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

telegram announcing that John was missing had arrived. ‘So it has
happened at last,’ he wrote in his diary. ‘I suppose it had to happen. I
suppose that we were inordinately lucky to have survived intact as long as
we did.’ Seven weeks later, just before Christmas, he confessed that since
then his time in the squadron had been a blur of unhappiness and
restlessness. ‘It affected my life deeply,’ he admitted many years later. ‘I
think hardly a day has gone by since then when I have not thought of John.’
How many other brothers, sisters, parents, wives, husbands, lovers and
friends would have echoed his thoughts after that long summer? Too many,
and yet, of course, so much worse was to come: the war would spread into a
global conflict, the worst the world had ever seen. Sixty million would be
dead by the time it finally came to an end five long years later.
Göring left France in November, having lost interest in the air war against
Britain and feeling somewhat humiliated by the Luftwaffe’s failure. None
of his senior commanders were sacked, not even Beppo Schmid, unlike the
victorious Dowding or Park. The architect of Britain’s defence was finally
eased from office on 25 November, having been asked to head a mission to
the United States. Park left at the same time. It must have been galling to
them that their jobs were taken by Sholto Douglas and Leigh-Mallory
respectively; it was this usurpation by their detractors as much as anything
that has ever since left something of a sour note in the British view of the
battle. It should not, however. By November, Dowding was exhausted. He
had rarely had more than a few hours’ sleep a night all summer and since
the autumn even less, as almost every night he had been driven to Kenley or
Redhill to observe night interception tests and experiments with radar. In
fact, his plans were beginning to work. On 19 November, John
Cunningham, 9 a night-fighter pilot, shot down a Ju 88 using airborne radar
just as Dowding had claimed would be possible. There were still some
refinements and many improvements to be made, but in this, as in many
things, Dowding had proved Beaverbrook, Salmond and his other doubters
utterly wrong.
Nonetheless, Beaverbrook had surely been correct in thinking that
Dowding should move on. The time had come for a change, for an injection
of new energy and blood. He had achieved almost all that could have been
achieved and had both Churchill’s and the nation’s gratitude. But if
Dowding went, then Park had to go too. He could not have carried on under