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

finally joined the fight, and in that time Churchill and Britain faced one
disappointment after another. Not until the end of 1942 had the tide begun
to turn, by which time the grotesque folly of Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet
Union had become apparent. The Battle of Britain had forced Hitler to act
against Russia sooner than he had originally planned – before he was ready.
Once again, his gamble failed, and Germany’s fate was sealed.
It was over the Soviet Union that many Luftwaffe pilots began to amass
truly astonishing scores. Günther Rall went on to become the third-highestscoring
fighter ace of all time, with 275 victories, and later became a
general in the post-war Luftwaffe. He died in October 2009. Dolfo Galland
also survived the war, by which time he was a general with 104 victories –
he had reached his fiftieth at the end of October 1940. Like Günther Rall he
joined the post-war Luftwaffe and became friends for life with Douglas
Bader and Bob Stanford-Tuck. He died in 1996. Siegfried Bethke remained
on the Western Front, but in the summer of 1942 suffered serious injuries in
a flying accident that halted his flying career. Surviving the war, he died in
2003. Another high-scoring ace was Hans-Ekkehard Bob, who amassed
sixty victories, and ended the war flying Me 262 jets under Dolfo Galland.
He became a successful post-war businessman, returning to Freiburg, where
he lives to this day. He also still flies, and drives a convertible VW Beetle
with ‘JG 54’ on the number plate.
Both Julius Neumann and Ulrich Steinhilper remained POWs in Canada
until the end of the war, although Ulrich made two escape attempts. After
the war, Julius was reunited with his teddy bear mascot, and became a
lawyer. He died in 2009. After his return to Germany, Ulrich joined IBM,
becoming a pioneer of the word processor. He died in October 2009. Rudi
Miese was also shot down, only a month after finally becoming operational,
and spent the rest of the war as a POW. He died in March 2009.
Hajo Herrmann later joined the Luftwaffe staff and then established the
Wilde Sau – ‘Wild Boar’ – night-fighter unit. Flying single-engine FW 190
fighters, they provided a very effective night defence over Germany
towards the end of the war. He was later captured by the Russians and
imprisoned for ten years, after which he returned to Germany and became a
lawyer, defending many former Nazis accused of war crimes. He lives in
Düsseldorf. Peter Stahl went on to serve in Russia, where he bailed out
sixty miles behind lines and made it back to safety. He was then posted to