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

Douglas and with Leigh-Mallory breathing down his neck. Personality
counts for so much in every walk of life, and that includes high command in
a time of war. Dowding and Park understood and respected each other
greatly. As a team, they worked seamlessly in a way that Douglas and Park
could never have done. Awarded a knighthood for his efforts, Park later
showed his brilliance again during the RAF’s second-biggest air battle –
over Malta in 1942. Then he replaced Air Vice-Marshal Lloyd, a man who
knew nothing of fighters or fighter tactics. Ten days after Park’s arrival, the
air battle for Malta was over, achieved, in no small part, by using several
squadrons operating together and intercepting the enemy forward of the
island. It wasn’t that Park was ever against big wings per se; it was just that
he did not think they could be effectively used over south-east England in
1940. However painful their departure may have been in November 1940,
they both lived long enough to know the respect and admiration history
would accord them, which is more than could be said for Leigh-Mallory,
who was killed in a flying accident in November 1944. Sholto Douglas is
now largely forgotten, having commanded Fighter Command during a
period of endless fighter sweeps over France in 1941 and 1942, which
achieved very little and cost far too many lives and aircraft. In pursuing this
strategy, he ensured that as few Spitfires as possible were sent overseas
where they were really needed. On the other hand, Dowding and Park
remain deeply – and justifiably – revered. It is Dowding’s and not
Douglas’s office that has been preserved at Bentley Priory, while a statue of
Park has even stood on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.
Hans-Ekkehard Bob still insists that the Luftwaffe did not lose the Battle of
Britain, and prefers to think of it as more of a draw. After all, he points out,
the Luftwaffe was not destroyed. Ulrich Steinhilper disagrees. He thinks the
RAF broke both the back and the spirit of the Luftwaffe in the summer of
1940, and that they never again recovered. Certainly, by June the following
year, when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, the Luftwaffe was a smaller
force than it had been the previous May, unable to fully recover from the
heavy losses it suffered during the summer of 1940, in terms of both aircraft
and experience.
Perhaps Hans does have a point, but in earlier days it did not require the
utter destruction of a force to win or lose a battle; after all, the French were
not destroyed at Waterloo, but they were still beaten. By the end of October