The Battle of Britain Page #3

Five hundred German bombers and Messerschmitt

fighters, roared over the English coast.

Bomass calling. Planes heard three miles

southwest."

Hostile planes approaching from southwest."

The British met the challenge by

throwing in everything they had.

An historic 3 dimensional battle took place.

Inside an area 60 miles long, 38 broad

and from 5 to 6 miles high.

Two hundred individual dog fights took place within

the first 30 minutes of the raid.

Right on our own doorstep. Oh, what is that??'

Centre calling mountain one."

-"Thank you centre, we'll keep an eye on them."

Hostile formation to the south."

Some of the German bombers broke through

London's defenses.

And reached the centre of the city

Doughy?. Where are you??'

Blimey, I thought they'd got you."

-"Who me, nah. I had my fingers crossed."

140 destroyed, 70 probable.

Dear Ministry Communicant,

..the biggest bag yet. One hundred and

eightyfive enemy aircraft shot down.

End of message."

Of the 500 German planes that came over that day

..more than 1/3were shot down.

In the 28 days of terror,

from September 7th to October 5,

..the Nazis dropped 50 million pounds of bombs on

the city.

Killed 7000 helpless civilians,

..and wounded 10,000 more.

Bombs fell on Buckingham Palace.

Westminster Abbey.

The Houses of Parliament.

Fleet Street, the centre of the news.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

Bombs blasting the historic past,

out of the lives of Englishmen.

But in these 28 days, the Nazis lost

900 planes and their crews.

The more were sent over, the more

were shot down.

The British Spitfire proved to be one of the deadliest

weapons ever put into the hands of man.

If this kept up, pretty soon, no more Luftwafe.

The frantic Nazis had to pull a new one.

They did. On October 6, they changed to night

attacks.

Maybe that way they could avoid those deadly

Spitfires and Hurricanes.

Maybe that way they could crush the stubborn British

spirit.

Never mind control of the air. Never mind Phase one,

Phase two and Phase three.

Never mind control of the air. Never mind Phase one,

Phase two and Phase three.

Now concentrate on bombing the people themselves

into submission.

And make them cry for mercy.

Hostile raid sir."

The RAF wasn't much help at night.This was just

German bombs against British guts.

Hello Jerry."

-"They sound happy enough down there tonight."

The great docks of London, were left roaring infernos.

Homes were destroyed by incineration.

Business blocks were a flame.

And still the people of London took it.

Night after night they burrowed underground.

And morning after morning they dug

themselves out of the wreckage.

Good-morning."

-"Good-morning."

Would you like to sit down??'

-"Thanks."

Morning ladies. Sleep well??'

-"Fine thanks."

What about the one that came down about 2??'

-"l didn't hear it."

Don't you think you ought to go away from

this for a bit??'

Of course not. It will take more than this

to get me out of my home."

Now go on, you've got to get to work."

-"Okay."

The Battle of London, was the battle

of the people of the century

In spite of bombs, and fire and death,

They got to their desk and workbenches, to spend

another 10-12 hours working...

..working...

..working.

The British spirit was stronger than ever.

And the RAF was flying higher than ever

Not only higher, but further

S.I.O.?. Operations for the night."

GP1 562"

EP781 Ten aircraft."

You'll find a decent photograph

of the submarine yard there."

There was a very good one taken

the other night."

That's it. There's the submarine yards."

All right chaps. This is your target for the night.The

submarine and ship-building yards at Bremen."

It's a vitally important target.

And it's got to be hit hard."

In the midst of this life and death struggle,

The British found strength not only to defend but to

counter-attack with what...

..Q-bombers they could get together

Hello air-gunner, can you hear me??'

"Coming okay skipper."

Hello operator. Everything okay??'

-"Well it seems to be all here sir."

Stand by, I'm going in on a glide."

Steady!"

I got a bulls eye with the last one."

Here was the RAF giving it back.

Hitler cried:
Night gangsters. For this crime

I will exact at thousand fold revenge.

November 14, 1940.

All the available German night-bombers,

were put into the air.

A thousand fold revenge was Coventry.

On November 14, a million pounds

of bombs were dropped on the city

Coventry was smashed as flat as Warsaw

and Rotterdam.

The people of Coventry, dug their

loved-ones out of the blasted ruins...

..a them to their last resting place,

in a common grave.

Hitler could kill them, but damn

if he could lick them.

They went back to their lathes and machines.

For they knew the machine-bench was

as deadly a weapon as a rifle.

And in their hearts, was a grim determination, that this

enemy must be destroyed.

That the day was coming when they

would strike back.

And how they would strike back!

Christmas 1940.

Christmas. Season of Peace on Earth,

Good Will toward men, was the ironed...

..quiet before Hitlers great burst of rage against a

people who couldn't be licked.

PLANES!"

He couldn't bomb them into submission,

so he would burn them to ashes.

Millions of fire-bombs, rained down

on the great city of London.

In a matter of minutes, more than 15 hundred diferent

sections of the city burst into roaring flames.

Flames that swiftly merged into

the greatest fire in recorded history.

In the midst of all the fire and destruction,

..vital water mains were shattered. Water pressure

was almost entirely cut off.

Heroes of the night, were men of the London Fire

Brigade,

who stretched temporary hose lines

out to the centre ofThames River,

..struggling through mud and slime.

For the Nazis had carefully picked

the night on which theThames River

..had one of the lowest ebb tides on record.

And while London burned above them,

the people of the city held on.

Chin up and thumbs up.

They knew this was the peoples' war.

And they were the people.

And the people that couldn't be panicked couldn't be

beaten.

In the months to come, the British were to suffer many

such bombings and burnings.

But a nation that calls on cold courage,

when hot courage runs thin,

..may die, but it can't be defeated.

The Battle of Britain was won,

but not by Hitler.

Hitler had lost the battle. He had lost

2375 German planes and their crews.

For the first time, it was the Germans

who ate the bitter dirt of defeat.

Gone was the legend of their invincibility

For a solid year, the Nazis struck Britain

with all their might.

They leveled thousands upon thousands of homes.

And damaged millions of others.They killed more

than 40thousand men, women and children.

And seriously wounded 50thousand more.

But not one single Nazi soldier,

set foot on British soil.

But Hitler couldn't stop. In our next film, we

will show how he had to turn to the east again.

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