European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 28, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A sgt rvs pilots sprint to their Welting hurricanes As an Alert la sounded at a Battle of Britain fighter base. Britain a finest hour by Don Tate staff writer the London headlines that summer were simply smashing Quot another bomb on Palace Quot. Quot fifth Hospital bombed Quot Quot Raf smashes 400-plane raid Quot a a Quot Churchill says a we. Seek no terms and ask no mercy. London in ruins better than enslavement the stories under those headlines 50 years ago this month needed no hype Quot a monster bomb weighing fully a ton which for three Days has been buried near St. Paul a Cathedral in London exploded yesterday Quot said one. Quot once again the German air Force has attacked Buckingham Palace Quot fumed another. Quot this is the third attempt to kill the King and Queen or drive them from London vengeance was Swift. Almost immediately afterwards the plane which bombed the Palace was shot to pieces in midair by spitfires. Great air Battles were fought out fiercely All the Way from the coast to London it was riveting terrifying Spectator sport for those below. There was the Distant Racket of the antiaircraft guns picking up the planes then the throbbing of the German engines coming closer and then the sky Over London hissing and crackling with outnumbered spitfires and hurricanes scrambling from makeshift airfields trying to Roll Back Waves of German fighters and bombers. And then out of the smoke and rattle of the wild sky the bombs came falling and the Earth Shook and split and some of the War watchers below suddenly found themselves a flaming exploding part of the action. The summer of 1940 started under the spreading Shadow of the Swastika. By late june France had Battle of Britain fallen curled up like dead leaves under the i crunching German Boot. Britain stood aloof a the West it would be another 17 months before the , entered the War and the battered islands waited for the nazis to drop the other Boot when they did it would be called the Battle of Britain and become history a greatest air Battle. As France folded Adolf Hitler made the huge false Assumption that the War in the West was won that the Dunkirk bloodied British would come crawling to seek an armistice. When they did no to the Fohrer sought to persuade them by putting out peace feelers and having his planes drop leaflets with such headings As Quot an Appeal to reason Quot and Quot a last Appeal to reason Quot certainly there teemed reason enough for the British to meekly enrol with the French and others in the All is lost school of defeatism so Well attended that summer of �?T40. Had the nazis not smashed with contemptuous ease every Allied Effort at resistance a gloom As Gray and chilling As the mists rolling in from the Channel could have settled like a vast funeral Wreath Over the British Isles were they less spirited. But the British  listen to the Fuhrer a a reasons. Would t accept the beatings they had just taken in France and Belgium As the end of it a but just the end of the beginning. Quot of ail hitlers misjudgments Quot wrote analyst l. Sulzberger Quot those concerning great Britain were most profound. He did no to think they would fight in 1939 he did t think they would persevere in 1940 and until late 1942, it never occurred to him that the British might actually  As Early As 1939, the germans considered the Conquest of Britain and now in july Hitler decided that serious preparations must be made a Cros Schannel invasion by boat and ship called operation Seal Ion. Thirteen elite divisions of the German army each about 19,000 Strong moved to the Channel coast As continued on Page 14 saturday july 28, 1990 the stars and stripes a Page 13