The Battle Of Britain: Attack Of The Eagles

Summary

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WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

Episode: The Battle Of Britain: Attack Of The Eagles

Hosts: Al Murray & James Holland
Air Date: September 22, 2025

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Episode Overview

Theme:
Episode 3 in the Battle of Britain series, "Attack of the Eagles," examines the critical stage of the conflict as German forces prepare and launch the Adler Angriff ("Eagle Attack")—the Luftwaffe’s all-out air offensive against Britain. Al and James unravel the operational chaos behind German plans, the RAF’s resilient defense, evolving tactics, and the relentless attrition faced by both sides through August 1940. The hosts deploy their signature mix of detailed historical insight and banter, weaving in untold stories and frontline perspectives.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: Escaping a Downed Spitfire

• Notable Personal Account: The show opens with an intense, first-hand description by Hugh "Cocky" Dundas (616 Squadron), who narrowly escapes his burning Spitfire after an aerial battle on August 22, 1940.

  • [03:46]

    "The explosions were so unexpected, so shattering, their effect on my Spitfire so devastating that I thought I'd been hit by our own heavy ack ack... Panic and terror consumed me and I thought, Christ, this is the end. Then I thought, get out, you bloody fool. Open the hood and get out."
    — Hugh ‘Cocky’ Dundas account, read by hosts

• Host Reaction:

  • [04:10]

    "It's unbelievable." — James

  • [04:11]

    "That's an incredible account." — Al

  • Emphasize training cutting through panic and the terrifying reality for pilots.

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2. German Planning Paralysis: Operation Sea Lion and Internal Strife

• Disarray between German services:

  • Navy’s logistical nightmare and lack of landing craft.
  • Army and Navy cannot agree on the landing site or timing.
  • Hitler’s indecision leads to conflicting orders; he often defaults to the last voice he hears.
  • [06:18]

    "He does what he quite often does when he doesn't know what to do—he just dithers." — James

• Impact:

  • Services are effectively stalling, aware of likely failure.
  • "So we'll never have to do it." — Al, on mutual stonewalling between services [07:38]

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3. Luftwaffe Adapts Tactics

• Creation of JAFUs (Jagdfliegerführer):

  • More autonomy for fighter units, allowing "free hunts" instead of rigid bomber escort.
  • Adolf Galland and others relish this, seeking air superiority on their own terms.
  • [09:15]

    "The reason Galland likes this idea is because... it means he's going to get to shoot down loads of RAF on his own terms." — Al

• Still, confusion prevails:

  • Escort duties persist, and tactical improvisation is matched by strategic muddle.

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4. German Overconfidence & Faulty Intelligence

• Beppo Schmidt’s Intelligence Briefings:

  • Luftwaffe intelligence grossly underestimates RAF strength.
  • Claims only 500 RAF fighters remain; actual numbers far higher.
  • [12:48]

    "He reports that there's only 500 fighters left, 350 being destroyed in July, and reckons there's only. Only 133... produced between the 1st and 25th of July. As we know, is just absolute nonsense." — James

• Strategic Impact:

  • Germans believe they are making decisive gains; in reality, the RAF remains robust.

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5. Adler Angriff: ‘Attack of the Eagles’ and Eagle Day

• Final Luftwaffe Plan (Decided Aug 6):

  • Focus: Knock out British radar (RDF) and airfields.
  • Weather plays a major role—"You can't bet on it" [13:51]
  • Plan is for three-to-four days of assaults, starting (weather permitting) around August 10.

• Buildup:

  • German fighter and bomber units gather in France, improvising with captured equipment and makeshift facilities.
  • [15:30–17:12]
    Personalities (Ulrich Steinhilper, Hans-Ekkehard Bob), the “gathering of the eagles,” and even pet fox terriers prepare for battle.

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6. The Opening Engagements: Airfield & Radar Attacks

• 12 August:

  • Large-scale attacks against radar sites at Rye, Pevensey, Dunkirk (Kent), and Ventnor. Only Ventnor is knocked out.

  • Portsmouth dockyard is heavily bombed; HMS Victory shrouded in smoke for first time since Trafalgar.

  • [19:55]

    "Victory disappears under smoke and dust for the first time since Trafalgar." — Jim

  • RAF’s ability to rapidly repair grass airfields and deception (mobile transmitters for radar) leads German recon to overestimate success.

• RAF Resilience:
  • Even when fields or stations are badly hit, operations continue with minimal disruption.

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7. Eagle Day (Adler Tag) – August 13, 1940

• Botched Coordination:

  • Weather delays and failed communication undermine the first massive German offensive.
  • KG2 bombers, led by Johannes Fink, attack Coastal Command airfield by mistake without fighter escort (who tried to abort the mission in vain).
  • [22:36]

    “They attack Eastchurch, which isn’t even a Fighter Command airfield...”

  • Paul Temme (JG2) shot down, captured, and famously offered breakfast multiple times by polite British captors.
    • [23:07 – 24:17]

      “I don’t really know what to do... Have you had breakfast?” — British anti-aircraft battery commander to Paul Temme

• Operational Chaos:

  • Multiple raids are misdirected or intercepted.
  • The RAF shoots down significant numbers of German bombers and fighters; Luftwaffe bombers lack effective escort and suffer heavy losses.

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8. Protracted Air Battles and Attrition (Aug 14–18)

• 15th August: The largest air battle of the campaign, including flights from as far as Norway.

• RAF faces simultaneous threats in the Mediterranean and Western Europe:

  • Tanks and aircraft sent to Malta and Egypt exemplify Britain’s wider strategic confidence.
  • [33:30]

    "If the thing you're worried about more than anything else is invasion of England, why on earth would you send tanks to Egypt?... because you know you're going to be all right." — Al

• American Involvement:

  • Destroyers-for-bases deal, early tank orders from US—show Churchill “hooking in the Americans” [33:43 – 34:35].

• RAF Pilot Training Squeeze:

  • Training time reduced to meet demand; influx of Polish, Czech, French, and Belgian pilots.
  • Despite rumors, new pilots still have significant training and not simply rushed into combat with “ten hours” on Spitfires.

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9. German Leadership Failures & Further Tactical Errors

• Goering’s constant conferences waste commanders’ time.

• Bombers’ insufficient and confusing fighter escort.

• Orders to abandon radar attacks (a strategic mistake).

• [38:53]

  "He also says there's no point going attacking the RDF sites anymore... which is also bonkers because clearly that's the key to the whole thing." — James

• Dowding’s system of rotating squadrons, rapid repairs, and decentralized tactics proves highly effective.

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10. Operational Realities: Attrition and Psychological Toll

• Pilot Fatigue:

  • [44:36]

    "Most of these fighter pilots have been flying since the 10th of May, so they're absolutely knackered at an incredibly high level." — James

• German pilots note the terrifying isolation flying over the Channel and the ever-present fuel dilemma.

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11. Notable Acts of Valor & Everyday Resilience

• Victoria Cross Example:
  • James Nicholson (249 Squadron) keeps fighting despite his Hurricane being aflame and suffering wounds, before bailing out and being inadvertently shot at by the Home Guard upon landing. [45:38–46:19]
• British Homefront Spirit:
  • Wartime reporting emphasizes British stoicism and resilience amidst bombing:

    “People here, the ordinary little householders and shopkeepers, continue their ordinary little lives… calm, of course—it’s just a nuisance.” — Hilda Marchant, Daily Express [47:25]

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12. Outcomes & Strategic Results (Through Aug 23)

• Operational Losses (8–23 Aug):

  • Fighter Command loses 204 aircraft; over 300 new built, 260 repaired—net gain.
  • Luftwaffe loses 397 aircraft (inc. 181 fighters); production cannot keep up.
  • RAF build rate: nearly 500 new fighters in August vs. Luftwaffe’s ~300 new fighters.
  • Pilot casualties:
    • RAF: 104 killed
    • Luftwaffe: 623 killed, similar numbers taken prisoner.
  • [51:50]

    "These permanent losses are 12 times higher than Fighter Command." — Al

• Strategic Situation:

  • Despite initial confidence and numerical superiority, the Luftwaffe is losing ground—literally and in the air.
  • Phase 2 of the battle ends; attrition is telling on German air strength, while the RAF’s integrated system and industrial resilience begin to turn the tide.
  • [52:33]

    "At the point where the Luftwaffe imagined it would have the upper hand, it hasn’t. It has no such thing." — Al

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “He does what he quite often does when he doesn't know what to do — he just dithers.” — James [06:18]
• "Free hunts… it means he's going to get to shoot down loads of RAF on his own terms." — Al [09:15]
• “These Englanders, they’re so polite. He loves your breakfast.” — James, on the repeated breakfasts offered to captured German pilot Paul Temme [24:17]
• “But let's not get hung up on that.” — Al, on Churchill’s famous “never in the field of human conflict…” speech and the broader contributors to victory [42:23]
• "You get used to the new normal... The panic is eased." — James [47:23]
• “These permanent losses are 12 times higher than Fighter Command.” — Al [52:06]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:46–04:10] — Dundas’s dramatic escape account
• [06:00–08:00] — German inter-service disputes & Sea Lion planning
• [08:26–10:37] — Evolution of Luftwaffe tactics, impression of British radar
• [12:48–13:25] — Luftwaffe intelligence failings; British aircraft production
• [18:20–19:55] — Attacks on Portsmouth & RDF stations
• [21:08–22:58] — German misreading of RAF’s strength and situation
• [23:07–24:17] — Paul Temme’s triple-breakfast capture story
• [32:11–34:00] — British global strategy, Churchill’s tank/US diplomacy decisions
• [35:05–36:09] — Pilot training realities, influx of foreign pilots
• [42:15–43:38] — Churchill at Bentley Priory, “Never in the field…” moment
• [44:36–44:48] — Pilot fatigue and attrition
• [45:38–46:19] — James Nicholson's VC-awarded action; shot by Home Guard
• [51:00–51:50] — Attrition balance sheet; RAF versus Luftwaffe losses
• [52:38] — Summary: Luftwaffe’s lack of upper hand as phase two ends

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Episode Tone & Takeaways

• Engaging, detailed, and—true to form—punctuated by dry, irreverent British humor.
• The hosts blend expertise with lively storytelling and accessible analogies, making complex military history relatable and memorable.
• Central throughline: The German failure to coordinate, adapt, or realistically assess their progress meets the RAF’s robust, adaptive defensive system—one supported by effective leadership, industry, and national morale.

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Next episode: The critical phase three—the weeks of attrition leading into September, as the RAF turns the tide.

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Want more WWII deep dives? Sign up for extra content at patreon.com/wehaveways.

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Transcript

[Christian McCaffrey]

Thank you for listening to we have ways of making you talk. Sign up to our Patreon to receive bonus content, live streams and our weekly newsletter with money off books and museum visits as well. Plus early access to all live show tickets. That's patreon.com wehaveways if you thought goldenly breaded McDonald's chicken couldn't get more golden, think Golder because new sweet and smokey's Special Edition Gold Sauce is here made.

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[Christian McCaffrey]

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[Christian McCaffrey]

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[Jim]

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[Christian McCaffrey]

The explosions were so unexpected, so shattering, their effect on my Spitfire so devastating that I thought I'd been hit by our own heavy ack ack. White smoke filled the cockpit, thick and hot, and I could see neither the sky above nor the channel coast 12,000ft below. Centrifugal force pressed me against the side of the cockpit and I knew my aircraft was spinning. Panic and terror consumed me and I thought, christ, this is the end. Then I thought, get out, you bloody fool. Open the hood and get out. With both hands I tugged the handle where the hood locked onto the top of the windscreen. It moved back an inch, then jammed. Smoke poured out through the gap and I could see again. I could see earth and the sea and the sky spinning round in tumbled confusion as I cursed and blasphemed and pulled with all my strength to open the imprisoning hood. If I could not get out. I had at all costs to stop the spin. I pushed the stick hard forward and kicked the rudder, opened the throttle. Nothing happened. The earth went spinning on, came spinning up to meet me. Grabbing the hood toggle again, I pulled with all my might. Pulled for my life. Pulled at last with success. I stood up on the seat and pushed the top half of my body out of the cockpit. Pressed hard against the fuselage, half in, half out. I struggled in a nightmare of fear and confusion to drop clear, but could not do so. I managed to get back in the cockpit, aware now that the ground was very close. Try again. Try the other side. Up, over and out. I slithered along the fuselage and felt myself falling free. Seconds after my parachute opened, I saw the Spitfire hit and explode in a field below. A flock of sheep scattered outwards from the cloud of dust and smoke and flame. For a few moments there was silence and peace. Then the ground swung up fast and I remembered to bend my knees and roll over and bang. The quick release catch of my parachute harness. I lay under a hedge by the side of a wood two or 300 yards away. My Spitfire burned. My left leg was sticky with blood and my left shoulder badly dislocated. Hurt abominably. And that is Hugh cocky Dundas of 616 Squadron describing the events of the 22nd of August. Yeah. Welcome to. We have ways of making you Talk England, Episode 3 Attack of the Eagles of our Battle of Britain series. And that, I mean, that literally puts you right in the cockpit.

[Jim]

It's unbelievable.

[Christian McCaffrey]

That's an incredible account.

[Jim]

Yeah, yeah, it really, really is. I mean the, the sense of terror, the panic, sort of how confusing.

[Christian McCaffrey]

But also the training. This, this goes from crisis is the end to get out. You bloody full open the hood and get out. That the training cuts through his. His moment of, you know, of. Of.

[Jim]

Around, around, around. And you've got to somehow get up and get out. And I mean, like, it doesn't bear thinking, man. Does it?

[Christian McCaffrey]

No.

[Jim]

Absolutely terrifying.

[Christian McCaffrey]

100.

[Jim]

Anyway, we left the first episode where we were going through kind of the events of battle run with, with. With phase one.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Sort of just going tickling into the beginning of. Beginning of August. And, and while all this has been going on, you know, the Canal Camp has been going on, plans have been going ahead for Operation Sea Lion. Yes. Which as we know now had a. As a name. And what they discover is any number of stumbling blocks. So Conte, Admiral Fricker, who is a guy who's going to be given sort of operational command For Sea lion is only seeing endless difficulties. There's no landing craft of any kind. Navy, which is only 15% the size of the Royal Navy.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I'd say that's the problem.

[Jim]

Big problem. There's also no coordination whatsoever between the services. So the army wants to land at dawn, which means crossing by night, which also means endless mines. The tide has to just go out so the barges can run easily onto the beach. That means, you know, you're quite limited to when you can do it.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Fricker reckons he needs a minimum of six weeks to get the shipping together, which will be mostly Rhine river barges.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yes. Which will gum up German trade, after all.

[Jim]

Yeah. And he warns that taking a thousand barges and 24,000 men from the German shipping industry will have a massive detrimental effect on the German military and civilian economies. Of course. And not least that great waterway, the Rhine.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yes.

[Jim]

You know, domestic water transport will all but cease. All of which is put in front of Hitler at the Fuhrer Conference on 31 July. And Fricker also suggests landing on a much, much shorter front than that put forward by the army. Yeah. Because the army wants a very wide front. And Hitler does what he quite often does when he doesn't know what to do, he just divers.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I mean, it's interesting that, isn't it? Because I think people's sort of impression of Hitler might be that he would. He would chew the carpet at this point and say, don't come to me with problems, come to with solutions. Was in fact. He goes, well, yeah, I don't know. We'll have to think about this then. Yeah, because he doesn't know what to do because he didn't expect to be in this situation.

[Jim]

No. But he still says planning goes ahead. Oh, yeah, I'm giving Fricker an answer. Yeah, we'll just get on with it.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, yes, and then there's another conference a week later where it becomes clear, all that.

[Jim]

So Fricket goes in and presents all this and says, this is problems. It's going to have a massive detrimental effect on. On shipping. We can't agree with the army. We want to be on a. On a narrow front because we've got, you know, we've got to clear minds and all the rest of it. He goes, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay, then. Then von Brau come in and he says, well, just prepare for a broad front. Yeah. What the heck? Have you not been listening to a word, mein Fuhrer?

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, no, he doesn't. Does he, though? Hitler does often have in these Organizational situations have a tendency to agree with the last person he spoke to because after all, he's not where he expected he'd be. And so the following week, the 7th of August, there's another conference and it's clear that there are real big differences emerging between the army and the Navy. Bigger differences. Even the Kriegsmarine want to land between Beachy Head and Folkestone. And the army saying that's not, it's not big enough. I mean, it may be. What you've got actually here is two organizations think there's no way we can ever pull this off. So what we're going to do, whatever they suggest we'll say no to. Whatever we suggest they'll say no to. So we'll never have to do it.

[Jim]

I don't sense that that is the case, but it's quite interesting to think about it.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, yeah, yeah. Because they all know it's. They all know it's impossible.

[Jim]

Well, and again, you know, on the 7th of August, it's not, it's not resolved at all.

[Christian McCaffrey]

No.

[Jim]

So separate plans just continue. So Creek and are still absolutely terrified about mines. The problem they have is they have to clear channels through the minefields to protect the flanks. But as soon as they're swept, then the Brits just lay a hollow more again.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, well.

[Jim]

And you know the Royal Navy can lay 300 mines in a night.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, but. And if you look forward to the D Day invasion In June of 1944, the Anti Mine effort that the Royal Navy puts in the night before.

[Jim]

Well, it's done the same night. Yeah, it's done just ahead of the.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Invasion fleet in order to get it done because you know they're just going to lay some more.

[Jim]

Meanwhile. Meanwhile, meanwhile, the Luftwaffe is getting ready.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

And they're tweaking tactics quite a bit. So fighters are now subordinated to new formations called Jagdfliegerfuhrer or JAFU for short. They don't like acronyms. No, they like shortenings.

[Christian McCaffrey]

They're like abbreviations.

[Jim]

Yeah, yeah. So this is effectively a fighter core within a Luftflotter. So Yafu2, for example, is in Luftflotter2. And they're pressing for free hunts. And this is where they just take off, stooge around to shoot up whatever they can.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

And that means that they can fly the altitude. They want speed, they want anyone kind of bothering them.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, they're not just tethered to the bombers.

[Jim]

No, they're not tethered to the bombers and they're finally given permission. And one person who's exceptionally keen on this is Adolf Galland in JG52.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

The yellow nose monsters. He's very keen on this. So is Guntheral, for example, another fighter pilot who's in JG54, I think.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And they like this idea because, let's face it, the reason Galland likes this idea is because he's an expert and it means he's going to get to shoot down loads of Americans on his own terms. On his own terms.

[Jim]

So boring people on radio saying what to do.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Exactly. So.

[Jim]

So like Douglas Barter. It's not true.

[Christian McCaffrey]

No wonder they got along in later life. So this is decision that pleases people who've got the wrong idea about how to go about things. Right. Yeah.

[Jim]

I mean, they're still doing fighter escorts.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

But of bombers. But they're also in between. They're allowed to do this. So, for example, Gunter Ral's H Staffel of JG52 shoots down three Hurricanes for no losses at all on 29 July.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Great.

[Jim]

That's because they can go over, get the height.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Some behind them.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. That is how that ought to go against Hurricanes, though, as we established in the last episode. So then on the Thursday 1st August, there is a Fuhrer directive for an air war against Britain. So it's actually going to happen. The German Air Force is to overpower the English Air Force with all the forces at its command in the shortest possible day. And it's to start in four days, on or after the 5th of August. And in the meantime they're still attacking coastal convoys and again trying to get the raf, the fighter Command to come fight.

[Jim]

But we talked about good Tyrol and JG52 in the first episode and the fact that he was wondering where on earth, why on earth these Spitfires were suddenly appearing. Yeah. How did they possibly know they were coming? All the rest of it, they're so bad, they're so badly hit, his fighter group, that they're withdrawn from the battle due to combat losses. Yeah. On the 1st of August.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

What the heck.

[Christian McCaffrey]

On the same day, the 1st of August, Galland is awarded the Knight's Cross and Kesselring is presenting it to him. And at that point, two recce aircraft fly over Kesselring. What are those Land Spitfires again?

[Jim]

Alfeld Marshall, the first to congratulate you. Oh, yeah. That was such good humor at this point.

[Christian McCaffrey]

But by the 5th of August. I mean, they're jumping to it though. By the 5th of August all the three air fleets are ready. Le Flotta 2 in northern France.

[Jim]

Yeah. That's the biggest. It's the biggest. And that's kesselring.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. Luft3 in Normandy, the Channel Islands.

[Jim]

Yeah. And then l flutter five in Norway.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. But there's no agreed plan of action.

[Jim]

None at all.

[Christian McCaffrey]

You know, in the last episode, I said, thank goodness the Germans are bad at radio and are disorganized. Thank goodness there's no agreed plan of action. Although, as we'll see, because they. As the battle progresses, the Germans sort of switch emphasis and change. They haven't got the means to deliver on any of the objectives that they pick on as they pick and choose as they move forward. So, you know, Goering is dithering and Hitler is dithering. So Goering's waiting to be given the green light from Hitler because the British haven't sued for peace as expected. Hitler then doesn't do that, give going any idea of what he wants until the 31st of July. So Goering is getting his people, his commanders, to come up with what they think they should do.

[Jim]

So he's got his three Luftwaffe Flotta commanders. He's got Kessring in two, he's got Sperler in three and Stumpf in five. Up. In. Up. In. Up. In Norway. It's okay, we'll come up with a plan. Then they'll submit completely different plans because.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Of course they do. Because this is a tactical air force trying to come up with a strategic gambit. Yeah. So none of them know what they're doing. And he calls lots of conferences and.

[Jim]

They'Re always at Clarence, so they've always.

[Christian McCaffrey]

They've got to go back to his place. So he's not coming forward to meet anyone. Although I suppose if you've got. They are on in different places. I mean, they could meet in the middle, right?

[Jim]

Yeah. You know, Paris. Yeah.

[Christian McCaffrey]

But no, they've got to go back to Germany and there aren't final plans until the 6th of August. So although they're on readiness on the 5th, there is no plan that they're on readiness for. No.

[Jim]

And Beppo Schmidt is doing his updated intelligence briefings, which are obviously absolutely on the money.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

He reports that there's only 500 fighters left, 350 being destroyed in July, and reckons there's only. Only 133. Very precise figure. Spotfires, Hurricanes and Defiance have been produced between the 1st and 25th of July, as we know, is just absolute nonsense. There's something like 400 nearly 500.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm glad to see that Beppo Schmidt likes the Defiant, though, because fans of the Defiant, we got to stick together. Beppo. We love the Defiant. I bet he likes the black one. First of all, you've got all three La Flotta coming up with different plans. There is no strategy and their current information, which is based on their previous understanding, is all wrong.

[Jim]

Well, it's, it's. They're shooting down twice as many as are being built.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But the final conference on 6 August at Carinhal and they decide on the Adler Angriff, the Attack of the Eagles, the Luft Luftlach, England. And the opening day of the Adler Angriff is, of course going to be called Adler.

[Jim]

Yeah, of course, you've got Attack of the Eagles, you've got to have the Eagle Day. Yeah, exactly.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And the priority, I mean, they get. Get this right, the priority is to knock out the radar, the rdf, and then proceed.

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Christian McCaffrey]

But whenever we talk about air combat, air battles, you know, good weather, clear skies in northwest Europe, you can't bet on it. No, you can't bet on it. Hard to come by you. So you can't plan on it. We're recording this in August. We've had clear days, we've had gray days.

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And, and this is exactly the problem they run into and they don't. They also don't have any weather information about England. There's nothing. They've got. They've got no source of information at all about what. What the weather might be doing the other side of the.

[Jim]

Got weather ships on the Azores. Exactly.

[Christian McCaffrey]

No, exactly Right. And so, but. So the weather's a bit.

[Jim]

Looks a bit dodgy. But, but their weather reports suggest that there's going to be high pressure on the wave from the 10th of August. So, yeah, Goring goes, great, we'll do that. He reckons that the destruction of the RF is going to take three days, but just to be honest, I'll give himself four. So four days of clear weather and Adler Tag will begin sometime from the 10th of August.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I mean, Goering's glass is always half full. Right.

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I mean, when it comes to the fuffer operations generally.

[Jim]

Well, it depends on where, you know, depends on his state of mind. Because, you know, that's the problem with drug taking is that, you know, you have. You have moments of being very high and moments of being very down. Oh, God. So he, you know, he too.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yes.

[Jim]

Prevaricates.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. He prevacates. Yeah. So Adler tag is going to be sometime around 10 August.

[Jim]

Meanwhile, the fighter pilots have been gathering, you know, in Normandy and the Pas de Calais. So Ulrich Steinhelper, you will remember, was in first group of JG52 under Adolf Gallen. He's the guy who's desperately trying to get rid radio into cockpits, but failing badly. He's stationed at Kokel. He gets there on the 1st of August, quickly discovers that the German ground crew have plundered large amounts of British equipment, including tents.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yes. He says it's like a supermarket at Dunkirk. You could just help yourself to anything you want.

[Jim]

They kind of prefer them. They dig holes in the ground. They make use of Nissan huts and a Morris triple axle truck is converted into a mobile tool store. Barrels of wine that have been recovered from Calais harbour. Electricity rigged up giving them sort of, you know, reasonable billet, but nothing to get too excited about. And they've got a record player as well, so. Oh, good.

[Christian McCaffrey]

That's all right then.

[Jim]

They're all happy. But you know, there is this. You get this feeling, don't you? This is all a bit kind of make doing men. This is sort of on the hoof. Yep. You know, there's a sort of lack of permanency about it. Nearby at Geen South Hansecard, Bob, who is a tremendous fellow, I've got to say, he was in the third group of JG54 and he was just amazing. I remember he had JG54 incorporated into his number plate on his car.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Did he?

[Jim]

Yeah. And I remember last time I saw him he was about 94 or something like that. It was. It was winter in Freiberg. He lived in Freiburg, which is where the National Archives are. And I met him for a coffee and it was sort of snow and ice on the ground. He had come on his bike.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Really?

[Jim]

Yes. He said. He said, james, just be careful, it's very slippery.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Fantastic.

[Jim]

He says, when I fly I will touch the wings of egos or something like that.

[Christian McCaffrey]

They can't leave the eagles alone.

[Jim]

No, no, no. He was. He was tremendous. He found his own field. Pretty rudimentary, you know. The aircraft were hidden in woods and ground crew also living in captured British tents. Large tent serving as a repair hangar and. And he lodged in a. In a village nearby. And he's accompanied by his own fox terrier called Chica. You knew of him whenever they moved. Absolutely love flying.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Really?

[Jim]

Yes, of the whole thing. Sat on his lap.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Incredible.

[Jim]

Just amazing. They're getting ready. It's all very rudimentary. These sort of, you know, shorn fields. You know, it's just grass, but they're all, you know, they're gathering. The gathering of the eagles.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. And so operations on the 11th of August. Because after all the 10th is kind of.

[Jim]

Yeah. So they're building up for it quite. Quite luft England yet. Yeah. But they're getting still preliminary operations.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. And so on. On the 11th, Steinhelper flies four sorties in a single day.

[Jim]

It's a lot.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. Shoots down a Blenheim bomber, which of course is a reminder that bomber commander. They're coming over regularly and involved in all of this. And a part of the fires that the Luftwaffe are having to put out as well as try and do their own thing.

[Jim]

Yeah. Although in this case the Blenheim was trying to attack a Heinkel 59 rescue seaplane.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Right. Which.

[Jim]

Which the Germans all thought was very terrifically bad form. You know, rescue. They can't possibly do that. But doubting, you know, Red Cross doesn't count for anything. These guys are. You're rescuing. So they can then come back and attack us.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. Darling is a great example actually. The British attitude to the Second World War is entirely ruthless. You can dress it up in sort of keep calm, carry on all you want, but it's about killing the enemy.

[Jim]

Much bigger operations on 12 August. This is actually quite a major day of air fighting. And you know, you could be confused if you were a. You didn't know that Eagle Day was the 13th of August for thinking this was Eagle Day. It was substantial air activity and this was mainly directed at RDF masts. Walter Rubensderfer.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

He was commander of the elite er, Pro BungsGruppe 210.

[Christian McCaffrey]

No one says it like you, Jimsgruppe. You gotta linger over. Linger over the valve sound.

[Jim]

Yeah. Okay.

[Christian McCaffrey]

This is all quite targeted stuff. So they're. They're attacking the stations at Rye, Pevensey and Dunkirk and. And really going for those radar RDF stations properly.

[Jim]

Well, yeah, and uproot210. This is a favorite unit of Gurings because they're. Yeah.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Or.

[Jim]

Yeah, that's a storen. They're going to destroy me 1110 and they are, you know, they're all made up of sort of former test pilots and Spain veterans and all the rest of it. They're kind of like considered a super elite ground attack unit given the job of hitting a lot of the. Of the RDF stations. And so they're attacking Rye, Pevensey and Dunkirk. There's Dunkirk with a K. Yes, in Kent. Ju88 is bombing Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. And actually they do knock out Ventn, but that's it. Yep.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And they also attack Portsmouth big time. Yeah, Naval Dockyard. That's 63 bombers. If you're going to attack anywhere in the British Military establishment on the south coast, Portsmouth makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

[Jim]

HMS Victory disappears under smoke and dust for the first time since Trafalgar.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Ah, blimey.

[Jim]

Don't you touch.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Exactly. They're getting a bit too close for my taste there, Jim. A British witness, a guy called Joe Steele, says he sees railway tracks twisting in the air from the blast, the cookhouse chimney disintegrating and as you say, Victory disappearing. And then they're also attacking airfields. I mean, it's interesting, isn't it, because this is what you need to do is knock out the RDF and knock out the airfields if you're going to achieve air superiority. But there's lots more RDF stations than they've addressed themselves to in this instance.

[Jim]

No, absolutely.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And there's lots more airfields, but they attack limp.

[Jim]

And Limp gets bombed heavily and rendered unusable for a day. Manston, right on the tip of Kent is badly cratered. Workshops hit, hangers. Hawking suffers destruction of two hangars. Just about usable, though. But, you know, this is the point, you know, despite all this damage, they're grass runways and they prove pretty robust. You know, Dowding has already ensured that every airfield is stocked with rubble, hardcore and, you know, graders and bulldozers and all the rest of it and steamrollers so they can repair these craters really, really quickly. You shovel them in, get the steamroller over them and off you go.

[Christian McCaffrey]

But the German estimation is that they have to punch a 93 mile hole in fighter command, create a 93 mile gap. We are not looking at a mile gap here, are we?

[Jim]

No, no, no, no, no. Fentler's knocked out, but it's subst, a mobile transmitter to make him seem like it hasn't been knocked out. I mean, it's amazing that German reconnaissance mistakenly concludes that, you know, huge amounts of destruction have gotten, you know, the RF is already on its knees.

[Christian McCaffrey]

It's so hard to know, though, when you think because they've not got a spy satellite sat over Surrey and one over Kent, it's so hard to know. You've got the pilot's individual reports and I imagine if you're part of that.

[Jim]

Well, you just see Lots of smoke, gang.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, you part of that KG, KG51 attacking Portsmouth. That probably looks like it went pretty well. In your rear view mirror, you see the city's on fire and you think.

[Jim]

You see lots of bombs exploding.

[Christian McCaffrey]

So we did it. Right. And also you've been told the British are brittle, weak, ready to collapse and all that sort of stuff. So no wonder they. They return. Going well. I think that. I think that went pretty well. We're on track here. Day one going pretty well and then actually. Or it's minus one then actually you. Eagle Day Adler Targ is the 13th of August. Yep. This is it. However, it gets off to an inauspicious start.

[Jim]

Very much so.

[Christian McCaffrey]

KG2.

[Jim]

Yeah. A heading for Eastchurch led by Oberst Johannes Fink.

[Christian McCaffrey]

The Fink. The Fink is at the controls, my friends. Yeah. However, weather we talked about, we talked about the problem with the weather and their fighter escort doesn't show up, or rather does show up and attempts to attract his attention.

[Jim]

Well, it's been cancelled. Yeah. But the message hasn't got through to kg2.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

So they take. So a whole load of me 110s flying around as well. Keep flying and buzzing in front of it, trying to tell them that it's being cancelled, but he just thinks, what are they doing? And carries on flying. So they fly over. They fly over regardless. They're of course intercepted by Spitfires and Hurricanes. You see them coming. Five bombers shot down, whole load more badly damaged. Fink is absolutely furious because he thinks, where are my fighters?

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Terrible dereliction of duty. They attack Eastchurch, which isn't even a Fighter Command airfield, but one used by Coastal Command. They report that they shoot up lots of. Of Spitfires. But there aren't any Spitfires there.

[Christian McCaffrey]

No, they're Blenheims or something on the ground, aren't they? Completely. Everything that could go wrong with that does go wrong, basically.

[Jim]

And there's this fantastic story of Paul Temer, who Oberleutnam. Paul Temer, who is the intelligence. He's a group Grouper Adjutant of JG2. Yes. And he's shot down near Shoreham and immediately captured. He's taken to the local kind of anti aircraft battery and the commander says in perfect German, ah, Ehren Scherfleur Gast basically means a very early guess.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Brilliant.

[Jim]

He says, well, I don't really know what to do. Have you had breakfast? And Tema has had breakfast, but. And so immediately says, well, you know, I'm fine, thank you very much. He's oh, go on he smells kind of bacon and eggs and things. Things. Well, all right, we put him in polite, not.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, who knows when I'll eat again?

[Jim]

Who knows when I eat again? So he goes, okay, well, you know, Danker and has. Has his breakfast. Then they take him off to the kind of, you know, to Brighton, to the next sort of Royal Artillery base. And they said, well, I don't know what to do with you. We'd probably better hand you fdrf but do you want some breakfast? By this point he sort of thinks, well, I can't really say no. So here's another one. Park. Then he gets picked up by the raf, who then take him to Farnborough. And when he gets to Farnborough, they say, have you had breakfast? So he ends up with three.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Oh, yeah.

[Jim]

Including his own, so four.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And all good fish stock.

[Jim]

Yes. These Englanders, they're so polite.

[Christian McCaffrey]

They love the breakfast here.

[Jim]

He loves your breakfast.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Maybe we should sit down and eat bacon and eggs together and make peace. And make peace. There'll be no need for this foolish war.

[Jim]

It's foolish war. I'm only a simple pilot.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. And the Germans don't generally eat a cooked breakfast. See, the seas.

[Jim]

Used to.

[Christian McCaffrey]

He'd have like, cold cuts.

[Jim]

He'd have cold cut picture guitari wouldn't he?

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. It's been spoiled lavishly. Anyway, Adler Ty kind of carries on in this. In this sort of.

[Jim]

It's this haphazard, completely uncoordinated, willy nilly lacking any kind of proper direction kind of way. So Shortly after midday, 23 ME110s the Stollen fly from Caen, intending to lure RAF fighters away so the bombers could then arrive unopposed. Of course, it doesn't happen because they get intercepted by three Hurricane squadrons.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

And they're forced into defensive circles as you go round, round, round circles. Which is fine until you have to break.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

And at some point you do time. The engagement ends. One's crashed on land, six have fallen into the sea, and seven more were damaged. And only nine returned intact.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I mean, that's a very bad day at the gesture office, isn't it? And they're meant to be just storing, not being gestured.

[Jim]

By the hurricane strikers.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And then.

[Jim]

Which are, after all, inferior.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Which are absolutely inferior. And then, of course, in the afternoon, there's more. Stuka's attack. Middle wallop. Yep.

[Jim]

Major Paul Hotzel is leading them from Dinard. And he's escorted by fighters of the second group of JG53 under von Merzahn. Yeah. And this is just really, really weird because if you remember going back to the kind of. I think it was the first episode, one of those Fuhrer conferences where Gerrik says, of course, you know, our fighters have to be able to fire their full capacity and do the thing. You can't have close air discourse. No, that's not going to work at all. But despite those very specific orders, fighters are on a lower level of ordering, told to stick to the bombers. And you know why? It's just absolutely bizarre.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, it negates.

[Jim]

It's a Reichs Marshal, he's the world's first six star general. He's ignored.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I know what is going on.

[Jim]

Well, well, what about German discipline?

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, no, but it's interesting, isn't it? Because actually this shows that it's a buffale culture, supposedly an orders culture, but actually lower down they're going, well, we're not going to do that. And it' Basically it's the Stukas.

[Jim]

It's the bombers saying with pressure Stukas.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, but also them saying, where are the fighters? Unless we see the fighters, we won't feel we can go out. They're not.

[Jim]

They're flying 150 miles an hour. Messersmith 109s are almost falling out of the sky.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. And they run into 609 Squadron.

[Jim]

Yes. Whose radio frequency is almost identical. So they can hear what's going on. I love this guy, David Crook. He wrote just a brilliant book called Spitfire Pilot. Just does what it says on your team. Published in 1942, I think.

[Christian McCaffrey]

What are you going to call it? No, I was thinking Spitfire pilot. No, surely the. The Burning Blue. The Azure. No, no, Spitfire pilot. I'm a pilot. I fly Spitfires.

[Jim]

And it's a wonderful book because it's based on his diary that he kept over some of 1940. And you could absolutely see his character and you can see that he's just a really, really good bloke. You know, he'd have liked rugby and, and you know, straight.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, I was, I was gonna say one of the qualifications for being an RAF fighter command pilot is you. You gotta like your rugby.

[Jim]

Right. Right. Yeah. You could be good eggs.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Lots of rugger buggers, basically.

[Jim]

Well, there are the auxiliary squadrons, definitely.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. Tons of rugger buggers.

[Jim]

You've got. You've got to be a chap.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. Are you a chap? Do you like rugby?

[Jim]

Yes, yes, yes. You see the right sort.

[Christian McCaffrey]

You see the right sort. Carry on.

[Jim]

There's a Spitfire over there.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Mind you crash.

[Jim]

Yes.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And he takes down an ME109 and. And they absolutely give these Stukas a proper going over.

[Jim]

Oh, my God. They have this great day. It's a bit like the show with rangers at Roaray Ridge. You know, there's 13. They shoot down 13 on the 13th of August for no loss of their own.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

And it's. They're absolutely crying. They've had a bit of a tough time in July. These are the quadrants that constantly going down from Middlewall up to Warmwell on the coast and having to fight over Portland. Yeah. And so on.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

And they have a terrible day, the Luftwaffe. I mean, it's. It's, you know, Adler Targ is not well.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And what's interesting about this is that they're 10 group, aren't they? We talked an awful lot about 11 groups so far, and we'll carry on talking about. But this is. This is actually doing. It's doing its job without any whinging or moaning or feeling that they're not in on the action, because they are in. They are very much in on the action.

[Jim]

But both Stuka groups lose around a third of their aircraft and a whole load more get damaged. Yeah, some. Some bomb the wrong airfield, of course.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Other raids, there's raids at Dettling. They do inflict a bit of harm on Coastal Command, but. But, you know, fail to touch Fighter Command. Rochester's missed entirely because of the weather. Yeah, well, mists coming in, a bit of low cloud, whatever. And so by the end of the day, Adler Tog, the day of days, the RAF has aircraft and only four pilots, but the Luftwaffe has lost 39 planes and 66 aircrew. The RDF stations are all pretty much intact apart from Ventna. Airfields are being quickly repaired and Fighter Command's operational strength was undented.

[Christian McCaffrey]

It shows that not only is the intelligence bad, but their estimate of how the day has gone.

[Jim]

Yeah, they think it's gone swimming wildly at odds.

[Christian McCaffrey]

It's interesting, isn't it? Because a lot of the pilots don't know it's Adler Tag, though. The Fuffa people, they're unaware that this.

[Jim]

I mean, it's absolutely amazing. I remember talking to Hans a couple about this. I said at the time, had you ever heard of Idler Tag?

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, off the break, the RAF is fighting ponds can be broken in what, three days, maybe four. So that's day one. Let's come back for part two and find out what happens.

[Jim]

The destruction fight.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, you know, that's why we're doing this podcast in German. After all, we'll See you in a tick. I'm Christian McCaffrey, pro running back and.

[Jim]

Abercrombie is an official fashion partner of the NFL.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I'm not kidding when I say NFL.

[Jim]

By Abercrombie Broke the Internet last year.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And I think this season's lineup is even cooler. And so does my wife who keeps.

[Jim]

Stealing all my hoodies.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Stay fit for the season and Abercrombie's newest arrivals Shop NFL by Abercrombie in.

[Jim]

The app, online and in store. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Checking off the boxes on your to do list is a great feeling.

[Christian McCaffrey]

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[Jim]

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[Christian McCaffrey]

Welcome back. Do we have ways of making you talk Battle of Britain Episode 3 Luftschlacht um England it's going well so far for the gym. I mean if you're reading, if we were reading there but if you're reading their intelligence reports right now it's all going swimmingly.

[Jim]

And hurricane were falling in tows.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Exactly. The biggest air battle though is the 15th of August.

[Jim]

That is the biggest air battle. But there's a whole load of other stuff that's also going on at the same time which, which Britain has to contend with.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Right. And that's a point worth making after all is that is that the Italians are now in the war.

[Jim]

Yep.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Because there are Italian squadrons do take part in the Battle of Britain.

[Jim]

Briefly extorted.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah yeah. They yeah they have an over East Anglia extremely rough ride. The British decide that what they've to do is is actually do something about the the Italians in the in the Med, don't they? I mean.

[Jim]

Well, they've got to fight back generally they're not just fighting back in the skies of southern England it's about about kind of, you know, having a A wider footprint.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Showing that they mean business. You know, they, they've trounced the French fleet at Merzel Kabir. Yeah, they've done that. They've got to give the Italians a bloody no. So you know, that means fighting back in the Mediterranean. The decision is made, a conscious decision is made. Yep. We will keep going there. So Hurricanes are being sent to Malta, that tiny but very important, strategic, strategically important island in the middle of the Mediterranean south of Sicily. As well as a whole load of anti aircraft guns are sent out there as well. More importantly, 150 tanks.

[Christian McCaffrey]

This is a true, I think this is a true, this is a really revealing decision this. Right. If the thing you're worried about more than anything else is invasion of England, why on earth would you send tanks to Egypt? Why would you do that? Because you know, because you know you're going to be all right. When people talk about the state of play in 1940 and how the invasion fear is this, that and the other. If you want to see some absolute, crystal clear appraisal of Britain's situation, it's this decision that tells you everything. And you know, Churchill won't have made this decision by himself by any stretch of the imagination. He's only been in the job a couple of months. The advice he's getting isn't from the famous people that we know about like Brooke, the garlanded people who win the war. This is at this stage of the war where, where you know, supposedly the right, you could, for some people, the writing's on the wall. You send 150 tanks when you haven't got any tanks or enough tanks. Yeah, it's fascinating.

[Jim]

It really, really is, yeah. And on the same time, 14th of August, the destroyer deal with the Americans is agreed in principle. This is very important. This is 50 out of date destroyers that the Americans don't want. And this is Churchill's way of hooking in the Americans.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

You know, materially, financially and hopefully eventually in terms of actual boots on the ground as well. This is, this is a slow drip.

[Christian McCaffrey]

It's the breadcrumbs. Yeah. That Churchill's laying and also he's showing what kind of deal may be on offer with a bigger commitment.

[Jim]

So this means, means bases in the Bahamas, Caribbean, elsewhere. I mean sharing some secrets, you know, RDF is shared, for example. Yeah. This is, gets the disapproval of Joe Kennedy who's a defeatist and kind of frank, pro fascist and not very nice man at all. He was the ambassador to Britain at the time. And Churchill tells Joe Kennedy this war.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Will go on till then unless Hitler is beaten. I think the more we get together with you people, the better it will be for the world.

[Jim]

Well, amen to that.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

And a week earlier, the US have agreed an order for 4,000 tanks.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Oh, that's why you can send 150 tanks.

[Jim]

They don't come overnight.

[Christian McCaffrey]

No, but you know what I mean. I mean there's a longer term plan and in gestation.

[Jim]

But by the middle of August, Dowding is already fretting about pilot shortage. This is going to be his big concern. It's a big concern of park in 11 group as well. You know, elementary flying training has already been snipped back from eight weeks to seven weeks. You know, specialization is also to begin earlier. The OTUs, this is the really big thing. Also reduced from one month to a fortnight.

[Christian McCaffrey]

That is where I think some people have got the impression that, yes, that.

[Jim]

People arriving with only 10, people arrive.

[Christian McCaffrey]

With only 10 hours. But in terms of on time type, 10 hours on. On type on the Spitfire of the Hurricane or the sweet, sweet, defiant. But the point, the point, the oh so sweet. Especially in the black top to bottom in that. Anyway, this is I think where some people get the, the impression that Fighter Command's pilots aren't everything they could be. But they've, they've still been through the entire, they're still cut, they're still arriving.

[Jim]

At their frontline squadrons and they're selected.

[Christian McCaffrey]

150 hours and they're selected as fighter pilots. So they've been selected because they're really good.

[Jim]

Yeah, yeah.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And trained for that purpose. Yeah, it's not, it's not just can you fly great, get in a Spitfire, have 10 hours and off and just.

[Jim]

Be clear about this, no one is arriving from an OTU with 10 hours on a Spitfire and then being flung straight into the frame. No, that isn't happening. This is the problem is that because they're so green and wet about the ears, they can't really be used because they're not going to be any use to anyone. They're just going to get shot down. So there's no point using them. But the projected increase means that you've got from 1632 pilots being processed in June to 2,108 in September. So you might think to yourself, oh, that sounds all right.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. I mean if I were to.

[Jim]

What's the problem? The problem is, is there's a huge difference between being a qualified pilot and an experienced battle hardened fighter pilot.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I mean there's no Numbers to whistle out there. So I can't, I can't do the. I mean that's a good, that's a great increase, isn't it? But there's also other people who've come to the party. Oh boy.

[Jim]

Yes. On the 10th of August, at various operational training units there are 43 French, 114 checks, 443 Polish, 28 Belgians. Yeah, these are pretty good.

[Christian McCaffrey]

No, and that, listen, you know, it's.

[Jim]

Still 28 experienced pilots.

[Christian McCaffrey]

That's a whole chunk of people though.

[Jim]

Well, that's, well, you know, what's that? That's 600 people. 630. Yeah.

[Christian McCaffrey]

The Fuffa keep up the pressure on the 14th of August.

[Jim]

Yes, I mean this is really interesting. On 14th of August, having had their great day from operator From Middle Wallop 6 to 9 Squadron then find themselves on the receiving end because a lone Junkers AJ can comes over middle wallet, causes huge damage, basically destroys one hangar and kills a whole load of ground crew. But a 609 Squadron Spitfires take off after it, shoot it down, killing everybody.

[Christian McCaffrey]

In that raid, isn't there like a clue to what the Luftwaffe ought to be doing?

[Jim]

Well, yes, except this is enough is that when you do this low level.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Stuff, it's really difficult.

[Jim]

It's very difficult and it's suicidal. You know, David Crook wrote in his book, you know, in his diary because I flew over to the crash and have never seen any airplane more thoroughly wrecked. It was an awful mess.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, but you've got. You could send lone bombers to every single fighter station in England and hit them all and Fighter Command would have been overwhelmed by that.

[Jim]

Anyway, forecast is looking bad for the 15th. So Goering organizes another conference at Coral because already it's absolutely clear that this isn't going quite as well as he thought. Clearly though, even if the weather was bad, this is a total waste of his front line commander's time. I mean they should not be going to carnal, you know, he needs to, to come to them. Lazy bastard.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And he's upset about his storas getting.

[Jim]

Pasted, the Stukas being. So he says that what's needed is new fresh tactics. And from now on each Stuka group will be close, escorted by an entire Geshwada of fighters.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Right.

[Jim]

And one of the groups. So one of the groups will be diving with the Stukas. Second will be flying overhead immediately and the third one would be protecting the entire attack from above. And he also berates the commanders because I have come repeatedly given orders that twin engine fighters are only to be employed where the range of other fighters is inadequate or there it is for the purpose of assisting our single engine aircraft to break off combat. Well A he hasn't said that repeatedly. He hasn't said it once. And B this is contradictory nonsense. I mean you can't, you can't be employed where the range of other fighters is inadequate. At the same time assisting single engine aircraft to break off combat. Yeah, you're either doing one or the other.

[Christian McCaffrey]

But he's playing with his train set it and he's just shot up.

[Jim]

And he also says there's no point going attacking the DT sites anymore. Forget the rdf. It is that from weather there is any point in continuing attacks on the DT sites in view of the fact that not one of those attacks so far has been put out of action, which is also bonkers because clearly that's the key to the whole thing.

[Christian McCaffrey]

It is the key to the whole thing. Yeah, he hasn't worked that out.

[Jim]

And on top of that the weather is actually pretty good that morning. So this is really interesting. So Kasserine is opposite car because he's been summoned by the, by the six star general. And so Oberst Paul Dyckmann who is chief of staff at 2 Flieger Corps, not to Le Flotte II Fliegerkor, which is part of Le Flotte ii, gives orders for attacks on Hawkinge Limp and Rochester, Eastchurch and Martlesham Heath. And Oberst lieutenant Herbert Reichoff, Kesselring's operations Officer then tries to contact Kesselring for authorization but he can't get through because he's in the middle of the meeting with Goering and you know, switch off your mobile phones. They just think oh well should we just go ahead anyway anyway.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And as a result they have a. The Luftwaffe have their worst single worst day of. Single day in battle. I mean not as a result because they're fading facing the dowding system. Not because.

[Jim]

Not because Kesselring's in Castle Ring's elsewhere.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And it's an ill conceived idea. The whole thing's all conceived.

[Jim]

Yeah. And Stumpf up in the plot of five he sends over a number of bombers as well to hit the Novia. The idea is to swamp southern England. It's very much your idea of yeah, attack lots of different targets all at the same time.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Why not?

[Jim]

And they're thinking well all the fighter command is going to be in the south, so the north is surely going to be a unprotected. But the whole point about the way Downing organizes you have these different commands. And you don't shove it all your eggs in one basket. You keep it spread. So they. They only attack. Instead of attacking four airfields in Northern England, they only attack one, which is Driffield. They do actually hit 10 whitleys on the. On the ground. But 15 Luftwaffe bombers are shot down in return.

[Christian McCaffrey]

The thing is, though, if you understood Britain and its industrial footprint, you'd know that they're going to defend Newcastle.

[Jim]

But they haven't got enough.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I know, but. No, but Vickers, they're down.

[Jim]

We've already shot.

[Christian McCaffrey]

But you'd surely think. Think they're gonna have some fighter stations.

[Jim]

Because we're the luffo for the top dogs, okay? We're the daddies, you know, we. We've conquered Europe.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Okay. I'm just trying to. I don't think I can dumb down hard enough, Jim. I don't think I could quite do it.

[Jim]

Because it's so bad.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Because he's too dumb. I can't dumb down that far, Jim. Yeah, I've tried over the years, believe me. It's like that. It's like the, you know, the meeting with the TV exec where they go, good number of you as a thick.

[Jim]

Well, the look of it. Well, Pepe Schmidt, I think is. I don't know if Pepper Schmidt is. I think he's just a, you know, he just likes the ladies, likes his wine and likes making up. Total bollocks.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well. And wants to say things that please his boss.

[Jim]

Yes.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Because that's how he's got his job.

[Jim]

Exactly. That's how he's going to keep his job, too. So. So do you remember Volta, Rubensderfer from Earp Road 210. Of course. I just destroyed him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, he shot down. Oh, yeah. Because he was flying down too low. 32 Squadron Hurricanes. That's my old mate Pete. Brothers and company.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Right.

[Jim]

After an attack on Croydon, he plows into a field near Bletchingley Farm, near Rotherfield.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Right.

[Jim]

Sussex. And that's him, right? Yes. And Churchill has gone to Bentley Priory. Yeah. And he's watching, you know, the headquarters of Fighter Command. He's watching the battles unfolding. And afterwards, he's in a car with Hastings Ismay, his military advisor, General Hastings Ismay. And Ismay tries to make small talk. And Churchill just says, don't speak to me.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I have never been so moved.

[Jim]

And then five minutes later, he says, never.

[Christian McCaffrey]

In the field of human conflict, as so must be known by so many to so few. Yeah. Although that indicates he doesn't understand how big the doubting system is in terms of numbers of people possibly but let's not get hung up on that.

[Jim]

16Th is not much flying because it's bad weather kicks in the weather that they thought they were going to get on. Bad weather on the 15th actually is 17 also is not much of a. There was a little bit but. But it's not kind of all out. It's not that all out. Sort of concentrated four days of clear weather that Goring was so dependent on was so convinced was going to do the job. So Sunday 18th August becomes no as the hardest day. You know this is another biggie. So Beppo Schmidt sitrep for situation report for those who don't know military parlance for 16 August is quite interesting. He reckons that RF have just got 430 aircraft left of which only 300 are serviceable. In fact Fighter Command has 653 good to go. Three airfields only are out of action and only one airfield Manston will be out permanently. Is that the decision is made to shut it down? Yeah. Marshallsham's back in action later that day and by the evening 99% of telephone systems work working. Water and electricity reconnected. Craters filled in and rolled. Hawking staff move to previously prepared house half a mile away. West Maling is unserviceable for five days and limp takes 48 hours but you.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Know nothing to it.

[Jim]

Both sides it has to be admitted are wildly over claiming.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

So the Luftwaffe high command generally believe the builder that Schmidt is is peddling. Dowding remains very very skeptical and actually Archibald Sinclair who is the liberal minister for Air he asked Dowding about the disparity between claims and what they think is reality act. And this is repeated in the film, isn't it?

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jim]

But daddy replies that the truth would soon become apparent. If the Germans claims are accurate then they'll be in London in a week. Otherwise they would not.

[Christian McCaffrey]

He's concerned with the thing he can keep tabs on and keep control of as long as you're shooting them down and we aren't running out of pilots which is the thing he's more worried about than anything else.

[Jim]

Yeah. And it's really important to stress that Adlertag and the Luftschlaglund and the Adler Angriff might have started on 13th August as far as Goering is concerned. But most of these fighter pilots have been flying since the 10th of May, you know so they're absolutely knackered at an incredibly high level. Tempo.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

You know, and Sifri Becker, who wrote that amazing diary, and he's flying with JG2 from Normandy on the 16th of August. He goes, Our conversations now revolve almost solely on the Channel and all that water. It is so terribly disagreeable.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And it is because the fighter pilots experience, they all say this. Once you're out over the Channel, and particularly if there's low clouds, cloud, the horizon disappears. Yeah. It's gray in front of you in all directions. Orienting yourself, knowing how far you are from where you've been and all that tend to be flying on instruments if you're lucky or with the people around you. It's very, very, very stressful if you're flying from Normandy as well. I mean, across the Pas de Calais is one thing. If you're flying from Normandy, that's a proper distance.

[Jim]

Yep.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And no fun at all. And also, you know, the minute you, you get to England, you're running out of fuel. Keeping an eye on your fuel dial is going to be the most important thing if you get too tangled up in combat.

[Jim]

Well, that's the problem. You can't get out of it. You can't just go, right, sorry, I've got to go.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, exactly, yeah.

[Jim]

You know, you go, when that engagement ends.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

And he might be trying to fly for your life and then you've got to try and get back across the Channel.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Now, there's one Victoria Cross, isn't there?

[Jim]

The entire battle of Britain. 16th of August. This is James Nicholson of 249 Squadron who are operating out of Boscombe down, which is just north of Salisbury. He's hit by four cannon shells over Southampton.

[Christian McCaffrey]

What's he flying? A Hurricane, isn't he?

[Jim]

Yeah, he's flying a Hurricane. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So one hits his canopy, another is reserve fuel tank in front of the instrument panel. That's not. Hits his foot. Another one just sort of hits sort of sundry parts of the cockpit. So he's in a really bad way. But despite being on fire, he dives down on an ME110 heading towards him and shoots it down. And then he's preparing to bail out, but he can't get out because of the, you know, central forces and all the rest of it. Eventually does get out, floats down, gets shot up the ass by the Home Guard.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, at least they've got a gun. That's your positive. The Home Guard are armed at this stage of the Battle of Britain.

[Jim]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, mixed bag, but Pilot Officer Marty King is Shot down that day from 2, 4, 9. And he isn't so lucky. He's killed and he is flying Tom Neil's plane. This is the point about the slate, you know, this is why you have excess pilots. So not everyone is flying all the time. You have to have 12 airborne at any one time. So 12 people on the slate, six per flight. And it might not be your turn, but there is a sense also that by this stage the shock of Dunkirk, of the strategic earthquake, of the German victory in France and Low Countries is sort of worn off. You get, you get used to the new normal and, and you know, people are used to now seeing Germans flying over and you just become kind of acclimatized to it. And there is a sense that the kind of. The panic is eased. There's this fantastic Daily Express columnist called Hilda Marchant who sort of takes herself off to the south coast, somewhere in Kent, sort of Ramsgate or somewhere where she's sort of filing her reports from. And she writes calm, of course, it's just a nuisance is the headline on her column. And then she writes, people here, the ordinary little householders and shops, shopkeepers, continue their ordinary little lives. I mean, she's not patronizing.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, I mean they've got to print that though, haven't they? Because they can't print. Jesus Christ, here they come again.

[Jim]

Well, no, but, but, but, you know, they're doubling down on it though. But there is a sense, I think that, that people are.

[Christian McCaffrey]

So the 18th, finally, the 18th.

[Jim]

Sunday the 18th. This is a. It's a fine day, high summer. And this is where the Luftwaffe sunny are coming over in. In droves and yes, lightning. Julius Neumann was leading the six staffel of JG27 escort Stukas and he's flying yellow six, which is not usual plane. Normally he's in yellow three, but it's a bit. There's something wrong. So he's taking yellow six instead because he hasn't got his usual plane. He's forgotten his mascot, which is a mini teddy bear which his girlfriend had given him.

[Christian McCaffrey]

I see bad luck coming for Lieutenant Neumann then. If he's not got his mascot with him.

[Jim]

He hasn't.

[Christian McCaffrey]

And they're pounced on by 41 and 601 Squadron, which are Hurricanes. The point is, because the escort isn't being flown effectively, they can't help. So the. So the Hurricanes again, they cut up the Stukas quite easily, don't they?

[Jim]

Yeah. Then they end up in Spitfires as well. Neumann chases after one, gets on the tail and opens fire. Spitfire turns away. And then Neumann follows, weaving ever lower and lower and lower till they're kind of over the Isle of Wight and eventually hits the Spitfire, but realizes there's two lots of smoke. There's a kind of black smoke from the Spitfires, also some white smoke. And then he realizes it's his, that obviously he's been hit somewhere along the line and the engine's struggling. He thinks, well, you know, maybe I probably haven't got any chance of getting over the Channel. But then. So he tries to gain height and bail out, but then the engine starts bursting to flames and he suddenly thinks, yikes, I really do need to get out. So he calls up the group leader and he says, well, where are you? And he says, well, I'm over the Isle of Wight and I'm gonna have to come down. So he slides to, wheels up, crash lands in a field, hits his head, but he's okay, gets out Fort His Messerschmitt109 looks okay despite still smoldering. So he goes back, gets the flare gun, fires two shots into the radio. And then I talked to him many years later about this episode and he said, I suddenly felt rather lonely, so I took out a situation cigarette and waited to be taken prisoner. Which he was. Yeah, was then picked up by the Home Guard, put on a boat, taken across the Solent and then put on a train. And he ended up at Victoria Station. There's a very famous photograph. Yeah, this sort of, you know, blonde hair, these sort of striding with his boots and his britches, looking actually really cool.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Looking the part, Looking the part.

[Jim]

And that was him.

[Christian McCaffrey]

But this is, this is the. The last Luftwaffe could do, because the weather then. Then steps in the best laid plans of Herman Goering, which, after all weren't particularly well laid. Not only is it not working, but the weather has a vote. And it shows, doesn't it, that the Dowding system's working the way that the RAF able to respond and inevitably getting.

[Jim]

Better as people are getting more experienced. I mean, there's nothing like being involved in the middle of it to kind of sort of hone your skills. Yeah. And also Dowding is very effectively rotating his squadrons as well. So he's not making. He's making sure that not one squadron is having too much time. Time in the absolute firing line. So 616 Squadron, for example, 616 Squadron, which was cocky Dundas, you know, that moves down on, I think the 19th of August, while 64 Squadron goes quietly, you know, goes off to a quiet zone.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

And it's three days later out of that that cocky Dundas gets hit and has to bail out. And his brother John in 609 Squadron, who's a middle wallow, writes to him in hospital. It's just amazing because Very sorry indeed to hear that a 109, or rather 12 of them, inflicted grievous bodily harm on you. Mommy sent me a wire yesterday and you were mean mentioned as wounded in an 11 group intel summary this morning. I haven't heard any details, but I do hope the damage isn't too bad.

[Christian McCaffrey]

It's very good, isn't it?

[Jim]

Just a spirit, isn't it?

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, but this means. So between. The summary of this fighting is between the 8th and 23rd August, Fighter Command, here's the balance sheet. They've lost 204 aircraft, but more than 300 have been built and 260 have been repaired. So. So they're keeping abreast of it. But at the same time, the Luftwaffe have lost 397 aircraft. 181 of those are 109s and 110s. But in the whole of August, German aircraft factories have only produced 184 new 109s and 125 110s. So they're falling behind for the whole of August.

[Jim]

British factories producing nearly 500 new fighters.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. So they're winning on the production side.

[Jim]

Well, the RAF is.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, yeah, the raf. The RAF is. And also the pilot.

[Jim]

Emphatically so.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah. Yeah. So these figures are quite something, aren't they? So they lose 104 guys killed in action.

[Jim]

Fighter Command do. Yeah.

[Christian McCaffrey]

In August, well, the Luftwaffe lose 623. That is quite the balance sheet, isn't it?

[Jim]

Y But don't forget, bombers have, you know, more than.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah, yeah, but. And a similar number of being taken prisoner. So these, these permanent losses is 12 times higher than Fighter Command.

[Jim]

Yes. And if you've got a material advantage of 2.5 to 1, that's not enough.

[Christian McCaffrey]

The fighting will continue, obviously. But this is. This is the direction of travel as we get well into August. And I think we'll be taking you on in the next episode to.

[Jim]

Well, well, to phase three, because that's the end of phase two.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Battle of Britain.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Now, this is the true period of attrition coming up last week of August, first week of September. That's the critical traditional weeks, but it's.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Fair to say at the point where the Luftwaffe imagined it would have the upper hand. It hasn't. It has no such thing.

[Jim]

No.

[Christian McCaffrey]

There we go.

[Jim]

Right.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Well, thanks for watching or for listening. If you want all of these episodes in one ad free healthy lump become a patreon. Go to our we have ways of make you talk patron or officer class apple podcast channel option. Again without adverts. Thanks for listening. Tally ho. Tally ho, Chero. Limu Emu. And Doug, here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

[Jim]

Cut the camera. They see us.

[Christian McCaffrey]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty, Liberty, Liberty. Liberty Savings. Very unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance company and affiliates. Excludes Massachusetts.