ON BBC1 recently there was a discussion concerning whether the RAF or the Royal Navy was the greatest deterrent to Hitler's invasion of Great Britain in 1940.
I served aboard destroyers and our losses due to air attacks were considerable.
At the end of 1941, after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour, we tied up astern of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse in Cape Town harbour.
The next day they sailed to the Far East and two weeks later they were sunk by Japanese air attacks, simply because they had no air cover.
We escorted the Pedestal convoy to Malta and for three days we were subjected to intense air attacks, again with insufficient air cover, and lost about 70 per cent of the merchant ships, cruisers, destroyers, and an aircraft carrier, HMS Eagle.
After we invaded north Africa we escorted ships further east to Phillipville, Bougie and Bone, and until we could get Spitfires in the air to shoot down the Stuka dive bombers, the JU88s and the torpedo bombers, we were easy targets and lost a lot of ships.
Without air cover during the Second World War the Royal Navy would have been bombed and sunk.
Don't underestimate the huge contribution the RAF played in preventing the invasion of the German forces during 1940.
R Broadfield
Address supplied
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article