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

other planes, but swirling spectrally around in the haze it was hard to tell
who or what they were. When they were engaged, they were short, sharp
fights in which the squadron became split up. And, so far, Cocky had still
not shot down a single enemy plane.
Back at Rochford, they had met some of the soldiers who had been
evacuated and had been shocked to find that instead of thanks and praise
they had been met with open hostility. ‘Where the hell were you?’ noted
Cocky, ‘that was the question we were often asked in a tone of anger and
contempt.’
Of course, the reason the men on the beaches had not seen them was
that they had been too high, often inland, and often up above the smoke and
cloud. But they were there and suffering for it too: twenty aircraft had been
lost on the 26th, for example, thirty the following day, twenty-five on the
28th and thirty-three on the 30th; 108 aircraft in just four days, most of
which were from Fighter Command. It was a toll Dowding could not afford.
Yet the Luftwaffe was suffering too. In the same period, the Luftwaffe
had lost ten more aircraft and 191 pilots and aircrew. Those figures were
about to rise, as both Hajo Herrmann and Siegfried Bethke were soon to
discover. Hajo and the other men of KG 4 had been operating almost
continually since the offensive began and not least over Dunkirk, although
their casualties had been slight compared to some other units – just two
aircraft lost in the past five days. Hajo’s vast experience had been put to
good use a few days earlier. Flying a lone mission late over the port, by the
light of the moon he had spotted a number of ships alongside the mole, with
one just casting off. Banking, he positioned himself for an attack at right
angles, with the moon ahead of him. Setting the fuse on his first bomb, he
dived, and when almost over the target, pressed the release button and then
pulled out. His rear-gunner reported the bomb had been ten metres short.
Releasing bombs one at a time rather than in a cluster was considered far
too risky – the rule was to strike hard and quick and then get away. Still, it
was a trick Hajo had learned in Spain and he knew a bit more about
operational flying since those days and, with the cover of darkness, fancied
his chances.
Climbing again, he dived once more, but this time was twenty metres
out. His observer suggested they should now release the last two bombs
together and go home but Hajo, feeling irritated, insisted he would drop
them one at a time. It was a decision that paid off. On his next dive, he hit