Eagle Days: Life and Death for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain

[John Vasco]

Another excellent post, ed, particularly the legal side.

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but there was one 'thorny' issue regarding the content of the book I did with Peter Cornwell, 'Zerstörer The Messerschmitt Bf 110 and its units in 1940', which I published under my own imprint in 1995, JAC Publications.

It concerned the combat on 16th August 1940, when Nicholson of 249 Squadron was shot down badly burned. His citation for the Victoria Cross mentioned his shooting down of a Bf 110 after climbing back into the burning cockpit of his Hurricane. And there was the problem. Peter Cornwell and I KNEW that no Bf 110 was shot down in that combat by cross-referencing the Lw Quartermaster Returns and the Namentliche Verlustmeldungen for Bf 110 units on that date. Peter and I spent several weeks (I would say running into months) discussing this, and working on a form of words (amended many times) before we agreed on the final text that would not leave us open to litigation from relatives.

I make this point to back up what you say about the legal side side of things, ed. Too many people probably do not realise that this kind of thing goes on behind the scenes...

[edwest2]

Thank you John.

I frequented author message boards for a while. Too often, they were looking for free legal advice, which I cannot give. I've decided to stop. Too many writers think paying for legal advice is too expensive, but too many never look into it.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by John Vasco

It concerned the combat on 16th August 1940, when Nicholson of 249 Squadron was shot down badly burned. His citation for the Victoria Cross mentioned his shooting down of a Bf 110 … Peter and I spent several weeks (I would say running into months) discussing this, and working on a form of words (amended many times) before we agreed on the final text that would not leave us open to litigation from relatives.

I know the problem and have used something on the lines of, “… but the author has been unable to find any German record of a corresponding loss”.

[John Vasco]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

I know the problem and have used something on the lines of, “… but the author has been unable to any German record of a corresponding loss”.

Things have eased somewhat on the issue I mentioned, with the relative part of the Luftflotte 3 KTB becoming available to confirm what we had known, and the additional information in the 'Battle of Britain Combat Archive' series, which shows the combat was exclusively with II./JG 53 Bf 109s.

[Chris Goss]

...and only Hptm Heinz Bretnütz of 6./JG 53 claimed two Hurricanes one immediately after the other in that general location and at the right time during this encounter..........

[John Vasco]

A recent review on Amazon.co.uk.

Dr. Taylor's book is well-written and mostly a good read even if it wanders off into many directions; Poland, Norway, France etc before it comes to the Battle of Britain itself. This could possibly be seen as leading up to actions during the B of B, but have little to do with the real theme of the book. Neither has bomber operations over Germany later in the war. The final chapter 'Conclusions' reads like something one will find in the thesis for a degree at University. Very strange!
However, her quotations from letters, reports etc by wartime German personell are quite interesting. They often reveal that while some perhaps were 'good guys just like the boys in the RAF', others were definitely not. The quotes show the nazi mentality was undeniable in far too many of them, as it was in many German civilians.
Although the blurb focus on Taylor's use of primary sources, she also makes extensive use of secondary sources including books more than 30 years old. Errors from old published works are therefore recycled instead of Taylor 'researching primary sources' as claimed in the blurb. And that's where 'Eagle Days' fails in my opinion - I simply don't trust it, and as a source for future reference it is mostly useless.

[John(txic)]

You might be interested in seeing this: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/llm-2025-taylor

Dr Taylor was booked in to give a lunchtime lecture at RAF Cosford earlier this year; however, the event was postponed until 26th August. A few days before an e-mail was received saying that the event was no longer in-person, but a recording could be watched. (FYI haven't seen it yet, btw.)

[Larry]

Thanks Nick, I think the reference to Ju 87 was supposed to be Ju88, in particular a four aircraft section from 1/KG30, one of which 'sank' HMS Ark Royal (according to Joseph Goebbels) two years before she was torpedoed in the Med!

I know that Stukas were used to bomb British Convoys in the Channel, circa July 1940, but was their attack on 18th August 1940, the one and only attack by Stukas OVER the UK?

[Chris Goss]

Look up HMS Foylebank Larry as this was I think the first mainland Stuka attack-Portland 4 July 1940. I believe Rs made an appearance first over Norway in April 1940

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Larry

I think the reference to Ju 87 was supposed to be Ju88 … was the attack on 18th August 1940, the one and only attack by Stukas OVER the UK?

That must be it. A Ju 88 A-1 with 1000 kg of bombs had a radius of action of 1,000 km, incidentally.

If you want to follow up on Ju 87 attacks, Andy Saunders wrote a whole book about Stukas in the Battle of Britain.