Britain at War, 1942 — Part 2

Members of the Women's Land Army ploughing in Hertfordshire, March 1942.

Between January 1942 and D-Day in 1944 more than a million and a half U.S. servicemen arrived in Britain. There were complaints that the Americans were “overpaid, oversexed and over here,” but paradoxically most civilians were sympathetic to black G.I.s, victims of colour bars in their own army.

Although women did not fly in direct combat, 166 served in the Air Transport Auxiliary which ferried aircraft from factories to their bases, and servicewomen like this Wren (from WRNS, Women's Royal Naval Service) radio mechanic flew to test radios.

In 1942 the Germans mounted hit and run “Baedeker raids” on historic cities in retaliation for raids on Lübeck and Rostock. Canterbury cathedral was damaged in June.

Many anti-aircraft batteries has male and female personnel. These women of the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) operate a mobile power-plant on an anti-aircraft site in December 1942.

North Africa — Part 1

In 1942, Allied fortunes in North Africa ebbed at first, when the German General Erwin Rommel turned the strong defensive line running from Gazala on the coast to Bir Hacheim in the desert, took Tobruk, and went on to cross the Egyptian frontier. There he was checked, initially at First Alamein on July 1, and then at Alam Haifa at the very end of September. In October, British General Montgomery, the newly appointed commander of 8th Army, won the battle of El Alamein. The following month an Allied army landed in French North Africa, catching Axis forces in the theatre in a gigantic pincer which would eventually snap shut in 1943. Above, A Hudson MkVI bomber over the Pyramids, Summer 1942.

A January 1942 photograph of an Italian convoy caught by the RAF on the coast road during Rommel's withdrawal the previous month.

Although this photograph is blurred and undated (though it passed the censor in 1942) it gives a good impression of infantry of the 4th Indian Division moving up with a shell bursting dangerously close.

The British might have won the Gazala battles of May-June 1942, but superior German generalship and all-arms tactics eventually proved too much for them. Neverthrless, the Germans did not have it all their own way. Here a new U.S.-supplied Grant tank, which mounted a 75mm gun in its hull and a 37mm in the turret, passes a burning German tank.

A 25-pounder in action at night, June 2. These weapons were often used in the anti-tank role in the desert, and during the Gazala battles their detachments frequently fought them to a finish as German tanks overran their positions.

The Stuka dive-bomber, so useful for providing close air support, was very vulnerable without fighter support. These Messerschmitt Me 109 fighters aircraft wait at their desert strip while ground crew snatch an alfresco lunch.

The Eastern Front — 1942

In Russia the Germans survived the crisis of the Russian winter counteroffensive, and in April 1942 Hitler issued orders for Operation Blue, a major offensive in the south aimed at the oilfields of the Caucasus. In June the attack began well, with scenes reminiscent of victories the previous year, and the Germans pushed deep into the Caucasus. But by mid-September the offensive had stalled, and German 6th Army was making heavy weather of its attack on Stalingrad, on the Volga. On November 19, the Russians launched carefully husbanded reserves to began the attack which led to the encirclement of the 6th Army in one of the war's most terrible battles. Above, a Russian heavy machine-gun in the snow, winter 1941-42.

The Russian winter not only caught the Germans without proper clothing but caused serious difficulties for vehicles not designed with this climate in mind. Here a tank drags an assault gun from a snowdrift.

Although the Germans occupied the Crimea in 1941, the naval base of Sevastopol held out. It was eventually taken in July 1942 after heavy bombardments which reduced the city to rubble.

In early August 6th Army destroyed most of a Russian army in the bend of the Don north of Kalach. This is the apocalyptic scene on the river bank in the first week of August.

Operation Edelweiss, initiated when Hitler cancelled Operation Blue in July, sent Army Group A deep into the Caucasus. Here a German anti-tank unit is silhouetted by smoke from burning oilfields at Maikop, fired by their defenders, in the last week of August.

Operation Heron saw Army Group B drive for the Volga with the aim of taking Stalingrad and extending down the river as far as Astrakhan. Here German infantry move up as Stalingrad burns on the horizon.

The bitter fighting at Stalingrad placed overwhelming emphasis on the courage and determination of small groups of men fighting in what soon became a blighted landscape. Here a German machine-gun detachment — the empty ammunition boxes to its rear are evidence of heavy fighting — defends the ruins of suburban cottages.

A German infantry officer, whose decorations include the Iron Cross 1st Class and the infantry assault badge, issues orders. The soldier on the left has equipped himself with a captured Russian sub-machine gun.

After the encirclement of Stalingrad Hitler gave Manstein command of the newly created Army Group Don and ordered him to break into the pocket. Here a German tank hits a Russian mine during an abortive counterattack, December 20.

Friedrich Paulus, commander of 6th Army, was promoted to field-marshal on 30 January in Hitler's expectation that he would commit suicide rather than capitulate. However, he surrendered the following day. These Russian officers — the term was reintroduced by Stalin in 1942 — are still wearing collar rank badges, soon to be replaced by tsarist-style shoulder boards, all part of an attempt to restore the army's morale and efficiency.

The Germans lost some 200,000 men at Stalingrad: most of their prisoners of war did not survive captivity. Here a column of prisoners winds its way across the frozen steppe. Those in white fur hats are Romanians: defeat at Stalingrad struck a chill into Germany's allies.

Stukas Over North Africa

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers on their way to attack British tanks at Ghobi, November 23, 1941, during the hard fought but ultimately successful British offensive, codenamed Operation Crusader.

Living with “The Blitz”

As the nightly German attacks over London continued, the city’s Underground railway stations were used as air raid shelters (above). The authorities disapproved of the practice at first, but then did what they could to make them more comfortable, and life underground soon developed its own culture. These Londoners are sleeping on the escalators in one London tube station.

In a mimicry of death, shop dummies lie on the pavement (above) after a London department store was hit.

At the height of the Blitz, most of the 1,500,000 people serving in the various fire, civil defence, shelter and casualty organizations were part-time volunteers. Here a rescue party (below) — with the double R designation on its steel helmets — removes a Blitz victim from rubble.

The Blitz

The Blitz — an abbreviation of Blitzkrieg (Lightning War) — was the name given to German attacks on British cities in 1940-41. London was bombed by accident on the night of August 24, and the RAF responded by bombing Berlin the following night. In early September, Goering unwisely shifted the Luftwaffe's main effort from airfields to cities, and “Black Saturday,” September 7, saw the first major raid on London. When the Blitz ended in May 1941, over 43,000 civilians had been killed and great tracts of ancient cities and industrial centres devastated — but popular resolve had not been broken.

The Blitz did not just hit London and major provincial cities like Bristol and Liverpool. Here Churchill inspects bomb damage (above) in little Ramsgate.

On November 13, German bombers struck Coventry in the midlands, destroying not only twelve armaments factories but also part of the city centre and the 14th-Century cathedral (below).

The Luftwaffe Grounded

Spectators at the wreckage of a Dornier Do 17, shot down in England on August 12, 1940. Between July 10 and October 31, the Luftwaffe lost some 1,294 aircraft to the RAF's approximately 788 aircraft.

Heinkels Over London

One of the war's classic photographs (above): A Heinkel He 111 over Wapping, England on “Black Saturday,” September 7, 1940 — the first day of the offensive against London. 300 tons of bombs were dropped and about 2,000 civilians killed or seriously injured.

Lieutenant Karl-Heinz Thurz at the controls of a Heinkel He 111 bomber (below).

Barrage Balloons in Britain

In 1938, the British Balloon Command was established to protect cities and key targets such as industrial areas, ports and harbours. Balloons were intended to defend against dive bombers flying at heights up to 5,000 feet, forcing them to fly higher and into the range of concentrated anti-aircraft fire — anti-aircraft guns could not traverse fast enough to attack aircraft flying at low altitude and high speed. By the middle of 1940 there were 1,400 balloons, a third of them over the London area.

While dive-bombers were devastatingly effective against undefended targets, such as Guernica and Rotterdam, they were very vulnerable to attack by fighter aircraft, and their use by Germany against Britain with its effective Royal Air Force was rapidly discontinued. Balloons proved to be of little use against the German high-level bombers with which the dive-bombers were replaced, but continued to be manufactured nonetheless, until there were almost 3,000 in 1944. They proved to be mildly effective against the V-1 flying bomb, which usually flew at 2,000 feet or lower but had wire-cutters on its wings to counter balloons. Two hundred and thirty-one V-1s are officially claimed to have been destroyed by balloons.

Many bombers were equipped with devices to cut barrage balloon cables. Britain used large numbers of balloons, so Germany developed the most capable cable-cutters. Their systems consisted of small C-shaped devices attached to the leading edge of the wing. When a cable entered the device after sliding down the wing, it triggered a small explosive charge that drove a blade through the cable. British bombers were also equipped with cable-cutters although the Germans used few barrage balloons.

The British added two refinements to their balloons, "Double Parachute Link" (DPL) and "Double Parachute/Ripping" (DP/R). The former was triggered by the shock of an enemy bomber snagging the cable, causing that section of cable to be explosively released complete with parachutes at either end; the combined weight and drag bringing down the aircraft. The latter was intended to render the balloon safe if it broke free accidentally. The heavy mooring cable would separate at the balloon and fall to the ground under a parachute; at the same time a panel would be ripped away from the balloon causing it to deflate and fall independently to the ground.

Watching the Skies Over Britain

The Operations Room at RAF Bentley Priory, Fighter Command's headquarters is seen above. Symbols representing squadrons are moved across the map, while senior officers in the gallery above control the battle.

Civilian volunteers of the Royal Observer Corps (below) reported the numbers, direction and type on incoming enemy aircraft. Here an observer plots the height of a German formation.

Preparations for Invasion

The German invasion of Britain could not succeed without air superiority, and on July 10, 1940, the Luftwaffe began to attack shipping in the English Channel. A week later Hitler issued orders for “Operation Sealion,” and in August, bombers struck airfields of the R.A.F.’s (Royal Air Force) Fighter Command. Both sides consistently over-estimated the number of enemy aircraft destroyed, but the R.A.F. was never as badly weakened as the Germans supposed — and while German pilots who parachuted were captured, their British counterparts could fight on. In early September, German efforts were fatally handicapped by Luftwaffe head Herman Goering’s diversion of resources to bombing cities, and “Sealion” was postponed on September 17th.

A Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) operator in England plots targets (above). Primitive radar was heavily dependent on skilled users.

German preparations for “Operation Sealion” included experiments with amphibious tanks (below).

The Fall of France

The French garrison of Lille fought on while the Dunkirk evacuation proceeded, but with the collapse in the north the Germans regrouped and struck southwards. There was more heavy fighting in the often-neglected part of the campaign. The British 51st Highland Division, a fine Scots Territorial formation which had been fighting under French command, was forced to surrender at St Valery-en-Caux on June 12. The Germans entered Paris on June 14, and on June 22, an armistice was signed at Rethondes, in the Forest of Compiègne — scene of the 1918 armistice negotiations.

German air power was dominant throughout the campaign. The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber (above) with its characteristic gull-winged silhouette, acted as "flying artillery" for advancing German tanks.

Major General Erwin Rommel (below), Commander of 7th Panzer Division, in satisfied mood at St-Valéry, June 12th. A grim-faced Major General Fortune of the 51st Highland Division stands behind him.

British Help in France; Unfortunate Refugees

Above, a British field gun is seen in action 30 May 1945. German air superiority in the skies over France made artillery deployed in the open especially vulnerable: this gun enjoys the benefit of some cover.

A member of the German 56th Artillery Regiment, on his way to the Channel coast, took this photograph (below) of French refugees killed in an air attack.

German Paratroops in Holland

The Battle of Fort Eben-Emael was a battle between Belgian and German forces that took place between 10 May and 11 May, 1940, and was part of the Battle of the Netherlands during Fall Gelb, the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. An assault force of German Fallschirmjäger were tasked with assaulting and capturing Fort Eben-Emael, a Belgian fortress whose artillery pieces dominated several important bridges over the Albert Canal which German forces intended to use to advance into Belgium. As some of the German airborne troops assaulted the fortress and disabled the garrison and the artillery pieces inside it, others simultaneously captured three bridges over the Canal. Having disabled the fortress, the airborne troops were then ordered to protect the bridges against Belgian counter-attacks until they linked up with ground forces from the German 18th Army.

The battle was a decisive victory for the German forces, with the airborne troops landing on top of the fortress via the use of gliders and using explosives and flamethrowers to disable the outer defences of the fortress. The Fallschirmjäger then entered the fortress, killing a number of defenders and containing the rest in the lower sections of the fortress. Simultaneously, the rest of the German assault force had landed near the three bridges over the Canal, destroyed a number of pillboxes and defensive positions and defeated the Belgian forces guarding the bridges, capturing them and bringing them under German control. The airborne troops suffered heavy casualties during the operation, but succeeded in holding the bridges until the arrival of German ground forces, who then aided the airborne troops in assaulting the fortress a second time and forcing the surrender of the remaining members of the garrison. German forces were then able to utilize the three bridges over the Canal to bypass a number of Belgian defensive positions and advance into Belgium to aid in the invasion of the country.

The Rotterdam Blitz

Holland refused to give way to a German ultimatum, and was duly invaded. Surrender negotiations were under way on May 14, but news failed to reach the German aircraft that bombed Rotterdam, destroying part of the city centre and killing over 800 civilians.