The War Over England
WSJ reviews Michael Korda’s ”With Wings Like Eagles: A History of the Battle of Britain.” Praise for Korda’s “bold and refreshing” new history includes these gems:
Mr. Korda writes with great elegance and flair, especially once the battle begins. As the Germans open with small-scale raids, Mr. Korda notes that “Hitler still resembled a man in bathing trunks on a beach, dipping his toe into the sea and unable to decide whether to plunge in or not.” Later we get this sketch of south Englanders who watched the war: “Those who looked up and saw the battle going on so far above them recall the strange silence — most of the action was too high above them to be heard — and the sunlight catching on the cascades of shiny brass cartridge cases as they tumbled down from the machine guns and cannons in the sky.” And when a wounded British pilot parachutes to earth, Mr. Korda gives us a priceless, only-in-England moment: The bloodstained pilot waits for an ambulance at a nearby golf club, “only to hear one member say to the other: ‘Who’s that scruffy chap at the bar? I don’t think he’s a member.’”
With thanks to reader Rich.
Topics: Britain, history, military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:05 am on Saturday, January 10, 2009
3 Responses to “The War Over England”
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January 10th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
The review also had an oops:
“Unbeknownst to Hitler and Hermann Goering, the Luftwaffe’s commanding officer, London had for years been laying the foundations for a solid air defense: a network of radar stations, an all-volunteer observer corps, a well-fortified operations room at RAF headquarters, and a ready fleet of fighter jets and pilots rather than just bombers.”
The jet was a slightly later development. Frank Whittle, a Brit, had patented the idea in 1930, but his first plane did not fly until 1941. The Germans had a jet plane in the air in 1939. it was not until Korea that jets dominated the skies.
January 10th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Ha! Good catch.
January 11th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Fortunately for the Allies, Aircraft-Designer-Fuhrer Hitler insisted that the Me-262 be designed as a fighter-bomber…. which really slowed down the development.