rise-and-fall-of-the-third-reich-william-shirer-pdf

OPERATION SEA LION: THE THWARTED INVASION OF BRITAIN 691Guard, the blowing of several bridges by Royal Engineers and the needlesscasualties suffered by those stumbling over hastily laid mines. ∗But on the late afternoon of Saturday, September 7, the Germans had beguntheir first massive bombing of London, carried out by 625 bombers protected by648 fighters. It was the most devastating attack from the air ever delivered upto that day on a city – the bombings of Warsaw and Rotterdam were pinpricksbeside it – and by early evening the whole dock-side area of the great city was amass of flames and every railway line to the south, so vital to the defense againstinvasion, was blocked. In the circumstances, many in London believed that thismurderous bombing was the prelude to immediate German landings, and it wasbecause of this more than anything else that the alert, ”Invasion imminent,” wassent out. As will shortly be seen, this savage bombing of London on September7, though setting off a premature warning and causing much damage, marked adecisive turning point in the Battle of Britain, the first great decisive strugglein the air the earth had ever experienced, which was now rapidly approachingits climax.The time for Hitler to make his fatal decision to launch the invasion or notto launch it was also drawing near. It was to be made, as the September 3directive stipulated, on September 11, giving the armed services ten days tocarry out the preliminaries. But on the tenth Hitler decided to postpone hisdecision until the fourteenth. There seem to have been at least two reasons forthe delay. One was the belief at OKW that the bombing of London was causingso much destruction, both to property and to British morale, that an invasionmight not be necessary. †The other reason arose from the difficulties the German Navy was beginningto experience in assembling its shipping. Besides the weather, which thenaval authorities reported on September 10 as being ”completely abnormal andunstable,” the R.A.F., which Goering had promised to destroy, and the BritishNavy were increasingly interfering with the concentration of the invasion fleet.That same day the Naval War Staff warned of the ”danger” of British air andnaval attacks on German transport movements, which it said had ”undoubtedlybeen successful.” Two days later, on September 12, H.Q. of Naval Group Westsent an ominous message to Berlin:Interruptions caused by the enemy’s air forces, long-range artilleryand light naval forces have, for the first time, assumed major significance.The harbors at Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais and Boulognecannot be used as night anchorages for shipping because of the dangerof English bombings and shelling. Units of the British Fleet are∗ Churchill says that neither he nor the chiefs of staff were ”aware” that the decisive codeword Cromwell had been given. It was sent out by Headquarters of the Home Forces. (TheirFinest Hour, p. 312.) But four days later, on September 1I, the Prime Minister did broadcast awarning that if the invasion were going to take place it could not ”be long delayed. Therefore,”he said, ”we must regard the next week or so as a very important period in our history. Itranks with the days when the Spanish Armada was approaching the Channel, and Drake wasfinishing his game of bowls; or when Nelson stood between us and Napoleon’s Grand Armyat Boulogne.”† The Germans were greatly impressed by reports from the embassy in Washington, whichrelayed information received there from London and embroidered on it. The American GeneralStaff was said to believe that Britain couldn’t hold out much longer. According to LieutenantColonel von Lossberg (Im Wehrmacht Fuehrungstab. p. 91) Hitler seriously expected arevolution to break out in Britain. Lossberg was an Army representative on OKW.