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

although largely because Fighter Command was still flying patrols that
were therefore already in the air when the Messerschmitts came over.
Nonetheless, on 29 July, Günther flew three such free hunts. On the last, his
8th Staffel claimed three Hurricanes for no loss of their own.
Despite this success, however, III/JG 52 was about to become the first
fighter unit to be withdrawn from the battle. The losses had been too great.
On 1 August, it was posted to Zerbst to rest and refit. ‘The high price paid
for the experience of our six days on the Channel coast,’ noted Günther, ‘is
not something we could have budgeted for in advance.’ That was true
enough; the fighting in July had been a warning shot to the Luftwaffe that
the RAF was a better organized and more formidable opposition than it had
been in France and the Low Countries.
The Luftwaffe had lost over 200 aircraft in July, Fighter Command half
that, yet the battle had hardly begun. It soon would, however, for on 1
August Hitler finally gave his order for an all-out attack on Britain. ‘The
German Air Force,’ he announced in his directive, ‘is to overpower the
English Air Force with all the forces at its command, in the shortest
possible time.’ This ‘intensification’ of the air war would begin on or after
5 August.
On 1 August, Dolfo Galland was awarded the Knight’s Cross.
Feldmarschall Kesselring visited him at Caffiers and presented him with the
medal himself. As he did so, two reconnaissance aircraft flew over high
above.
‘What are those?’ Kesselring asked.
‘Spitfires, Herr Generalfeldmarschall,’ Dolfo replied.
Kesselring laughed. ‘The first to congratulate you.’
They may have been laughing that day, but they would soon have little
time for such levity. On the shoulders of senior commanders like Kesselring
and young fighter leaders like Dolfo Galland lay a huge responsibility:
destroying Fighter Command and seizing the skies over Britain.