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

Zumbach survived, but with no Poland to return home to continued flying,
mostly as a mercenary in Africa. He passed away in 1986.
Of the bomber pilots, Arthur Hughes survived the war and remained in
the RAF, retiring as a Group Captain. He died in 1993. Larry Donnelly went
on to win the DFM and, towards the end of the war, won his pilot’s wings.
He remained in the RAF for a further twenty years before retiring to
Cumbria, where he died in 2007. Andrew Jackson completed three tours on
bombers, was demobbed in 1946 and returned to his pre-war career as a
surveyor in Edinburgh. He was still living there when he passed away in
January 2009.
Günther Prien and his crew of U-47 were lost at sea on 7 March 1941,
having sunk over thirty Allied ships at more than 200,000 tons. Rolf Hilse,
however, survived – one of only very few U-boat crewmen serving in 1940
to make it through the war. After the glory days of 1940 and 1941, German
submarine losses began to mount – their golden opportunity had passed, as
Allied tactics, numbers and anti-submarine devices steadily improved.
From being highly effective hunters, the U-boats became the hunted. Not
for nothing were they known as ‘Iron Coffins’. Of around 40,000 who went
to sea in the U-boats, 30,000 never returned. The Schnellboote crews fared
somewhat better, and amongst those who survived the war was Bobby
Fimmen, who ended up a Korvettenkapitän on the Kriegsmarine staff. After
the war, he joined the family electrical business in Wittenberge, which his
son now runs. He died in May 2001.
Of those serving in the Royal Navy, Joe Steele left after the war,
becoming a dock worker in Liverpool and then London before retiring back
to Merseyside. He died in March 2010. Andrew Begg also survived the war,
including one of the most notorious convoys of them all, Operation
PEDESTAL, to relieve the besieged island of Malta.
Of those in the army, Siegfried Knappe went on to fight in Russia and
Italy and then served on General Helmuth Weidling’s staff in Berlin during
the final days of the war. Captured by the Russians, he was released in 1949
and emigrated to the United States. He died in December 2008. Hans von
Luck took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union and later served with
Rommel in the Western Desert and fought on through-out the North Africa
campaign. He also served in Normandy during the invasion in 1944, and
won the Knight’s Cross. Captured by the Russians at the end of the war, he