The Battle of Britain
 

Surely Beagle is not the only one of us to have noticed the date, and that today is Battle of Britain Day. Glass raised to the aircrew, and to those on the ground, including my Dad who was in London with the AFS. RiP the departed

Well done Wander00, I was beginning to wonder. I'm afraid I had occasion to upbraid Beagle on another thread for playing the Section Officer Harvey card a day early, but would warmly welcome her appearance today!

Your tribute is indeed timely, for we all owe those who fought for us, both in the air and on the ground in that strategically vital conflict, our gratitude and our freedom. Enough of the chattering classes and their qualification of the greatest triumph of the Royal Air Force and of those who chose to come from many other nations to join in the struggle against tyranny.

In particular let us remember the AOC-in-C and his 11 Group AOC. Without their leadership we might never have triumphed. Under the leadership of those who plotted to oust them we most certainly wouldn't have! :=

I found it depressing that, on such a day, top of the bill was a discussion about a US rape case. Now we are back on track with this thread -

“Here dead lie we because we did not choose
To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose;
But young men think it is, and we were young.”

15 September 1940. Every fighter squadron was committed in battle, the RAF had no reserves.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few
Sir Winston Churchill

Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire………..Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour.”
Sir Winston Churchill

Somebody remembered
 

BBC TV South today reported that the pupils at a school in Southampton felt that Flt Lt James Nicholson, Fighter Command's only VC, should have some sort of memorial in Southampton as he earned his VC in combat over the town. They organised for a plaque in his honour and today it was unveiled I think at the school.

Polecat

Nicolson I think?

There is an amusing thread over at ARRSE about the Battle of Britain.
It seems that not everyone thinks the 'few' won the battle!

Nicolson I think?

Possibly, but you know who I mean.

Just checked. You're right. I stand corrected. Apologies to anyone I offended.

Polecat

Tried to find the film on iTunes to show the boy.
Seems to be available on DVD only.

Tartare

I watched it a few weeks ago on Youtube.

Unfortunately like many others, the film in it's entirety has been removed for licencing reasons.

However it can still be viewed if you don't mind watching it in chapters.

8 I seem to recall, but they run seemlessly into each other, so no great loss.

That also allows you to replay some of the funny bits, like the Poles.

"Repeat please!"

Absolutely haunting closing scene/soundtrack too. Lest we forget

Neatly dramatised by Churchill (and the movie), but when Park replied 'there a none' when asked what reserves he had, he was only speaking for 11 Group. Although the RAF were no doubt stretched between 13:45 and 15:45 there were squadrons in 10 and 12 Groups available to call on.

Great shame that these historic events are not truly recognised. In today's society the news media have no interest in reporting such events.
In NZ there was no recognition of Keith Park's contribution.:=

I was my tremendously privileged to witness a great event last Saturday. The last Canadian Battle of Britain survivor was taken for a ride in a 3 ship formation of Harvards.

It was his 100 th Birthday and he was totally chuffed to get in the air again. He was physically pretty frail but otherwise in good health and a delight to talk to.

Sadly it will not be very long before they are all gone......

I wonder how many millions of recent immigrants to Britain even care about BoB Day? :rolleyes:

Yet they flock to Britain because they see it as a bastion of personal freedom. I wonder what the BoB pilots would think today?

In 1970 I was on a det in Greece with No 72 (Messopotamia) Sqn, working with 4 Hueys of the German Air Force. On BoB day, we duly flour-bombed them from the Wessex and then took over the beer for a good thrash. After a while, I noticed an old WO pilot sitting quietly on his own and engaged him with my dubious German.

It transpired that he had been flying FW 190s from the Pas de Calais in September 1940 but couldn't remember a battle! A different aspect!

I'm guessing that maybe some of the estimated 830,000 Poles who now make up the largest immigrant population in the UK will remember, particularly those whose parents and grandparents came here to fight. Sad, then, that a Polish man was recently kicked to death by a group of louts in Harlow for the crime of speaking Polish in the street. I rather think it was they who had never heard of the Battle of Britain.

Having watched a lot of the action from ground-level in the Sussex/Kent border area I well remember not only the one date but those preceding and following. It also happens to be my wife's birthday so I daren't forget such an auspicious occasion.

Well said TN.

As the Poles saw the results of German invasion and occupation first hand they have even more reasons to remember what their volunteers did in the BoB to defeat the axis forces.

It's always worth remembering that the average Brit living in Britain only got to see axis forces in the form of unarmed surrendered/captured POWs (or Luftwaffe crews after being shot down/crashing etc). There is a world of difference between the actions of the Italian POWs in a camp where I grew up and the actions of the SS ravaging Poland.

Minor drift, but I was very taken with three memorials I stumbled across just back from the beach on the Dutch island of Walcheren. All honoured Marines from UK, Norway and the US who were involved in its liberation. The Dutch have long memories of the fight waged from the UK between 1939 and 1945, and of course many Bomber Command Aircrew were harboured or buried there. They don't forget.