October 2024 - Magazine - Page 19
ENEMY
SIGHTED
nearly 1.5 million men and women had enrolled. Metaphorically, the Dowding
system had opened a window on the skies of Kent and all along the south coast.
With the evacuation from Dunkirk from 28th May to 4th June 1940, Britain stood
alone and awaited the inevitable invasion.
The Battle of Britain took place between July and October 1940. The Nazis began
by attacking coastal targets and British shipping operating in the English Channel.
They launched their main offensive on 13th August. Attacks moved inland,
concentrating on airfields and communications centres. Fighter Command offered
stiff resistance, despite coming under enormous pressure. During the last week of
August and the first week of September, in what would be the critical phase of the
battle, the enemy intensified their efforts to destroy Fighter Command. Airfields,
particularly those in the south-east, were significantly damaged but most remained
operational. On 31st August, Fighter Command suffered its worst day of the entire
battle. But the Luftwaffe overestimated the damage it was inflicting and wrongly
came to the conclusion that the RAF was on its last legs. Fighter Command was
bruised but not broken, with crews being ‘scrambled’ up to six times a day.
Nearly 3,000 men of the RAF took part in the Battle of Britain – those who Winston
Churchill called ‘The Few’. While most of the pilots were British, Fighter Command
was an international force. Men came from all over the Commonwealth and
occupied Europe. There were even some pilots from the neutral United States and
Ireland.
James Nicolson
One VC was awarded during the Battle of Britain to James
Nicolson, who went to school in Tonbridge. On 16th August,
having been hit and his machine on fire, he managed
to shoot down another Messerschmitt Bf 109. He then
managed to bale out and parachute to safety.
On the 12th August the radar towers were attacked and put
out of order for four hours. Field Marshal Goring, head of
the Luftwaffe was totally disinterested in technology and
thought the towers to be ineffective so mistakenly never
attacked them again.
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