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THE CHIZA MAIL, MAY 20, 1941.
England's Most Popular Best Seller, the Air Ministry's Account of the great days between August 8th and October 31st, 1940, has been secured by the "China Mail” for publication in serial form. It tells the story of one of the greatest battles in history, the more dramatic as it was fou jht high in the clouds over the Southern coast of England. Here is the second instalment of “THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN."
THE OFFENSIVE IS LAUNCHED
The Official Account
(CROWN COPYRIGHT RESERVED)
minutes.
In the first stage the enemy sent armed Anson aircraft of a Train- Whether he in- over massed formations of bom-ing Command. bers escorted by similar formun- tentionally rammed the enemy will tions of single and twin-engined never be known, for both aircraft
Bombers were for fighters
the fell to the ground interlocked and most part Ju. 87s (Dive-Bombers) | there were no survivors. On the with a smaller quantify of He. 18th August, in an evening attack 11s, Do. 17s and Ju 888. Fighter on the Thames Estuary, one squa-
flew in escorts
large unwieldy drom alone of thirteen Hurricanes formations from 5,000 to 10,000 ft. shot down, without luss, an equal, above the bombers where the number of the enemy in 50 protection they afforded was not very effective. Using these tacti- cal formations. the enemy made twenty-six attacks during this first stage. He began by renewing his assaults on our shipping. It may well be that this was still regarded as the most vulnerable form of target and easiest to at- The pace was too hot to last. tack, for not only are slow moving | Goering called a halt and gave his; ships difficult to defend, but eas- Lauftwaffe a rest which lasted for ualties among pilots of defence | Ave days. are always higher
when action
are fought above water He may also have wished To t the strength of our general defences Success against these would angur well for the nest stage At any rate on the 8th August two con- voys were Bercely attacked, one of them twice. Sixty chemy au craft in the
numerous
VARSITY "BAD BOY" IS AWARDED D.S.C.
A Cambridge Uni- versity "bad boy" has won the D.S.C. for skill, resource and devotion to duty.
He is Temporary Sub-Lieutenant E. D. E. Reed, the Cam- bridge, Rugger "Blue," who, as the result of о tight- ening up of discipline, was suspended from Magdalene College in 1937 with another undergraduate be- cause they failed
pass
to
their first-year examinations.
The University au- thorities decided that work would have to come before
sport. Sub-Lieutenant Reed's suspension, however, lasted only a week.
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