Battle of Britain (September 1940)

Hugh Dowding

RAF: Commander in Chief of Fighter Command

6^th September 1940

The Critical Period is upon us. Attacks have been raining down upon Group 11 airfields and nonstop air activity along Britain’s coastline has led to confusion over the formations of the German airplanes and the inability of the RAF to counter these attacks.

Rivalries between leadership within different groups in the RAF, has caused friction in the course of defending airfields. The airfield in Debden, Essex was left undefended and the pushing of blame ensued. The conflicts between Park and Leigh-Mallory, commander of Group 12, meant that no help was given to the airfields that Park was designated to defend.

Fighter Command is so close to destruction. The sector airfields of Group 11 are the only ones that are send orders from sector controllers to the fighters in the air, as the rest do not have the Operations Room, which is necessary for this.

A bomb was dropped on London on the 25^th and Churchill instructed a raid on Berlin to be carried out immediately. The Bomber Command now has their hands full with carrying out raids on German cities. I wonder if this will infuriate Hitler enough to increase the attacks on Britain, or even launch a full-blown raid on London.

On a brighter note however, Park’s strategy of allowing the German fighters to fly unchallenged over English skies has been rather successful. We have managed to preserve our Spitfires and Hurricanes, while the Germans are losing many aircraft and pilots. I simply cannot comprehend the rivalry between Park and Leigh-Mallory! Their selfishness has resulted in the destruction of Kenley and Biggin Hill airfields, when Leigh-Mallory’s Group 12 fighters let a Staffel of Junkers Ju 88s through. The next raid rendered our radar stations in the area, ineffective, as it hit our precious electricity supply. Unfortunately, raids have been ceaseless since then.

1^st September: I started to realize that I could no longer rotate my squadrons, as they were not getting sufficient time to rest and to be refitted, before being brought south to join the 11 Group. In a desperate bid to gather enough planes and pilots, the squadrons in the quieter parts of Britain will be prepared and trained to supplement the 11 Group.

German attacks have been ceaseless and I hope that we will have enough trained pilots, aircrafts and workable airfields to pull through. Only two airfields have been undamaged thus far, Tangmere and Kenley, and this has jeopardized the efficiency of the radar system. Morale is also low, with some pilots even refusing to intercept bombers unless they are able to reach a certain altitude, as they know that it would be suicide. In the past 2 weeks, I have lost a quarter of my pilots and if the situation continues, we may not be able to postpone the imminent German invasion to 1941.