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

as the British are taking it.’ In this he was quite wrong, but certainly the
night attacks were adding to the darkening mood of many Germans. The
euphoria of midsummer had worn off. People wanted to know why the
invasion had not happened, and it was beginning to dawn on them that the
war might not be over soon after all. Else Wendel felt this mood keenly at
her sister’s engagement party. ‘We can’t get away from the war, you know,’
the mother of the groom-to-be announced. ‘It’s no use pretending. It’s here
right in the midst of our happiness.’
In Berlin, William Shirer caught up with an old friend of his who was a
bomber pilot in the Luftwaffe and had been flying over London. Somehow,
his friend had managed to get some leave, and presented a far more realistic
picture of what was happening at the front than that offered by the Nazi
media. He confirmed that the night bomber crews were certainly very tired
and expected to fly four nights a week. He also told William that the British
bombers were pounding the French and Belgian coasts every night. ‘And
often they swoop down,’ relayed William, ‘and machine-gun the German
bomber bases just as the German planes are taking off.’ How often this was
happening and how much it was mere rumour is not clear; yet it showed
just how much the Bomber Command attacks were contributing to the
battle. ‘The British are slowly getting on our nerves at night,’ Ulrich
Steinhilper wrote to his mother. ‘Because of their persistent activity our AA
guns are in virtually continuous use and so we can hardly close our eyes.
But there is nothing else we can do about that other than curse.’ Doubts
were also beginning to creep in about the invasion. He and his fellow pilots
were aware that a good stretch of fine weather was needed but that the
chances of getting this window were diminishing as autumn approached. ‘I
think we all felt,’ noted Ulrich, ‘that if the army didn’t get their fingers out
before long, much of what we had done and suffered might go to waste.’
Invasion anxiety was still very much at the front of the minds of Britain’s
leaders. Photographs clearly showed massed barges at Antwerp and the
various Channel ports. Even the President of the United States was passing
on invasion rumours. On Sunday, 22 September, he sent a message to
Churchill warning him that he had heard from a ‘most reliable source’ in
Berlin that the invasion was to begin at 3 p.m. that afternoon. Churchill,
although rather sceptical, rang a number of people about it, including Lord
Gort, who told the Prime Minister he thought it very unlikely. ‘12.50 p.m.: