Yesterday was the anniversary of the commencement of the Battle of Britain, for was on August 8 that Goering opened up the German aerial onslaught on the British Isles, Looking over the files of a year ago it is clear that what was going on' was not then fully realized, and it was not until so time later that it was realized that the da; Tight alr-raids which were then being carried out were but the commencement of an aerial attack which the Germans fondly hoped would bring Great Britain to her knees. As the days passed, and Goering threw in everything he had got, it became apparent that, if this was not the preliminaries to the expected invasion of Britain, it was at least 'n-attempt to reduce the R.A.P., and obtain Superiority in the alr over Britain when some thing in the nature of an attempt at landing on British sell might have been made. The RAF, did not possess numerical superiority. I had superior machines and superior fliers, and through the long bitter struggle well into October it made fine use of them, inflicting such damage on the enemy that Goering had finally to realize that daylight attacks were indeed costly luxuries.
'The record bag of enemy machines in one day 1s reported as-185, but on most occasions fon per cent. of the' attacking force were suitably disposed of, while how many enemy: aeroplanes were so damaged as to be unable to reach their bases it has obviously not been possible to ascertain. The Battle of Britain ended in the defeat of the enemy. He found it impossible either to break the spirit of the people, or reduce the efficiency of the RAF. and'Mr. Churchill has aptly described the enormous debt which the "people of Britain, of the Empire, of indeed all demo-oracles' owe to. those intrepid. young men, who, in a different medium, bore out the great traditions of the Elizabethan seafarers, 'The enemy was driven to night bombing. was for a time safer, but the British are solving the problems' posed by the night Bomber as witnessed by the fact that, even
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.