BBC Battle of Britain - The Real Story

[chrischa]

Hello.

It was educational.

The section about the ammunition was new to me.

Chris.

[Edward]

This idea of the Germans being monsters is more than a little dated 36 years dated at least if not 70 years dated, certainly my late father who met U Boat crews at the end of the war felt that as a sailor he had much in common with them .

Good point. Yes a little dated, but we can view that period of history with great detachment having not experienced it directly first hand ourselves.

Case in point was growing up on the stories I heard from the older generation of family who were just ordinary citizens living in London during the Blitz. That their opinions of Germans flying overhead during that time were different from those given on this thread are understandable considering what they went through. I do not believe that there views on having experienced first hand the Luftwaffe bombing them ever really changed. They viewed the conflict as something they never deisred having personally experienced the Zeppelin attacks on London during WWI as well. Twice in one century was more than enough to harden persepectives for years after 1945. Decades after the war they did mellow. Particularly towards those civilians in Germany who suffered similarly under Allied bombing.

Ironically many German civilians of the WWI generation were fed up with war as well. The difference there was that in Germany those of the WWI generation, particularly veterans no longer serving in the military, or anyone else for that manner to be overheard anywhere just speaking about the ongoing conflict in a critical manner was in very real danger.

Years ago I spoke with a Luftwaffe Pilot who had served in the Battle of Britain. He was quite willing to talk about his war experiences. The irony was that even decades later his wife was fed up with any mention of the war.

[bobcam1]

.....oh and for those that use bit torrent it's available for download at UKnova.com (a perfectly safe bit torrent site only for UK TV programs)

Simon,
A thousand thanks for the tip about UKNova....

[Patrick Dempsey]

Edward,

one of the more astute, sensible and accurate posts i have read in some time.

[behblc]

Patrick Dempsey
Edward,

one of the more astute, sensible and accurate posts i have read in some time.

Very inclined to agree.

[Simon O.]

Just done watching it and must recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. It's very well done, pitched at the right level which will make it enjoyable to the casual watcher as well as WWII history buffs.

The only slight gripe i have was that he failed to mention the Norwegian campaign which gutted the KM and made the Germans think a little harder about the challenges of mounting combined operations, although he did briefly mention the differences in size between the RN and KM.

He also talked about the pressing into service of trawlers as minesweepers as an example of British naval mobilisation and yet the Germans did exactly the same.

[Terry OToole]

never mentione the raf policy of shooting down red cross marked German floatplanes,which picked up both German and British flyers

[Napalm]

never mentione the raf policy of shooting down red cross marked German floatplanes,which picked up both German and British flyers

Hi Terry, never heard of that, when was this policy initiated/was it offical of just something that took hold?
Thanks
Napalm

[ObltKG4]

never mentione the raf policy of shooting down red cross marked German floatplanes,which picked up both German and British flyers

And to the point, the difference between "us and them".

[Terry OToole]

Hi Terry, never heard of that, when was this policy initiated/was it offical of just something that took hold?
Thanks
Napalm

i believe it was official,and initiated during the battle of Britain,around the same time 3 uboats in the med on the surface packed with rescued Italian and Allied personnel from a sinking,despite red cross markings and radio messages to the British were attacked by aircraft this so incensed Doenitz that he ordered further rescues never to be carried out by u boats, so it does seem an across the board policy

[Terry OToole]

just read up ,shooting down of unarmed dornier rescue float planes ,even though painted white with a red cross was an official policy,the reason was given that they were on reconaisance missions --- absolute nonsense! ironically lots of raf pilots were saved by these planes ,sadly lots of German and raf pilots were drowned after the luftwaffe could no longer deploy them due to attacks

[mdj]

Great Docu.....nicely told, filmed and documented.

Bf109 with 4 times more firepower (55 seconds versus 14) and with 20 mm canons....They only had less aircrafts and pilots....Production and tactics was a problem....

Fighters weren't build for escorting on bomber missions....

"....The best general for England was Hitler himself"

Martin

[JG 51]

"....The best general for England was Hitler himself"

Martin

Very very true

[BenVK]

Fighters weren't build for escorting on bomber missions....

There a lot of "what if" about the BoB.

What if the Luftwaffe had already developed a drop fuel tank for the 109? That would have made a big difference I think.

[mdj]

i am not talking about "what if".....I am talking about a fact that german fighters were involved in bomber missions instead of strategic missions in which fighters intercept allied bombers....there was a huge loss of valueable fighters and its pilots in bomber missions....

Later in the war those planes and pilots were missed in the defence of "The Reich".

martin