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

fell from 9,000 feet. Afterwards, he and the rest of the Staffel had been
forced to land at a forward base to refuel. JG 2 were far from alone in
operating at the limit of their range.
Siegfried now had three aerial victories, although that night as he wrote
up his diary by the dim lamp by his bed, he chided himself for not having
six or seven to his name. Seven letters from home reached him that day, but
most were now quite old. Even his confirmed kill and the news that he had
been awarded the Iron Cross Second Class could not shake his anxieties
over what he believed was his lack of marksmanship. And he was getting
tired, too; most days they were flying three, even four combat sorties, often
for two hours at a time, and then becoming embroiled in heavy
engagements. It was exhausting.
War was exhausting, whether one was a pilot, soldier, sailor or politician.
There were some exceptions, of course. Hitler insisted on getting plenty of
sleep; so too did Göring, even when his Luftwaffe was flying a maximumeffort
operation. But the leaders of Britain, as they faced one of the biggest
crises – if not the biggest – the country had ever known, could not relax for
a moment. ‘The blackest day of all,’ Chamberlain had written in his diary
on the night of the 26th. Monday the 27th was to be blacker, however. Halt
order or no halt order, the future of the BEF looked horribly grim at dawn
and even worse by nightfall. During times of particular strain, Churchill
liked to recall quotations that matched his mood. He had asked one of his
secretaries to find a line from George Borrow’s ‘Prayer for England at
Gibraltar’, and that morning was given it: ‘Fear not the result, for either
shall thy end be majestic and an enviable one, or God shall perpetuate thy
reign upon the waters.’ He was going to need that kind of stoic resolve
during the days to come.
Yet if the fate of the British army rested in the besieged port of Dunkirk,
the fate of Britain would most likely be determined within the buildings of
Whitehall and the outcome of the split between Churchill and Lord Halifax.
Much depended on Chamberlain, whose influence was still considerable.
Should Chamberlain emphatically side with Halifax, Churchill would find it
difficult to oppose both.
Already Chamberlain was a sick man, although the cancer that was
taking hold of him had not yet been diagnosed. Nevertheless, he had been
tireless since stepping down as Prime Minister; not for one moment had he