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

told they just ‘volunteered’ to join the U-boat arm. ‘Nobody was keen,’
says Rolf. ‘We knew what was coming.’
After training on U-67 and having completed his signals course, he was
sent to Lorient towards the end of August along with another new member
of the crew. Spotting an officer down at the harbour they asked to be
directed to U-48. In fact, the officer was their new captain, Heinrich
Bleichrodt, who shook hands and directed them to see the Oberbootsmann,
the Ship’s Mate. On board they were allotted bunks and Rolf had a chance
to look around his new boat. He was impressed; with the refit, U-48 could
have been a brand-new submarine.
Now, with dusk turning to night, U-48 was heading back to sea. Two
minesweeper escorts led them out of the harbour and out into the Bay of
Biscay, but after an hour and three-quarters, they turned back. ‘They flashed
their lights,’ says Rolf, ‘and wished us good luck and good hunting.’
The bombers returned to London the next day, Monday, 9 September.
Amongst those attacking the capital was Peter Stahl. He had been forced to
sit around kicking his heels waiting for his Junkers to be repaired, but
although it was still not ready, he had been given the oldest ‘sledge’ in the
Gruppe and told to fly in that. Taking off from Chièvre, they climbed
through cloud, the machines scattering somewhat. His canopy was icing
badly but when they emerged into the sun he realized he was leading the
Gruppe and so remained in that position. They then formed up with the
other bomber units over Lille until there were at least 200 bombers, and
then later, as they reached the French coast, the fighters joined them too.
Peter found that flying an individual plane amongst such a large formation
gave him a sense of security. ‘Wherever one looks are our aircraft,’ he
noted, ‘all around, a marvellous sight.’
As they crossed the Channel, the formation began to sort itself out.
Fighters zig-zagged beside and above them, and then, as they passed over
the British coast, flak rose up to greet them. Visibility was good and soon
he spotted great pillars of smoke rising 5,000 metres into the sky, which he
took to be coming from London. Soon they had reached the outer belt of
London flak. The British gunners, he thought, were shooting unpleasantly
well and the formation became restless. Peter found it hard to hold his
position and he had to concentrate hard just to avoid colliding with another
aircraft. He felt unprepared for this; no-one had warned him of the