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Michael Korda’s book, With Wings Like Eagles, relives all the exhilaration, heroism, fear, and epochal significance of the Battle of Britain. 70 years later the battle retains its deserved luster. 

Winston Churchill, Britain’s Prime Minister, understood that the Battle of Britain offered the same timeless message as the Hebrews deliverance in the Book of Exodus. As long as man appreciates the merits of civilization and freedom these stories will be retold from generation to generation.

The architect of the British victory was Air Chief Sir Hugh “Stuffy” Dowding who took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Fighter Command on its formation in 1936. In hindsight military historians believe that Dowding’s contributions were indispensable to Britain’s victory. In brief, the man and the hour met in the Battle of Britain.

Heroes frequently have warts. Dowding was in many respects a “remote, stubborn, difficult man with strong opinions—it was not for nothing that his nickname was “Stuffy.” 

The outcome of the Battle of Britain, sometimes called “The Duel” remained in doubt from beginning to end. That is, even in the fall of 1940 there was no clear cut victory. Alternatively, only after Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 could the British take comfort about the security of their island. 

Once the aerial duel began in earnest in the middle of August 1940, each day was filled with tension. Moreover, Britain’s dwindling margins of reserves in planes and experienced pilots highlighted their vulnerability. 

“There is indeed a time and season” to all things. In this case, time and season worked against the Nazis. That is, the German navy demanded two conditions as prerequisites for approving the invasion of England: 1) Long days and 2) Favorable English Channel currents. After September 15, Hitler could not meet these two tests. Alternatively, Hitler turned his attention to destroying the Soviet Union after the Battle of Britain.

Our Finest Hour: 

“What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may more forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their Finest Hour.'”

---Winston Churchill June 18, 1940

 

Sir Hugh “Stuffy” Dowding

 

The best defense of the country is the fear of the fighter. If we are strong in fighters we should probably never be attacked in force. If we are moderately strong we shall probably be attacked and the attacks will gradually be bought to a standstill. . . . If we are weak in fighter strength, the attacks will not be bought to a standstill and the productive capacity of the country will be virtually destroyed.

• Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding

In April 1937, the Luftwaffe had demonstrated its ability to destroy an undefended city with the bombing of Guernica in Spain. For this very reason, Dowding believed that Britain had to be in a position to defend itself from German bombers - hence his part in pushing for the development and manufacture of both the Spitfire and Hurricane. Dowding also pushed for the development of the radar - to give the British an adequate warning of an enemy attack. 

Dowding had in his head a three dimensional sense of how to fight a battle in the sky, and he understood that it would involve combining the newest and most radical scientific ideas about radio direction finding (radar) on a grand scale with the latest kinds of radio communications equipment and a totally new breed of fighter airplane into an efficient, tightly controlled, well-led organization linking fighters, antiaircraft guns, and ground observers into a single unit involving thousands of people and technology. Dowding correctly saw that German raids would come from many different directions simultaneously, at different heights, and attacking different targets spread out all across Britain. He chose to fight the Germans in the most important areas, using efficiently his fighting force. Dowding understood explicitly the minimum number of fighters that Britain needed. He in effect fell on a sword to prevent Churchill from needlessly sacrificing his aircraft and more importantly his experienced pilots on behalf of France. Dowding’s bureaucratic victories against Churchill and the French Ministers who would have bled British fighter strength in France left Britain with marginally enough aircraft to fight the Battle of Britain.

Dowding had faulty people skills, alienating key people such as his superiors, including Winston Churchill, and key subordinates. These people skill failures led to his removal from command shortly after the Battle of Britain.

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”

Winston Churchill

Despite their differences, Churchill and Dowding shared an admiration for the fighter pilots.Dowding referred to the pilots as “my chicks.” Unfortunately, there was a shortage of “chicks.” Some 2,000 airmen, many in the late teens and early 20’s were the “heroes of the hour.” 

During the Battle of Britain Dowding was criticized by Air Vice-Marshal William Sholto Douglas, assistant chief of air staff, and Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory, for not being aggressive enough. Douglas took the view that RAF fighters should be sent out to meet the German planes before they reached Britain. Historians almost unanimously back Dowding.

Dowding had a totally different strategy than Mallory and Douglas. Through the summer of 1940 in the Battle of Britain, Dowding's Fighter Command resisted the attacks of the Luftwaffe. Aside from the system he bequeathed to Fighter Command, his major contribution was to marshal resources behind the scenes and maintain a significant fighter reserve, while leaving his subordinate commanders' hands free to run the battle. At no point did Dowding commit more than half his force to the battle zone in southern England.

Time Period: 

The Battle of Britain lasted about 90 days, from June 15, 1940-Sepember 15, 1940. The two bookends of this duel between Britain and Germany was the fall of France in June and the decision by Hitler to postpone the invasion of Great Britain. 

The most critical dates were August 15, 1940 to September 15, 1940—these thirty days witnessed the famous air duels. The ability of the British air force to convince Hitler that he could not gain the necessary aerial dominance to support an invasion was the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) greatest contribution. 

Hitler’s Strategic mistakes

In hindsight Hitler made several strategic mistakes. 1) Hitler’s ambivalence about destroying Britain filtered down to military indecision. 2) Hitler should have launched air attacks in June rather than waiting until August. Sixty days were critically important in rebuilding Britain’s air capabilities, fine tuning their radar capabilities, and training their personnel. 3) Hitler and Goring fatally altered their strategy from destroying British airfields to bombing London. The transition to urban targets left the British air capability in tact. 

What caused the change in German air bombing targets?

A tiny raid on Berlin by the British during the Battle of Britain humiliated Hitler and Goering.

No enemy bomber can reach the Ruhr. If one reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Goering. You may call me Meyer. 

--Hermann Goering

The Importance of the Season:

Time was against Germany during the critical Duel. Stated differently, large transports of men and provisions over the English Channel require summer weather. Thus, Hitler had no choice but to abandon Sea Lion after September 15, 1940.  For example, Eisenhower preferred D-Day to begin in May 1944, and reluctantly switched to June because of inclement weather. Eisenhower understood that reinforcing invading troops required immense amphibious logistics. Only summer weather was hospitable to such an undertaking. 

 

Great Britain’s Political Leaders:

During the 1930’s the major political figures of Great Britain were Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947) and Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940). 

Baldwin believed that “the bomber will always get through.” This defeatist thinking warped Britain’s opposition to Nazism. Baldwin and Chamberlain consistently appeased Hitler, letting the “locust grow.” Despite many errors, Baldwin and Chamberlain supported the development of radar and the production of fighter airplanes.  Baldwin seems to have stumbled on the idea of defense rather than deterrence using radar and fighter planes. He used his considerable charm to sell fighters to the House of Commons because they were by definition defensive and cost a fraction of a bomber, some 10-20%. In essence, fighters were an insurance policy against German bombers.

 

Not to have an adequate air force in the present state of the world is to compromise the foundations of national freedom and independence.

• Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 14 March 1933.

During 1929-1939 Churchill was blackballed from any Cabinet position. He spent this decade in opposition, a renegade Conservative Member of Parliament. His only power was his skillful use of pen and word. That is, Churchill wrote voluminously and scathingly spoke against appeasement. 

 

Messerschmitt Spitfire and Hurricane

“Air power may either end war or end civilization”

— Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 14 March 1933.

The Germans had significantly more aircraft—bombers and fighter planes-- and experienced pilots that Britain during the Battle of Britain. However, the key to victory was the fighter planes and not bombers. In this area, while the Germans had superior numbers, their advantage was not overwhelming. That is, they could not eliminate the fighter capability of the British. The continued capability of the British air force meant that German ships could not support the transportation of necessary men and supplies to launch an invasion.

Conclusion

The victory in the Battle of Britain ended any hope of Hitler launching "Operation Sea lion". In recent years, some historians have re-assessed the importance of the battle, claiming that Hitler's heart was not in an invasion of Britain. In essence, these historians argue that unlike the Spanish Armada, the Germans never seriously contemplated invasion.

The historians argue that Hitler was fully focused on attacking Russia, because he felt that it threatened German civilization. Once Hitler decided to mobilize against the Soviet Union, he contemptuously referred to it as a “half-Jewish Bolshevik regime.” However, nobody in Britain would have known this in August/September 1940 and no chance could be taken that the barges on the French and Belgium northern coastline were there only as a threat.

Most Britons share Churchill’s belief that the Battle of Britain is as important to British history as their victories in the Spanish Armada, the Battle of Trafalgar, and the Battle of Waterloo. In Britain it is sill commemorated annually on the Battle of Britain Day, September 15. For many years, preserved Spitfires and Hurricanes flew low over London. The robbing roar of their twelve-cylinder Rolls Royce engines provided music to the ears of those old enough to have heard it before.