13th August 1940 We Remember

Today is Adlertag, right?

The original date was the 10th but this was postponed due to the poor weather conditions. The 13th was indeed Aldertag, the commencement of two days of continuious knock out blows planned to be delivered to the RAF immediatley prior to the planned invasion of the UK.
Bungled orders and the weather again played their part, otherwise the outcome could have been very different.

“I had seen the fighter escort earlier and had observed some unusual antics by Joachim Huth but thought that he was only trying to indicate to me that he had made the rendezvous with our bombers. We carried on through the cloud which although hindered our visibility, it was at times very heavy in places, I received a misunderstood message from the second wing leader radio operator ‘Angriff ausfuhren’ which was the order to proceed with attack. I kept a look out and instructed other crews to do the same but we saw no sign of the escort, we assumed that in the cloud they were keeping their distance.
I was constantly on the lookout for some of my less experienced pilots in these conditions as it was easy to stray too close to another aircraft. Then suddenly there was a break in the cloud. We were at about 10,000 feet and on course coming in to the Thames Estuary. I could see the coast of North Kent to my left. We had passed the naval base of Sheerness which was one of our targets, but the other target of Eastchurch Airfield lay dead ahead. What is even more surprising, was that with only ten minutes flying time to the RAF airfield we had no opposition, it now seemed that Eastchurch was there for the taking”.

Oberst Joachim Fink Commander Kampfgeschwader 2

“I think, for the enemy coming in from Sheppy, it would take a blind man not to see the Detling Airfield. It seemed to be built on a plateau, much higher than the surrounding countryside. Most of the administration blocks, hangars and even many of the tall buildings could be seen from Rochester, so from the cockpit of an aircraft Detling would stand out like a sore thumb. Most of the buildings were grouped close together as many airfields are, and even the fuel supply area which was away from the main buildings was still on the same side just up near the large hangars.
On the 13th, and it was a nice warmish sort of evening then suddenly we heard the sound of high speed engines getting louder and louder. I was amazed that I saw single engine fighters diving almost vertically then leveling out. As they got closer, I saw the unmistakable black crosses, there must have been forty or fifty Me 109s and as they approached Detling Airfield we could hear the crack of rapid machine gun fire, but to our amazement, no return fire from the airfield defences. They must have been caught by surprise as was everybody else because no air raid warnings had been sounded in the town.

There were some explosions and we saw plumes of black smoke bellow into the air, then another rather odd sound, following the same path as the 109s, single engine dive bombers came over and we could see bombs drop just as they leveled out. Huge explosions could be heard and you could feel the ground vibrate. From where I stood, it seemed as though the the whole airfield had exploded. My God, I thought, could this be real, I got out on my bike and hurried to the station feeling sure that we would be called out”.

George Adams. Fireman at Rochester.

“We were at a disadvantage, and always will be on any attack made west of Selsey. In the east, our 109s have enough fuel to escort the bombers over the Channel and spend fifteen or twenty minutes over the English coast. To the west it is different, the Channel is much wider, our 109s have to travel further and by the time we are over the English coastline our pilots have to think about turning back. On the 13th August, we wondered why the RAF had not come out to meet us as they normally would, our bombers and their escorts had a clear run all the way. But the RAF had understood that we would use up valuable fuel to the English coast and only when it was nearly time for our fighter escort to turn back did the Spitfires and Hurricanes appear. For them, it meant that they could then attack our bombers without any fear of attack by our fighters”.

Adolph Galland III/JG 26 Luftflotte 2

“Park had good warning from radar that a big raid was approaching and responded with an effective blend of enterprise and caution. On his extreme left in Suffolk, he put up small formations over two aerodromes. At the same time, still on the left, he ordered up two Hurricane squadrons and a Spitfire squadron. These aircraft were divided between a convoy in the Thames Estuary and forward aerodromes at Hawkinge and Manston. On the right, he ordered a section of Tangemere’s Hurricanes to patrol their base and the rest of the squadron to patrol a line over west Sussex from Arundel to Petworth. He also ordered a squadron of Northolt Hurricanes to take up position over Canterbury from where he could switch them in any desired direction. Finally, he reinforced his left with most of a Spitfire squadron from Kenley and his right with another Tangmere squadron. These dispositions left him with about half his Hurricanes and two-thirds of his Spitfires uncommitted, a fair provision for contingencies in view of the large forces at the Luftwaffe’s disposal”.

Vincent Orange, Sir Keith Park. Methuen 1984 p101

I am not saying that you may not have looked PJ but to everybody it is worth looking at the link each day as it shows how the day in question developed.
The casualty list for today is thankfully shorter than yesterdays but it is just raw fact and does not reflect the weight & severity of action. There were many engagements today ( the first at 0535 hrs ) and claims were made by 74,43,64,151,601,111,257,145,65,56,87,213,238,609,152 & 92 Sqns.

74 destroyed +4 to AA, 31 probables +2 to AA and 49 damaged for a loss of 13.
There were heavy raids particularly on Portsmouth & RAF Detling,Andover & Eastchurch with casualties on the ground. Civilian 23 killed 177 wounded, RAF 12k 41w.

Some days were harder than others, but for those involved if you survived today tomorrow morning saw the start of your next ‘hardest day’.

Today is Adlertag, right?

Those 2 images can say more than 1000 words mmitch. We need to remember ….

J.V.

A different bump tonight. These were taken at the Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel Le Ferne today. Very Peaceful….
mmitch.

I am not saying that you may not have looked PJ but to everybody it is worth looking at the link each day as it shows how the day in question developed.
The casualty list for today is thankfully shorter than yesterdays but it is just raw fact and does not reflect the weight & severity of action. There were many engagements today ( the first at 0535 hrs ) and claims were made by 74,43,64,151,601,111,257,145,65,56,87,213,238,609,152 & 92 Sqns.

74 destroyed +4 to AA, 31 probables +2 to AA and 49 damaged for a loss of 13.
There were heavy raids particularly on Portsmouth & RAF Detling,Andover & Eastchurch with casualties on the ground. Civilian 23 killed 177 wounded, RAF 12k 41w.

Some days were harder than others, but for those involved if you survived today tomorrow morning saw the start of your next ‘hardest day’.

A slightly better day today. Interesting that there were no casualties during the day, only first thing in the morning and early evening.