The Nazi Assault on London
Part 2

The attack on the London district began on the 7th September, with Wave after wave of Nazi bombers flying high in the clear skies and always being met over Kent by the British fighters. The first British squadrons tackled the fighter escorts, and when these were involved in " dog-fights " the Hurricanes and Spitfires took on the bombers.

Kent soon had many a Nazi bomber, lying smashed and burnt-out amid its orchards and the hop-fields.

Marshal Goering threw his bomber squadrons against London, attacking docks, factories, railways for a month, until the 5th of October.

Come the night in came single raiders, which dropped their deadly load of bombs at random over the London area. But the R.A.F. took a heavy toll and still gave the Nazis a "bloody nose". In this period no fewer than 435 German aircraft were brought down.

By the beginning of October, the Battle of Britain was drawing to a close. The Nazis abandoned the daylight attacks by bomber formations and concentrated on raids by a large number of small groups of fighter-bombers-Me.109s and Me.110s fitted with makeshift bomb racks. They attacked at a great height, taking advantage of the increasingly clouded skies.

This form of attack was harder to counter, but on the other hand it was less effective. The R.A.F. were able to intercept the Nazi squadrons and often forced them to drop their bombs before they arrived over their target; in the month of October the R.A.F. accounted for 260 German aircraft.

At the end of that time it had resulted in a victory for the Allies; for the Nazis had realized that their aim of driving the R.A.F. from the skies had not succeeded and could not succeed. Without control of the air the invasion -could not be undertaken; and that control was denied them.

The vision of a quick end to the war faded for the Nazis and with the recognition that the war was to be a long one; the bruised and battered Luftwaffe abandoned the battle to concentrate on night bombing of industrial targets. Britain was saved.

Click here to read the fifth part of the Battle of Britain.