 Group at RAF Watnall, No. 13 Group at RAF Newcastle and No.14 Group at Raigmore) were planned and constructed.
The Operations Room displayed various pieces of information in different ways, which the controller would then use in order to make his important decisions. The location of both enemy and friendly aircraft formations was displayed using numbered blocks on a map table. The current activities of No.11 Group's squadrons e.g. "At Standby", "Enemy Sighted", "Ordered to Land", etc. were displayed on a "tote" board using a series of lights. Current weather conditions at No.11 Group's sector stations were indicated with a system of coloured discs. And the passage of time was tracked using a coordinated system of clock and coloured indicators. All information was received from either Fighter Command headquarters or the sector stations via telephone
Sources: History Learning Site in the UK, Youtube
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The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a common sight around UK airshows, and quite often taken for granted. This is a sad fact, as it's future cannot be guaranteed, but is a very important memorial to the airmen who died in the Second World War. Here is a celebration of the flight and it's aircraft.
The flight is made up of the Avro Lancaster, which is head of the fleet. This is backed up by two Mark 19 Griffon engined Spitfires, and three Spitfires of various marques. Two Hurricanes make up the fighter fleet, whilst a "new" Spitfire has recently been made up as a special project.
In addition the flight have a DC3 Dakota transport aircraft, which often substitiutes for the Lancaster, and a Chipmunk for training pilots to fly the Spitfires and Hurricanes.
The pilots often are Typhoon fighter pilots - giving up their time at weekends, while the Lancaster and Dakota pilots often come from the AWACS fleet.
This video is in 4 parts - the first is a look at the flight setting off for a display somewhere in the UK. Then we move to a full display by the Lancaster, Spitfire and Hurricane.
Part 3 is a special 50th Anniversary tailchase routine by a Hurricane, and 3 Griffon Spitfire Mk.19's, one of which is no longer part of the flight (sold to Rolls Royce) but was leased back for 2007 to take part in this routine, as it was one of the founding aircraft of the fleet in 1957.
The final part of this video is the return of the Lancaster from a winter overhaul, and we see the RAF Coningsby staff get their first look at the now familiar "Phantom of the Ruhr" markings
Link to youtube video:
https://youtu.be/Jq7yk8RnaK4
Source: Youtube
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RAF Tangmere was a Royal Air Force station located in Tangmere, England, famous for its role in the Battle of Britain. The famous Second World War aces Wing Commander Douglas Bader, and the then inexperienced Johnnie Johnson were stationed at Tangmere in 1941.
Remainder of article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Tan...
More:
http://www.tangmerepilots.co.uk/histo...
Billys Britain: Tangmere Military Aviation Museum
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHsYt...
Source: Wikipedia, Youtube
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RAF Thorney Island is a former Royal Air Force station located 6.6 miles (10.6 km) west of Chichester, West Sussex, England and 7.1 miles (11.4 km) east of Portsmouth, Hampshire.
Remainder of article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Tho...
More:
https://web.archive.org/web/201202040...
https://web.archive.org/web/201202171...
http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units...
by Anthony Robinson (no photo)
by Steve Willis (no photo)Sources: Wikipedia, Web Archive, History of War
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Note:
All chapters have been completed and added to in previous posts by moderator.
Week Eleven - August 3rd - August 9th
Chapter 30: Perplexity
England's Chain Home radar network detects in coming aircraft. The start of the major German offensive which was to be called the Battle of Britain was underway. It was Tuesday, August 13th, 1940. “The question everyone was asking today was, what is the motive of these gigantic daylight raids, which cost so much and effect so little?” “Are they reconnaissance in force, or a diversion, or just the cavalry attack before the main offensive.
Chapter 31: Göring
It was Thursday, August 15th, 1940 and still Goring had not annihilated the RAF. Instead, the Germans suffered losses. His strategy was not successful.
Chapter 32: The Bomber in the Pasture
Colville watches air engagement, sees downed bomber in the pasture and then plays tennis. Churchill is moved by the RAF's engagement and dedication: “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few." Two of Lord Beaverbrook's factories take hits from the Luftwaffe. The National Day of Prayer irks Beaverbrook.
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Please post comments on the book, any of the posts, videos, images, etc. Let us know how you are doing with the reading of the book itself.
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Week Twelve - August 10th -August 16th
Chapter 33: Berlin
Chapter 34: Ol’ Man River
Chapter 35: Berlin
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Chapter 33: Berlin
In Berlin, Goebbels focuses on his terror campaign of the English people. You can run but you cannot hide from us no matter what the weather conditions. Photographs of bombings killing children attributed to RAF fighters were actually bombings done in error by the German Luftwaffe. Hitler was still against bombing London itself. The main goal was to put the English on edge.
Chapter 34: Ol’ Man River
The quid pro quo on the table sold destroyers for bases and Churchill was trying to get this through the House. America's Neutrality Laws made it impossible to gift destroyers or anything else. There had to be some sort of this for that payment. The German's beam navigation started to take its toll on Lord Beaverbrook's factories as well as British air bases. file. “It is curious,” Colville wrote, “to see how, as it were, Churchill fertilizes a phrase or a line of poetry for weeks and then gives birth to it in a speech.”
Chapter 35: Berlin
Back to Berlin for this chapter recounting events on August 20th, 1940 where Hitler expressed disappointment that the Luftwaffe had not yet fulfilled Goring's promise. And then on August 24th, a navigational error occurred which would change the nature of the entire war.
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Chapter 33 - Goebbels wants to raise panic in the UK over the bombings to discourage the Brits and at the same time is propagandizing that the Brits are bombing children in Germany.Chapter 34 shows a dance of two politicians presenting the "trade" of old destroyers for naval bases in different ways to keep their supporters from seeing the total truths - in this chapter again the speech that Bentley presented in comments last week "never has so many owed so much to so few" arrives in the book - this chapter shows the continuing proud resistance of the Brits and the steady support by FDR. Again we have Coleville's romantic efforts - this time with, according to Larsen, the anti semitic daughter of a fascist, and I wonder how that went with Churchill if he really knew.
Chapter 35 that Hitler was unhappy that Goring failed to beat the RAF is expected and I wonder really what the problems of the Germans were - strategy and technique I assume - against the Brits defending their homeland - looking at the logistics it would seem the Germans should have been able to win.
This less than one page chapter ends with "a navigational error destined to change the entire nature of the war". ... and then we are left not knowing what it was .............. is this a history or a mystery??
These short chapters without very much glue to hold the contents together (but then again there is not so much content) are a bit frustrating.
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Week Fourteen - August 24th - August 30th
Chapter 39: Ah, Youth! (page 191)
Chapter 40: Berlin and Washington (page 196)
Chapter 41: He Is Coming (page 199)
ah, finally caught up!!! sorry, took a couple of months off, the pace was too slow, read a crapload of magazines, now, back and juggling between 3 books, so I'm good and will maintain the pace!
speaking as a guy, and I know many pilots had died, but I did enjoy looking at those photos of downed german planes... gonna watch those youtube videos that bentley had posted later today. As for that diary of the now-deceased German pilot, I'm sure that was enlightening for the British, showing that their efforts in resisting Germany was having an impact, the success of taking out Luftwaffe planes and the impact on the morale of the pilots. It is sad, but as Germany was the aggressor, I guess it's not all that sad...
uh, are we skipping chapters 36-38?
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I agree about the diary.
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Glad you are back Marc - we juggle a lot of books and try to go at an average pace for those folks who do. But you are here again and sometimes a break is good.
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Chapter 34 sho..."
Yes, I agree Vincent - that is why I try to fill in with some of the "extra history". Is Larson writing for folks with a short attention span?
that teaser ('a navigational error...') I thought was answered quite shortly afterwards... kinda a cheap stunt, like a film narrator letting you know to pay attention... as you alluded to when you say 'Is Larson writing for folks with a short attention span'!!
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The History Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom (other topics)The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy (other topics)
The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm: A Thousand Days in London, 1938-1940 (other topics)
Dunkirk Lib/E: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture (other topics)
America's Global Role: Essays and Reviews on National Security, Geopolitics, and War (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Conrad Black (other topics)David Nasaw (other topics)
Will Swift (other topics)
Joshua Levine (other topics)
Francis Sempa (other topics)
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When Uffz Leo Zaunbrecher crash-landed his battle-damaged Messerschmitt 109 amongst the corn stooks at Lower Mays Farm, Selmeston on 12 August 1940 the fighter had not yet ended its useful life. Its little red devil emblem on the port engine cowling attracted the attention of souvenir hunters and photographers alike.
Poor McClintock passed away in 1940. Pilot Officer, RAF
1920-1940 Battle of Britain. Killed in action over Sunningdale (strange accident), Berks, Nov. 1940 Commemorated at Woking Cemetery
Link: http://www.bbm.org.uk/airmen/McClinto...
It appears that the German pilot who crash landed because his plane was damaged survived the war. He was taken prisoner and had a bullet wound in his arm.
Link: https://www.asisbiz.com/il2/Bf-109E/J...
Sources: The Daily Mail, The ARS Blog, The Battle of Britain London Monument, TimeNote