Chapter 39: London is on fire
On the evening of August 31, Luftwaffe Commander-in-Chief G?ring and II Air Corps commander Albert Kesselring stood on a hill overlooking the coast at Cap Blanc Nez, watching as 625 bombers and 648 fighters of the Second Air Fleet flew overhead in the fading light of day, crossing the Channel towards England. The massive formation of aircraft filled the sky, casting long shadows across the surface of the water.
"What a wonderful sight, Field Marshal Kesselring! I wish you every success in your bombing." G?ring exclaimed with unusual excitement as he saw the powerful air force of the Empire.
"The British resistance is still very stubborn, their radar can detect our battles in advance, and I hope those little things will work this time." Kesselring said with concern, the reason for choosing to bomb near nightfall was also because of the current small number of British nighttime fighter planes. The daytime air battle was too brutal, the German army had paid a huge price of 367 downed aircraft in the previous period, causing 12 British airports and 7 aircraft factories to be damaged to varying degrees, 6 radar stations were temporarily out of action, 1 command center was bombed, 1 ammunition depot and 10 oil depots were destroyed, and 183 British fighter planes were shot down. However, the British fighter planes seemed to increase in number as they fought, guided by radar and ground-based anti-aircraft stations, surrounding and attacking German bombers, putting huge pressure on him.
In the bomber formation this time, there were several strange planes that did not carry bombs but carried a lot of small metal foil strips. During the flight, they kept crossing over the top of the formation and dropping the metal foil strips they carried. The foil strips slowly floated in the air, reflecting sunlight into tiny stars. All the bomber crew members witnessed this peculiar scene.
The United Kingdom was the first country to deploy radar in combat, and by July 1940, a total of 51 radar stations had been built nationwide, with 38 located along the southeastern coast, accounting for about 75% of the total. This formed a dense radar warning system, divided into two levels: the first level was the medium-high altitude air defense radar system, which could effectively detect aircraft flying below 4,500 meters; and the second level was the low-altitude air defense radar system, which could effectively detect aircraft flying below 750 meters. In this way, the British Air Force could use radar to determine the approximate direction and time of incoming German planes, directing their own fighters to intercept them at advantageous positions and times. This tactic had already been successfully implemented multiple times since the large-scale air battles broke out in August. However, things were a bit different tonight.
Several radar stations near the strait detected German air force planes taking off shortly after, but the radar screens were immediately covered with strong interference noise, making it impossible to calculate direction and distance. At first, the command center thought it was a malfunction of the radar equipment after long-term work, but several consecutive radar stations reported the same situation, and they finally realized that the German army was sabotaging them. There was no way, so they had to restore the method before having radar, sending fighter jets to patrol in the air, and letting the fighter jets discover incoming enemy planes. Although this increased the consumption of aircraft, fuel, and personnel's physical strength, there was currently no better solution, and it could only be checked tomorrow during the day to see what was wrong with the radar.
Four British fighter squadrons took off in the fading light and patrolled the skies, trying to find the German bombers. They repeatedly patrolled over the aircraft factories and airfields in the south, which had been the Germans' previous targets, but found nothing. What they did not know was that the target of this German air raid had changed - it was now London, the British capital. It wasn't until large formations of bombers entered the Thames Estuary that they were spotted by ground observers, at which point there were less than 10 minutes before they reached London.
Air Defence Command commander Edward Birkbeck realized that the Germans' objective was London.
"Oh no!" exclaimed Edward, Bill hastily ordered the Air Ministry to scramble all available fighters over London and sounded the air raid warning. He personally telephoned the Prime Minister and the King, asking them to take cover in a safe place.
Colonel Paul Deichmann, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Air Fleet, was the air commander and he was delighted to be leading a super-giant formation of over 1,000 aircraft. The swarm of planes flew towards London in a broad front, although blackout restrictions were in place, but under the faint starlight, the city of London on the Thames was easily recognizable because after passing through London Bridge, the Thames became distinctly wider and could be identified at a glance from the air.
Colonel Paul Deichmann's formation arrived over London to find it almost defenceless. The Germans had concentrated their earlier efforts on aircraft factories and airfields, leading the British to commit most of their anti-aircraft defences to those areas. There were no barrage balloons above London at this time, searchlights were sparse, and several heavy AA batteries fired into the sky but in insufficient numbers to pose a threat. Unbeknownst to Colonel Deichmann, airfields near London did not even have night-fighter aircraft that could take off, so for the first ten minutes or more they would meet no effective resistance.
Colonel Paul Deichmann gave the order to attack with relish. The dense bomber formations began to descend and disperse, diving towards their targets. Since this was a strategic bombing, precision was not necessary; it was enough for the bombs to fall within the designated area. Wave after wave of bombs were released from open bomb bays and racks, and under the illumination of the fires on the ground, they seemed like ladders connecting the planes to the ground, as London plunged into a sea of flames.
"Good show, chaps, let the British have a taste of their own medicine!" Colonel Paul Deichmann exclaimed with glee in the command plane, also indicating to others to hurry and take pictures of this spectacle.
A squadron of bombers took turns dropping bombs, and the bombers that had finished bombing began to return. Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner. More than 600 bombers carried nearly a thousand tons of high explosives and incendiaries, which were dropped on factories, power stations, transportation hubs, and residential areas. In the air, Colonel Paul Deichmann saw at least a thousand fires burning, with large flames illuminating the city's outline, lighting up targets for subsequent waves of bombers. In this raid, the German Air Force also used some delayed-action bombs, which would explode at irregular intervals after their fuses were triggered, further hindering the work of London's fire and rescue teams. What a sinister bomb!
"Chaps, look out! The British fighters are coming!" Although it was nighttime, the fighters took off under the strict orders of Air Vice-Marshal Edward Rice. The burning city of London provided a faint glow for the dogfight. Seeing the state of London, the British fighter pilots gritted their teeth in anger. Even the Hurricanes and Spitfires that were not designed for night fighting boldly flew towards the German bombers that were dropping bombs. However, most of them did not see that there was a large group of German fighters waiting to ambush them in the air.
Mantis catches cicada, yellow sparrow in the rear. Just as a Hurricane fighter was about to shoot down a bomber that had finished dropping its payload, two BF109s dived down from above, their machine guns and cannons tearing through the Hurricane's fuselage. Another Spitfire fighter had just shot down a German bomber when it was pounced upon by a BF109, and no matter how hard it tried, it couldn't escape. It wasn't until more British fighters joined in that the situation began to change.
"Comrades, it's time to head back." Colonel Paul Deichmann saw the British fighters coming in waves, the situation was unfavorable for their side, and the bombers had almost dropped all their bombs. Due to the darkness of night, the British daytime fighters were unable to pursue smoothly, only a few nighttime fighters followed the large formation of bombers, trying to shoot down those who fell behind.
The tragedy in London was not over yet, an hour after Major Paul Deichmann's return flight, more than 200 bombers of the 2nd Air Fleet revisited the skies above London under the protection of fighter jets and dropped hundreds of tons of bombs. The great fire in London indicated their targets. The dropped bombs caught the London Fire Brigade and citizens off guard as they were busy fighting fires, and could only watch as the flames grew bigger. Even Buckingham Palace, where the British monarch lived, was hit by several bombs. Other houses were either destroyed directly or burned down by the spreading fire, with quite severe losses.
The bombing continued until dawn before ending. Even after daylight, many fires were still burning out of control and sunlight was unable to penetrate the thick black smoke over London! G?ring jubilantly reported to the Führer: "London is burning!". Five days later G?ring presented a specially made diamond-studded Luftwaffe pilot's badge to Himmler for his contribution in cracking the early warning radar system.
Prime Minister Churchill arrived in central London after dawn to inspect the damage from the bombing, and a tragic scene unfolded before his eyes. Amidst the rubble, citizens covered in black smoke were salvaging essential items. The lightly wounded were bandaged on the side, while the seriously injured had been sent to hospitals for emergency treatment. Churchill noticed a woman standing by the roadside, her eyes vacant as she held her child and stared at her husband's corpse. Churchill could no longer hold back his emotions, and he burst into loud sobs. An elderly woman stood up and said to others, "Look, he is crying, he will protect us!" British citizens spontaneously gathered around Churchill, inserting small flags representing Britain into the ruins, symbolizing that the British would not yield to Nazi Germany's terrorist bombing.
The scene moved Churchill and many government officials and reporters present, Churchill stretched out his middle finger and index finger, making the famous "V" gesture he made during World War II, symbolizing Britain's determination to win.
－－－－－－－－
Someone had to take the blame, and Air Chief Marshal Dowding offered his resignation. He was replaced by William Douglas. Later, Dowding was sent to America to oversee the production of fighter planes being built for Britain. According to some reports, Dowding's resignation was for secret reasons, he did it to protect the British who had already cracked the Nazi German air force codes. It is said that Alan Turing, a researcher at King's College, Cambridge University, invented an electronic computer as early as 1939, and with this "magic weapon", successfully deciphered the top-secret encrypted telegrams sent by Hitler's most advanced cipher machine. To protect this secret, Dowding resigned voluntarily. Dowding's last words were "Please let the people forget me", but those who have made contributions to peace will always be remembered by the people.
With the help of his good relationship with Himmler, Qin Xiaofei was the first to know about the air raid on London in the German-occupied zone. Everything is developing in the expected direction, and his current task is to transport resources for China's anti-Japanese war as soon as possible. At this time, Chinese soldiers and civilians were actively preparing for battle, ready to launch a fierce counterattack against the Japanese invaders.
Have a great weekend!
It's getting late today, no excuses, but updates are absolutely guaranteed!
Seek truth, seek collection
Thank you for the reward!
