"The Essential Arithmetic….."

Von Perthes asked us to see if we could come up with something to mark September the 15th, Battle of Britain day. Here’s my contribution…….

During the early part of the film, the Battle of Britain, ACM Dowding said the following…..

“The essential arithmetic is that our young men will have to shoot down their young men at the rate of four to one if we’re to keep pace at all.”

At the Deutsches Soldatenfriedhof on Cannock Chase on a beautiful Sunday morning I found four of ‘their young men.’ Stabsfeldwebel Hans Vetter, Oberfeldwebel Albert Eichorn, Feldwebel Karlo Geier and Gefreiter Karl Skuthan lie in a communal grave, their date of death being the 18th of August, 1940. They were flying a JU 88 of 5/KG78.

Extract from Battle of Britain Then and Now….

“Junkers 88 shot down by repeated RAF attacks. P/O Wlasnowolski and F/L Brothers of 32 Squadron together with various other aircraft including No 64 Squadron Spitfires all made attacks. Crashed into woods at Ide Hill, 1.30pm. Oberfw Eichorn, Oberfw Vetter, Fw Geier and Gefr Skuthan all killed. Aircraft a write-off.”

P/O Wlasnowolski didn’t survive the war and I believe F/L Brothers retired as an Air Commodore.

Regards,

kev35