Battle of Britain
Page 9
Polish
147
(30 killed)
New Zealand
101
(14 killed)
Canadian
94
(20 killed)
Czech
87
(8 killed)
Belgian
29
(6 killed)
South African
22
(14 killed)
Free French
14
(0 killed)
Irish
10
(0 killed)
United States
7
(1 killed)
S Rhodesian
2
(0 killed)
Jamaican
1
(0 killed)
Palestinian
1
(0 killed)
Total
3,080
(520 killed)
The Home Guard
There was a constant threat and fear of invasion in 1940 and the government made a radio appeal in May for any men not already conscripted (because they were too old, for instance) to form platoons of Local Defence Volunteers. Renamed the Home Guard by Churchill, one million men had joined by August – far more than expected. The government could not afford to arm them all and so they made do with whatever they could lay their hands on.
Timeline
30 July 1936 RAF Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) is formed.
13 March 1938 Germany, led by Chancellor Adolf Hitler, annexes Austria.
June 1938 Spitfires first enter service with 19 Squadron, RAF Duxford in Cambridgeshire.
15 March 1939 Germans invade Czechoslovakia.
23 March 1939 Britain and France declare they will defend Belgium, Holland and Switzerland from German attack.
6 April 1939 Britain, France and Poland sign mutual assistance pact.
28 June 1939 Women’s Auxilliary Air Force (WAAF) is formed.
1 September 1939 Germans invade Poland. RAF Reserve & RAFVR called up for active service.
2 September 1939 RAF deployed in France.
3 September 1939 Britain declares war on Germany after it refuses to withdraw troops from Poland.
27 September 1939 Warsaw surrenders.
12 October 1939 British troops sent to France as British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
1 January 1940 Two million British 19-27 year olds are conscripted into the Armed Forces.
9 April 1940 Germans launch full-scale invasion of Norway.
10 May 1940 Germans attack France, Belgium, Holland and Luxemburg. Chamberlain government falls and he is succeeded as British PM by Winston Churchill, who appoints Lord Beaverbrook as Minister of Aircraft Production.
15 May 1940 Germans break through the French line.
25 May 1940 British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, authorizes the withdrawal of the BEF to Dunkirk.
31 May 1940 RAF provide air cover for the evacuation of Dunkirk.
4 June 1940 Operation Dynamo completes the evacuation of 338,000 British and allied troops from Dunkirk.
18 June 1940 Churchill famously states: “The Battle of France is over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to begin.”
22 June 1940 France surrenders to the Germans.
7 July 1940 Hitler issues a directive for the “War against England”.
10 July 1940 Beaverbrook calls on British housewives to donate anything aluminium for use in aircraft manufacture. British pilot operational training cut from six months to four weeks.
16 July 1940 Hitler orders “Operation Sealion”, his plan for the invasion of Britain by a surprise landing of troops on the south coast.
19 July 1940 Hitler offers peace to Britain but Britain rejects his terms.
1 August 1940 Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to overpower the RAF “in the shortest possible time”.
2 August 1940 Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering, orders Adlertag (Day of the Eagles) – a plan to destroy British air power and open the way for invasion.
12 August 1940 German raids against radar stations on the south coast.
13 August 1940 Adlertag begins in poor weather – the German date for the start of the battle.
15 August 1940 British radar stations attacked again.
17 August 1940 British pilot operational training cut again – from four to two weeks.
18 August 1940 German attacks on RAF fighter airfields.
20 August 1940 Churchill makes his “Never in the field of human conflict” speech to Parliament.
24/25 August 1940 German bombs fall on Slough, Richmond Park, Dulwich and the City.
25/26 August 1940 nighttime raid on Berlin by Bomber Command in retaliation for bombing of the City.
28/29 August 1940 Germans bomb London suburbs.
29 August 1940 British air raid on Berlin.
30 August 1940 RAF bases bombed.
31 August 1940 Hitler postpones “Operation Sealion”.
1 September 1940 RAF bases bombed.
5 September 1940 Hitler switches bombing campaign to towns and cities, including London.
7 September 1940 Mass daylight air raid on London. 448 civilians killed and 1,600 injured.
15 September 1940 Fighter Command destroys 25% of a German air assault on London. (Battle of Britain Day.)
17 September 1940 “Operation Sealion” postponed indefinitely.
18 September 1940 Luftwaffe forced to switch to nighttime raids because of heavy losses.
30 September 1940 Blitz begins – nightly bombing campaign against London.
14 November 1940 Coventry devastated by German bombers.
29 December 1940 Biggest air raid of War with a third of City of London destroyed.
March 1941 Air Ministry publishes a pamphlet called Battle of Britain. More than a million sold. The Ministry chooses 8 August as the official start of the Battle and 31 October as the end.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank RAF Duxford, the Imperial War Museum Sound, Film and Video, Photography and Document archives and Tim Collier of the RAF for their generous assistance.
For my sister, Bonny
While the events described and some of the characters in this book may be based on actual historical events and real people, Harry Woods is a fictional character, created by the author, and his story is a works of fiction.
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First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd, 2002
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Text © Chris Priestly, 2002
Cover illustration © Richard Jones, 2008
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