Just Finished Reading: With Wings Like Eagles – The Untold History of the Battle of Britain by Michael Korda (FP: 2009)

The Battle of Britain, fought in the skies over South-East England in the months following the retreat from Dunkirk, is very arguably one of the most important battles in the 20th century. If it had been lost then England would have been open to invasion or at least forced to seek an armistice from a position of weakness. With England out of the war Germany could have turned her full might against Russia and, maybe, knocked her out too. America would then stand-alone against both Germany and Japan unable to easily strike at either. The whole complexion of 20th century history could have been very different indeed.

Britain was not expected to stand up to Hitler, or if she did she was expected to bluster and then surrender or to fight and lose. History tells us otherwise. England stood alone with few friends and no allies. It took on the might of the German air force and, seemingly against all odds and logic not only survived but pushed back – hard. A case can be made that Germany’s failure to subdue the RAF in 1940 cost them the war. The ill-judged attack on Soviet Russia in 1941 simply accelerated the inevitable end.

But how did England mange this unexpected feat of arms. It was part foresight, part planning, part genius and part luck. The foresight was of the unexpected kind. Churchill’s predecessors, both of whom history considers appeasers, were instrumental in moving forward the development of Radar and the design and manufacture of the iconic Hurricane and Spitfire both of which came into service more than 2 years before the Battle of Britain began. The planning and the genius combined was in the form of the head of Fighter Command – Hugh Dowding – who was personally responsible (despite persistent high level opposition and obstruction) for the layout of the air sectors to be defended and the use of underground operations centres that could be used to prosecute the coming battles in ‘real-time’ and more besides. Coupled with a souped-up and streamlined manufacturing system and almost magical repair and recovery processes the number of available aircraft was hardly ever in doubt. The luck came in the darkest hour when it looked, for several days, like the Germans had begun to break the RAF and a pull-back was even contemplated but never put into action. The luck, as the legend goes (I’m not 100% convinced of this and have heard different versions of the story), is that several German bombers accidently bombed London against standing orders and that Churchill resolved to hit them back by bombing Berlin. After much effort (and little actual result) the British did so sending Hitler into a rage and causing him to change the object of attack from the RAF to the destruction of London. This, so the story goes, saved the RAF from destruction forever postponed the invasion and lost Hitler the war. It’s a good story but is, I think, both too romantic and too simplistic. I guess I’ll find out as I read more about this most fascinating period in our history.

This very well written book was essentially in two halves – the background and preparation for the battle (covering RAF policy from the 1920’s and the ill-fated Battle of France) and then the battle itself told from both sides and from both pilot and senior officer/political levels. Most of the details are familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of the time. What I wasn’t aware of was the incredible in-fighting and bad blood within the RAF organisation with its almost exclusive focus on the bomber and the erroneous belief that ‘the bomber will always get through’. Fighter Command – despite winning the battle and saving England from invasion (hardly single handed but still…) – was looked down upon, often side-lined and seen as an embarrassment to the rest of the RAF. I found the whole episode quite incredible considering that Dowding’s plan was clearly working where the other alternatives/criticisms clearly did not. I shall have to read more about the personalities behind the events to get myself a much more rounded view of the thing. So get ready for a whole host of books on the subject largely brought on by watching the recent movies ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘Darkest Hour’. There is much good to take from this book and I found it to be a breeze of a read. With the RAF 100 years old this year I thought it was time to wheel out a few books on that iconic organisation. Many more to come. Highly recommended.