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Authors: Winston S. Churchill
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the bombs drew into a more compact front as they approached their target. This seemed to give each method of defence its best chance, and it was no surprise that in the first few weeks of the campaign, as indeed in all other campaigns previously, the fighters had much more success than the guns. By the second week of July however General Pile and some discerning experts came to the conclusion that the guns could do very much better without undue prejudice to the success of the fighters if the batteries were moved on to the coast. Their radar for fire control would have more scope, and it would be safer to use the proximity-fuzed shells which were now arriving from America. 3 We had not been sure if the guns could use their radar on the coast, owing to the danger of enemy jamming, but so good had been our Intelligence, and so accurate our bombing, that by D-Day we had put all the German jamming stations out of action. It was nevertheless a grave decision to uproot the enormous Anti-Aircraft organisation from the North Downs and to re-deploy it on the coast, knowing that this might spoil the success of the fighters.
On July 17 Duncan Sandys, who had pressed strongly for this change, reported to the War Cabinet: The lay-out of our defences against the flying bomb has been reviewed in the light of the results obtained during the past few weeks.
Experience has shown that under the original plan fighters and guns frequently interfered with one another and that an unnecessarily large proportion of the flying bombs destroyed were brought down over land.
It has accordingly been decided to re-deploy our defences in four distinct belts, as follows: (i) Fighter Belt at Sea
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67
Fighter aircraft will operate under close radio control at a distance of not less than 10,000 yards from the shore.
(ii) Coastal Gun Belt
All anti-aircraft guns allotted for defence against the flying bomb will be deployed in a narrow strip 5000
yards in width, extending along the coast from Beachy Head to St. Margaret’s Bay. These guns will fire out to sea up to the 10,000-yard limit.
(iii) Inland Fighter Belt
Inland, between the coastal gun zone and the balloon barrage, there will be a second fighter belt in which aircraft will operate under running commentary control. The bursts of anti-aircraft fire in the gun belt should be a great help to pilots in spotting the line of flight of approaching bombs. By night they will have the additional assistance of searchlights over the whole of the inland fighter zone.
(iv) Balloon Belt
There will be no important changes in the boundaries of the balloon barrage.
The re-deployment of the anti-aircraft guns on to their new sites along the coast was carried out over the week-end and the new defence plan came into operation at six o’clock this morning.
The new deployment was a vast undertaking, and it was executed with the most praiseworthy speed. Nearly four hundred heavy and six hundred Bofors guns had to be moved and re-sited. Three thousand miles of telephone cable were laid. Twenty-three thousand men and women were moved, and the vehicles of Anti-Aircraft Command travelled two and three-quarter million miles in a week. In four days the move to the coast was completed.
This whole operation was decided upon and carried out on their own responsibility by Air Marshal Hill and General Pile, with the approval of Duncan Sandys. For a few days after the re-deployment, our combined defences destroyed far Triumph and Tragedy
68
fewer bombs, mainly because the fighters were much hampered by the new restrictions on their movement. But this setback did not last long. The guns soon got their grip, and the results improved rapidly. With the new radar and predicting equipment, and, above all, with the new proximity fuzes, all of which we had asked for from America six months before, the performance of the gunners exceeded all our hopes. By the end of August, not more than one bomb in seven got
On July 17 Duncan Sandys, who had pressed strongly for this change, reported to the War Cabinet: The lay-out of our defences against the flying bomb has been reviewed in the light of the results obtained during the past few weeks.
Experience has shown that under the original plan fighters and guns frequently interfered with one another and that an unnecessarily large proportion of the flying bombs destroyed were brought down over land.
It has accordingly been decided to re-deploy our defences in four distinct belts, as follows: (i) Fighter Belt at Sea
Triumph and Tragedy
67
Fighter aircraft will operate under close radio control at a distance of not less than 10,000 yards from the shore.
(ii) Coastal Gun Belt
All anti-aircraft guns allotted for defence against the flying bomb will be deployed in a narrow strip 5000
yards in width, extending along the coast from Beachy Head to St. Margaret’s Bay. These guns will fire out to sea up to the 10,000-yard limit.
(iii) Inland Fighter Belt
Inland, between the coastal gun zone and the balloon barrage, there will be a second fighter belt in which aircraft will operate under running commentary control. The bursts of anti-aircraft fire in the gun belt should be a great help to pilots in spotting the line of flight of approaching bombs. By night they will have the additional assistance of searchlights over the whole of the inland fighter zone.
(iv) Balloon Belt
There will be no important changes in the boundaries of the balloon barrage.
The re-deployment of the anti-aircraft guns on to their new sites along the coast was carried out over the week-end and the new defence plan came into operation at six o’clock this morning.
The new deployment was a vast undertaking, and it was executed with the most praiseworthy speed. Nearly four hundred heavy and six hundred Bofors guns had to be moved and re-sited. Three thousand miles of telephone cable were laid. Twenty-three thousand men and women were moved, and the vehicles of Anti-Aircraft Command travelled two and three-quarter million miles in a week. In four days the move to the coast was completed.
This whole operation was decided upon and carried out on their own responsibility by Air Marshal Hill and General Pile, with the approval of Duncan Sandys. For a few days after the re-deployment, our combined defences destroyed far Triumph and Tragedy
68
fewer bombs, mainly because the fighters were much hampered by the new restrictions on their movement. But this setback did not last long. The guns soon got their grip, and the results improved rapidly. With the new radar and predicting equipment, and, above all, with the new proximity fuzes, all of which we had asked for from America six months before, the performance of the gunners exceeded all our hopes. By the end of August, not more than one bomb in seven got
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