Battle over Britain

Wing Commander Randle Manwaring, RAF (Retired), reflects on the great battle 60 years ago and sees God's hand in it

I volunteered for the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1939.

I was not called up until the following year - in fact during the Battle of Britain. I was not asked to go into air crew, but into the RAF Regiment, which grew out of the problems of defending and capturing airfields.

However, I lived through the Battle of Britain and the subsequent hopes and fears, and would like to record the way in which the Hand of God protected our land.

The evacuation of Dunkirk had an element of miracle about it, for low cloud protected our men from air attack, the sea was smooth and an armada of little ships set out from England to bring the troops back. (There is a full discussion of Hitler's decision to hold back his forces at this time in Sir Basil Liddell-Hart's History of the Second World War. The primary candidates for the explanation are either that Hitler was afraid of over-committing his tanks or that he hoped that allowing the British forces to escape would pave the way to an honourable cease-fire with Britain. Either way the hand of God was still at work. Ed.)

German invasion plans

With all our equipment lost in France, also 474 aircraft, our army was in tatters and Hitler was poised for what he thought, reasonably, would be a knock-out blow. He planned to land on the south coast of England between September 16 and 20, when the weather is usually good (and people swim the Channel), but, miraculously, I think, between September 17 and 29, gales sprang up and the German invasion fleet, collected in ports along the French coast, had to be moved into big harbours.

The Germans announced that Providence had twice favoured the British. They said that the tide stood still at Dunkirk, and now gales thwarted their plans. So Germany said: 'Let them wait until the November / December fogs and then they will get their deserts'. But there were no fogs, and finally, the Germans gave up the idea of invading us, and attacked Russia instead.

Dogfights

During the actual Battle of Britain in 1940 the skies over southern England were alive with fighter planes in combat with powerful German bombers. By August 18, 697 German aircraft, it was reckoned, had been destroyed, and the Luftwaffe was told to take a little rest. Three weeks later on September 7, their attack was switched to London and the docks, so the battle became over Britain, and officially lasted until October 31 1940.

However, it was reckoned that the climax of the air battle came on September 15, when our Hurricanes and Spitfires met 250 enemy aircraft in the morning and another 250 in the afternoon, the German aircrews having been told to take one and a half hours off for lunch. So September 15 was rightly known as 'The Greatest Day'. England was described by Germany as 'The last enemy - England', but by the grace of God and his sheltering Hand we were preserved, and future historians may well compare the Battle of Britain with Trafalgar and Waterloo.

'Never in the field . . .'

In a memorable broadcast on August 20, Winston Churchill said: 'The gratitude of every home in our island goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.'

Air Chief Marshall Dowding, then head of Fighter Command, said: 'I pay homage to the very gallant boys who gave their all that our nation might live. I pay tribute to their leaders. But I say with absolute conviction that I can trace the intervention of God, not only in the battle, but in the events that led up to it.'

The Germans, although led by an evil man, had no monopoly of sin and German Christians must have done their best to restrain him, but we can all be thankful that our country was once again preserved - as it had been from the Armada, Napoleonic invasion, and, in 1940, from Hitler and his invasion plans.

Randle Manwaring

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