NAP OF THE EARTH ATTACK

摘要

By the start of the Battle of Britain, Germany had bolstered its defences with modern aircraft. Some targets, however, required low-level work and the Dornier Do 17, which was being replaced by the Junkers Ju 88, was still considered capable enough for the planned attack on RAF Kenley. One unit that specialised in low-altitude missions was 9 Staffel/ Kampfgeschwader 76 (9./KG 76), a component of KG 76's third Gruppe led by Hptm Alois Lindmayr. The crews of 9 Staffel had been active in the Battle of France, losing a number of aircraft and crew, including its Staffelkapitan Obit Rudolf Strasser during a low-level sortie against Valenciennes on May 19,1940. The Staffel was then led by Hptm Joachim Roth and based with the rest of the Gruppe at Cormeilles-en-Vexin, northern France. The plan for the August 18,1940 raid on RAF Kenley on the Kent/Surrey border, was that Ju 88s of Hptm Friedrich Moricke's Ⅱ./KG 76 would deliver the initial blow from medium altitude, after which 9./KG 76 would carry out a low-level attack. The remaining Do 17s of Ⅲ./KG 76 and Maj Theodore Schweitzer's Ⅰ./KG 76 would mount the final wave, but not at low level.