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

The day before, Reichsmarschall Herrmann Göring arrived in Holland
aboard Asia, bringing with him the news that he was now going to take over
personal command of the battle. RAF Bomber Command had been back to
Berlin again on the nights of 3 and 4 September. For Hitler, these raids were
an abomination. Despite the urgings of many senior Nazis, he had insisted
on showing restraint, but now the British had pushed him a step too far. At a
speech at the Sportsplatz on 4 September, he had vowed revenge. ‘And if
the British Air Force drops two, three or four thousand kilos of bombs,’ he
railed, ‘then we will now drop 150,000, 180,000, 230,000, 300,000 or
400,000 kilos, or more, in one night. If they declare that they will attack our
cities on a large scale, we will erase theirs! We will put a stop to the game
of these night-pirates, as God is our witness. The hour will come when one
or the other of us will crumble, and that one will not be National Socialist
Germany.’
But now it was Göring, who just ten days earlier had been champing at
the bit to attack British cities, who had cold feet. He hoped Britain might
yet be brought to the peace table. Attacking London, he knew, would shatter
those hopes. Reaching the front, he visited his commanders and summoned
a number of his new fighter commodores, including Werner Mölders and
Dolfo Galland.
The Reichsmarschall was not in good spirits. Wracked with indecision
about the mass attacks on British cities that Hitler had now at long last
authorized, he felt that it was the fighters that had let him down and told his
fighter commanders so in no uncertain terms. Protecting bombers, he told
them, was more important than securing record bags of enemy fighters.
Then, softening, he asked them what he could do to improve matters for
them. ‘I should like an outfit of Spitfires for my squadron,’ blurted Dolfo.
‘We have the best fighter in the world!’ Göring retorted.
Dolfo tried to explain what he meant. Of course he preferred the Me
109. As a fighter it was much better because it could accelerate, climb and
dive quickly. But because of its lower wing loading, the Spitfire was more
suited to slower manoeuvres, which was what was needed when protecting
the bombers. Göring had no answer. Growling, he turned away and left.
Certainly many of the Luftwaffe were anxious to begin massed daylight
raids. Despite formations of up to a hundred plus, bombers had rarely been
used in numbers of more than that, and usually they were considerably
smaller. Dolfo Galland was convinced that really large bomber attacks were