The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

spires of northern France. Hans was now beginning to tire and so decided to
disengage. After another evasive manoeuvre from the Hawk, Hans did not
try and follow but instead opened the throttle and turned east. Thinking his
pursuer had given up, the Frenchman turned west.
However, seeing this, Hans decided to have another go. Turning 180
degrees, Hans opened the throttle and chased after the Hawk once more.
This time the Frenchman failed to keep an eye out because creeping up
below and behind him was Hans. When the Hawk filled Hans’s sights, he
opened fire with both his cannon and machine guns.
Belching smoke, the Hawk lost height rapidly and glided down, landing
with his wheels up in a field. Hans circled the downed Hawk and saw that
the pilot was alive but injured. Without a second thought, and safe in the
knowledge that they were still in German-occupied territory, Hans lowered
his undercarriage and touched down beside the Frenchman. Grabbing his
first-aid kit, Hans clambered out of the cockpit, jumped out on to the
ground and hurried over to the French pilot. Having tended to his wounds
he then took the pilot’s name – Sergent-chef Bés – and promised to write to
his parents to let them know he was safe. This done, he clambered back into
his Messerschmitt, took off and headed back to base.
‘What I did was forbidden,’ says Hans. ‘I could have been courtmartialled
for that.’ Even so, when he rejoined the rest of the Staffel he
came clean – he had to explain why he had been so long. He was forgiven,
however; after all, he’d scored another victory. ‘I was euphoric,’ Hans
explains. ‘I’d shot this aircraft down and then had landed beside him and
saved him. If I’d stopped to think about it I’d have never done it. It was an
instinctive thing.’
Nearly all the Luftwaffe’s fighters were now operating over Dunkirk and
the Channel ports – even units from Luftflotte 3 such as I/JG 2. On the 25th,
Siegfried Bethke had patrolled the front above Panzer Group Kleist and had
had clear and beautiful views all the way to the Channel. ‘Saw England for
the first time,’ he had noted. The next day, he was flying over Dunkirk and
Calais and encountered Fighter Command Spitfires for the first time, from
19 Squadron. ‘Wild bunch,’ he jotted in his diary afterwards, ‘Wild firing
again.’ However, during the dogfight he managed to hit one with the best
bit of shooting he had ever done – he had barely opened fire when first a
belch of white smoke, then black smoke had burst from the Spitfire and it