The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Though many books have been written on the Battle of Britain since the end of the Second World War, Stephen Bungay's book offers some fresh insights on the Battle.

Using material from both British and German sources, Bungay shows that the Luftwaffe, despite its impressive show of strength from Poland to the defeat of France in June 1940, was not capable of waging a strategic bombing campaign against Britain which could have defeated it. An invasion of Britain could only have succeeded through a concerted effort of the German Army, Navy, and Luftwaffe.

Furthermore, the German leadership was not wholly confident that Germany could defeat Britain. For a short time after France had fallen, it had hoped that Britain would be conciliatory to Germany and sue for peace. But when it became clear that Britain would fight, the Luftwaffe adapted a series of shifting tactics to neutralize and destroy RAF Fighter Command.

First, there were the attacks on shipping in the English Channel and radar stations. Then the Luftwaffe shifted over to attacks on RAF airbases, which, had they been more consistently carried out, might well have "neutered" RAF Fighter Command. Instead, Hitler, in a pique of anger over Britain having dropped bombs on Berlin, set the Luftwaffe to bombing London. This gave RAF Fighter Command the breathing space it needed to rest, refit, and take on the Luftwaffe in larger numbers. (Bungay shows that throughout the Battle, British aircraft production increased significantly relative to German aircraft production.)

Germany, full of hubris in the summer of 1940, made the mistake of underestimating the capacity of the RAF to challenge the Luftwaffe and Britain's will to fight for its survival.

The book is well-written, comprehensive, easy to read, and comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

No, it isn't the shout of a German tourist on his way to the Indianapolis 500, enthusiastic about reaching the Indiana border. It's the shout of a German bomber or fighter pilot, spotting an approaching Spitfire or Hurricane. However, mentioning the Indianapolis 500 isn't as unrelated as it seems. Mr. Bungay compares putting a recently trained pilot into the Battle of Britain to taking someone who has just obtained their drivers license and entering them in a Grand Prix motor race. Only, imagine the other drivers have machine guns! After you read this book you will have an even healthier respect for what the pilots of the RAF and the Luftwaffe had to go through. Imagine flying at 250-300 miles per hour and trying to pick out an opponent amongst a bunch of specks around and above and below you, trying to get behind one of them and hoping to get off a 2-3 second machine gun burst while attempting to get in some quick glances to make sure no one is sneaking up on you! You had a very good chance of not surviving your first few missions. If you got past the first few missions you then had enough experience to have a pretty good chance of surviving, but it was unlikely that you would become an ace. An ace was defined as a pilot that had made 5 kills. Mr. Bungay estimates that only about 5% of the pilots on either side became aces, because it was a rare person who could be both a great pilot and an accurate marksman under the circumstances. The author asserts that the Luftwaffe never really came close to winning the Battle of Britain. German Intelligence overestimated the number of RAF planes they were shooting down and underestimated the ability of British industry to replace the aircraft that were destroyed. The Germans hoped to win a war of attrition. They thought they could shoot down 5 times as many planes as they themselves lost. The RAF actually shot down more planes, and after the first few months had both more planes and more pilots than when they had started. The main strategic failing of the Luftwaffe was that they made no serious attempt to knock out the British radar network. That meant the RAF was almost always ready for whatever the Luftwaffe would throw at them, so planes were rarely caught on the ground, as they had been in Poland. Mr. Bungay does not neglect the human element of the story. For example, he tells the tale of Patrick and Tony Woods-Scawen, two brothers who were pilots and who fell in love with the same girl, Una Lawrence. Patrick was engaged to Una but Tony "stole her away" and married her. Tony had very poor eyesight but passed the vision test for pilots by memorizing the eye chart. Both brothers were killed during the Battle of Britain. One of the more touching pages of the book contains a photo of the two brothers at the top, happy and smiling, while underneath is another photo of Una and her father-in-law, looking very sad, standing outside Buckingham Palace while photographers took a picture of the Distinguished Flying Crosses that the brothers had been awarded.....

This is a remarkable book. It is rare to read something that totally changes ones perceptions in the way that this book does. Bungay convincingly dispels the two enduring myths about the Battle of Britain - firstly, the image of the ruthlessly efficient Nazi War machine pitted against the valiant but amateurish "old school tie" RAF, and secondly the perceived wisdom that the Battle was a "close run thing".

However, even whilst dispelling the myths, Bungay succeeds in doing so without detracting in any way from the courage and heroism shown by the young men and women on both sides. On the contrary, by stripping away the fantasy and leaving us with the grim realities of the Battle, the quiet heroism of the combatants is all the more remarkable.

This is a thoroughly professional piece of historical analysis, but it is also an engaging and very readable book.