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August 12th, 1940
| "The defense of southern England will last four days, and the Royal Air Force four weeks. We can guarantee invasion for the Fuhrer within a month." |
| - Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, July 11, 1940 |
| "We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." |
| - Winston Churchill, June 4, 1940 |
Two theories, nurtured carefully and fought for by their creators, are about to be tested in the crucible of war.
Hauptmann Walter Rubensdorffer has long entertained the unprecedented idea of fighters carrying bombs, bombing targets, and then continuing on in their role as fighters. Originally a Stuka pilot, the young captain found the Stukas too slow and vulnerable to be effective bomb-delivery devices. Over the acid objections of Generalfelmarschall Albert Kesselring, he had formed Erprobungsgruppe (Test Group) 210 with handpicked pilots to develop bomb aiming and dropping techniques. On August 11th, they had attacked a British merchant convoy, code-named "Booty." Since they were fighters, the ack-ack crews had ignored them until too late. Test Group 210 had scored direct hits on two of the freighters, causing extensive damage to the ships' superstructures.
Now they were ready for the ultimate test . . .
Since 1935, a team of British scientists and technicians headed by Robert Watson-Watt had been perfecting a device known as RDF (Radio Direction Finding). A series of primitive antennae had been placed along the Channel Coast at 25-mile intervals. These stations had been developed by a group of 50 extremely dedicated (some say maniacal) physicists, who worked with a fury. The British 1,200 cm radar (radar is an American acronym, RAdio Direction And Ranging) was not at the technical level of the German Freya and Wurzburg radars, but what they lacked in technical expertise, they made up for in organization. The Chain Home RDF stations were linked by telephone to the RAF command centers at Uxbridge and other places. Within six minutes of a blip appearing on their scopes, British fighters could be in the air, vectored to their targets. The German head of the Signals and Radar Corp, General Wolfgang Martini, knew that the essential element of surprise would be lost in any German attacks unless these stations could be disabled.
On August 3rd, the teletypes at the HQs of Luftflotten 2 and 3 rattled to life: "Known English DeTe stations [the German term for distance warning stations] are to be attacked by special forces of the first wave to put them out of action."
The brainchild of Hauptmann Rubensdorffer would be put into play to destroy the brainchild of Robert Watson-Watt . . .
At a few minutes to 11:00 German time, Hauptmann Rubensdorffer's Test Group 210 was flying parallel to the English coast. They split up into their attack groups and turned northwest towards England . . .
At the same moment, 19-year-old corporal Daphne Griffiths noted a blip off of the coast of France. A veteran controller, she rang up Stanmore airfield. "Hello, Stanmore, I've a new track at 30 miles." They were approaching very fast, and if they continued on that course, they would fly right over Rye station . . .
Visibility was good. Oberleutnant Wilhelm Rossiger of the second staffel of Test Group 210 could see the cliffs of Dover clearly below. He spotted the towers and receiver block of the Rye station. The Messerschmitts winged over into their dives . . .
| "Three dive bombers coming out of the sun -- duck!" The Bofors guns protecting the radar site broke into their chugging beat, for a moment overpowering the snarl of the attackers' Daimler-Benz engines. Like vengeful bees, they dove lower, their inverted V-12s building to a demonic whine . . . |
| The noise of strange engines drove through the headsets of Daphne Griffiths, pulling her gaze upward, toward the concrete ceiling. It seemed the Germans were going to dive their planes into the receiving block. A small, tinny voice was demanding, "Rye! Rye! I say! What's happening? Why don't you answer?" She replied coldly and precisely, "Your X is bombing US Stanmore . . . " |
Rossiger's plane leapt upwards, released from the drag and weight of its bombs . . .
The Ops hut gathered itself and convulsed spasmodically as glass windows blew into a billion shimmering fragments and shelves emptied their contents on the ground, spewing bits of record keeping across the floors. Huge pieces of chalk blew themselves 400 feet in the air and exploded into white powder on the aerials. The aerials themselves swayed and held.
Rossiger reported ten hits by 500- and 1000-pound bombs, which blew the buildings apart. Unfortunately, he didn't know that the destroyed buildings were empty barracks . . .
The bombing groups of Kampfegeschwaders KG 2, KG 51, and KG 54 hit the British coastal airfields of Lympne, Hawkinge, and Manston. At Manston they caught the Spitfires of No. 65 squadron actually taking off, with devastating effect. With the radar stations out of action for the day, Manston received virtually no warning of the bombers' approach.
In addition to the fighters of Erprobungsgruppe 210, the Luftwaffe has several crack groups in the battle. JG26, the famed "Abbeville Kids," led by Adolph Galland, along with JG51, led by Werner Moelders, are escorting the bombers to their targets. Facing them are the Spitfires of No.74 Squadron led by "Sailor" Malan, No. 54 Squadron, and No. 64 Squadron, as well as the Hurricanes of Nos. 151, 501, and 56 Squadrons.
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| "This is no war of chieftains or of princes, of dynasties or national ambition. This is a war of peoples and of causes. There are vast numbers, not only in this Island, but in every land, who will render faithful service in this war but whose names will never be known, whose deeds will never be recorded. This is a war of the unknown warriors; let all strive without failing in faith or in duty, and the dark curse of Hitler will be lifted from our age." |
| - Winston Churchill, July 14, 1940 |
Bekker, Cajus. Luftwaffe War Diaries
. New York: Ballantine Books, 1964; pp. 197-203
Kaplan, Philip, and Richard Collier. Their Finest Hour
. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989; pp. 14-67
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