October's This Month In History

Patrick Anderson
Oct 30, 2022
9 min read

Defenders of The British Isles - How So Few Saved So Many

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

-Winston Churchill

Despite this quote being said in November of 1942 after the allied victory in the Battle of El-Alamein, I think it is quite fitting in the context of the end of the Battle of Britain in October 1940 and is something Churchill could have said if not for the need to "milk the cow of victory" as much as possible, especially after such a long and devastating battle that shook the British people to such an extent.

The Battle of Britain was without a doubt one of the most important and influential battles of the second world war, and by extention all of modern history to this day. Who knows what could have happened if not for the aerial victory that prevented the landing of German forces on the British Isles? The Allied Liberation of Western Europe would have been made impossible, any operations in Europe, especially bombing missions would be near impossible and the vital threat ofBritain to the progress of the III Reich would be removed.

Yet despite how important this battle was and how devastating it proved to be, there wasn't really any clear end, the bombing continued, later strengthened by the new "vengence weapons" including the first ever use of ballistic missiles.

“You ask what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terror. Victory however long and hard the road may be. For without victory there is no survival.”

-Winston Churchill

The quote above comes from Winston Churchill's first speech as Prime Minister, in the House of Commons, on the 13th of May, 1940. Soon, only 3 months later, he would prove this over the months to come, and the road truly was both long and hard. The Battle of Britain lasted a painful 3 months and 3 weeks, and as mentioned earlier the sustained bombing didn't truly stop until May, 1941. Yet the battle proved incredibly prosperous both from a tactical and morale view. Possibly one of the most important effects on allied morale was the fact that it was the first campaign where the allies had not only defeated but devastated the German forces. In fact the damage was so heavy that the Luftwaffe (German airforce) never fully recovered for the rest of the way, especially because of the loss of so many experienced pilots. The Germans had lost almost 2000 aircraft together with almost 2600 aircrew and another 925 captured by the British. For comparison the British had lost over 1700 aircraft, a heavy toll on RAF (Royal Air Force). Unlike the Luftwaffe, the British had lost around 1500 aircrew, around half as much as the Germans. This was mainly because most of the fighting happened above British soil, which meant that any surviving German pilots would be captured while the British were safe and sound. Another important factor was the targeting of German sea rescue aircraft, tasked with picking up downed pilots, by British aircraft after the order was given by the Air Ministry after a downed He 59 (sea rescue aircraft) was shot down by the British and the pilot's log showed that he had noted the position of British ships. This event raised a lot of controversy as the german command demanded this order was withdrawn, saying it broke the rules of the Geneva Convention, insisting that the pilot was not under orders to take such notes.

Because of the desperate situation of Britain, the RAF recruited many pilots from the Commonwealth, immigrants from other countries, especially those exiled from countries conquered by the III Reich, and even a few pilots from at the time neutral countries. Some of these pilots were: 126 New Zealanders, 98 Canadians, 33 Australians, 25 South Africans,3 Rhodesians, a Jamaican, a Barbadian, a Newfoundlander, 145 Poles, 88 Czechoslovaks, 29 Belgians, 13 Frenchmen, an Austrian, 10 Irish and 11 Americans. Some of the most famous of these pilots are those of the famous .303 Squadron, a polish fighter squadron which claimed a whopping 126 kills in the Battle of Britain alone, amounting to almost 5% of the total allied aerial victories during the battle which made .303 squadron the most successful squadron of the RAF in the battle, despite joining 2 months late. The gallant squadron continued to claim a total of 297 air-to-air kills from 1940 to 1945 making it the most successful Polish RAF squadron of the war.

This Month's Historical Figure......s!

Douglas Bader

Born in 1910, he was a flying ace in the RAF and achieved the rank of Group Captain. He is most famous for losing both legs as a result of an accident during a flight in 1930, one was amputated above, and one below the knee. Despite this disability, he stubbornly requested to be accepted back into active service in the RAF and in 1939 the request was accepte

d. He fought in the Battle of Britain and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross soon after. In total, he achieved 22 confirmed kills. In 1941 his aircraft was shot down, though it is still uncertain what happened. Bader initially claimed an enemy BF109 fighter had rammed him though it is more probable that he was shot down, though many things point to it have being a case of "friendly-fire" from a British Spitfire rather than a German fighter. As a result of bailing out of his aircraft he lost one of his prosthetic legs, it got caught inside the cockpit, and the other was damaged heavily. He was taken to a hospital in Saint-Omer (France) after his capture where he was visited by German fighter ace and commander of the unit that had participated in his final dogfight. Little did Bader know that this Luftwaffe officer was to become his friend for life.

Douglas Bader on his aircraft

Adolf Galland received him as a friend and invited Bader to his airfield and let him sit in the cockpit of his BF109 fighter. When Bader jokingly asked if he could do a test flight around the airfield, Galland refused with a fair amount of laughter. Galland reached out to the British with a request for replacement prosthetic legs for Bader and in operation "Leg" (no joke, the RAF literally codenamed it that) a British bomber dropped them in a crate over a Luftwaffe base. Bader attempted escaping so many times that the Germans threatened to take his legs away. The Germans ended up sending him to the "Inescapable" Colditz Castle to be sure. He remained there until it's liberation by the First US Army in 1945.

Aircraft of Douglas Bader

After the war he spent some years in the RAF but then went on to consider politics and eventually became the managing director of Shell Aircraft until his retirement in 1969. He met Galland on multiple occasions after the war and together they served as technical advisors during the making of the film "Battle of Britain" often seen on set with model aircraft, showing the producers what aerial combat looked like. He died in 1982 of a heart attack. One of the many people to attend his funeral was Adolf Galland who had flown there from a business trip in California. Peter Tory wrote this, in his "London Diary", of his appearance:

Certainly Bader, had he been present, would have instantly recognised the stranger in the dark raincoat. Stomping over to his side, he would have banged him on the back and bellowed: "Bloody good show, glad you could come!"

-Peter Tory

Bader campaigned for disabled people and received the title of Knight Bachelor for his services to disabled people. He kept flying until he stopped in 1979 because of ill health.

Adolf Galland

Born in 1912 he was a general in the Luftwaffe and a fighter ace with 104 aerial victories.

As already mentioned, he befriended British fighter ace Douglas Bader in 1941 and remained his close friend for over 40 years. He held his first command in the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War and continued to command several different fighter squadrons. He was chosen in November of 1941 to command the Luftwaffe fighter force.

He participated in all major campaigns in Western Europe including in the Mediterranean and the defence of Germany. He was one of the few ace pilots to ever fly the new German ME 262 jet fighter, a breakthrough design in aircraft technology and the first mass produced jet fighter in history. Galland recognised the potential in the new fighter and pressed the requests for more jet fighters on many occasions. In June of 1945 he led the "Fighter Pilots Revolt" against Göring, the commander of the Luftwaffe and a Nazi Party member. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS wanted to personally put him on charge for treason. He was dismissed from his command and replaced with a more favourable Nazi Party supporter. He was placed under house arrest but eventually was released and given command of a squadron of the new ME 262 fighter jets. Galland was known for familiarising himself with a wide variety of German aircraft.

Adolf Galland's aircraft

On the 1st of May, 1945 he surrendered himself and his whole unit of ME 262's to the Americans and after being sent to England he was released in 1947. He trained the Argentinian air force, thanks to being fluent in Spanish. He wrote an autobiography titled "Die Ersten und die Letzten" (The first and the last). In 1962 he purchased an aircraft of his own. He was also very close friends with RAF ace Robert Standford Tuck who later became the godfather of his son Andreas. In 1969 he was a technical advisor together with his friends Robert Standford Tuck and Douglas Bader on the set of the film "Battle of Britain". He attended the funerals of Bader and Tuck in 1982 and 1987 respectively. In 1996 he was taken seriously ill and died soon after in his home.

Adolf Galland and Douglas Bader after the war

Other Important Historical Dates

October 2, 1975 - Japanese Emperor Hirohito visited The White House for the first time.

October 4, 1830 - Belgium gains its independence.

October 11, 1939 - Einstein warned President Roosevelt that his theories could result in the III Reich's development of an atomic bomb. He suggested that they develop their own bomb. This caused the start of the top secret "Manhattan Project."

October 12, 1492 - After sailing for 33 days, Christopher Columbus found "The New World"

October 13, 54 A.D. - Roman Emperor Claudius died as a result of eating mushrooms that had been poisoned by his wife Agrippina.

October 14, 1066 - The Norman Conquest started with the Battle of Hastings during which King Harold II of England, was defeated and killed.

October 15, 1815 - Napoleon Bonaparte reached the Island of St. Helena after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, this was where he would die.

October 16, 1916 - The first birth control clinic in America opened in New York.

October 19, 1987 - "Black Monday" took place on Wall Street when stocks plumitted a record 22.6 per cent, the largest one-day drop in history.

October 20, 1818 - The U.S. and Britain agreed to place the U.S.- Canadian border on the 49th parallel.

October 21, 1805 - The Battle of Trafalgar was fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined French and Spanish fleets. The British victory meant and end to the threat of Napoleon's invasion of England.

October 28, 1636 - Harvard University, was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It gained its name after John Harvard, who donated his book collection and half of his estate.

October 28, 1922 - Fascist "blackshirts" began their "March on Rome" from Naples which resulted in the creation of a dictatorship under fascist Benito Mussolini.

October 31, 1517 - Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the doors of Wittenberg's palace church, criticising the church and questioning many practices. This marked the birth of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

Birthdays

October 2, 1869 - Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India. He achieved worldwide fame for his devout lifestyle and nonviolent resistance which ended British rule over India.

October 9, 1940 - John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England. He was a member of The Beatles. He was murdered in New York City in 1980.

October 10, 1813 - Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi was born in Le Roncole, Italy. His many operas include; Rigoletto, La Traviata and Aida, and are some of the most popular classical music today.

October 14, 1890 - Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas. He served two terms as the 34th President. Nicknamed "Ike," he became Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II. He achieved the rank of Five-star General.

October 22, 1811 - Hungarian composer Franz Liszt was born in Raiding, Hungary. He was an amazing pianist and is best known for Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, Liebestraum No. 3, and his Faust and Dante symphonies.

October 25, 1881 - Artist Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain.

October 28, 1955 - Microsoft founder Bill Gates was born in Seattle. In 1975, he co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen. Gates became a billionaire at the age of 31 and to this day is one of the world's richest people.

October 29, 1897 - Nazi propaganda minister Paul Joseph Goebbels was born in Rheydt, near Dusseldorf, Germany. A master propagandist, he controlled all Nazi newspapers, radio and film production during the fascist regime.

Up To Date With Historical Events

The Battle of Hastings

On the 15th and 16th of October 2022, the anniversary of Battle of Hastings was held. Over 300 re-enactors brought to life one of the most famous battles in British history.

The End of The Warsaw Uprising

The Fire that had been burning for 63 days, was put out on the 3rd of October, symbolising the anniversary of the ending of the desperate Warsaw Uprising.

Mazowsze Knight Tournament

On the 2nd of October, the Mazowsze Knight Tournament took place.

Commemoration of the Battle of Jemappes (1792)

On the 5th and 6th of October the commemoration took place

Eyewitness Event, Overloon Military Museum

During the weekend of the 15th and 16th of October, various re-enactment groups, representing American, British and German forces, presented themselves to visitors and depicted battles of the Western Front in 1944.

Anniversary of The Battle of Austerlitz (1807)

The 217th anniversary of The Battle Of Austerlitz will take place from the 2nd to the 4th of December 2022. There will be multiple re-enactments with hundreds of participants, get your tickets now!