Commentator

In the summer of 1940, the Nazi German government tried to make peace with Great Britain in order to secure the rear for the upcoming war against the USSR. But this operation did not achieve success. Then on July 16, 1940, Hitler issued directive No. 16 on the preparation of Operation Sea Lion, and on August 1, 1940, directive No. 17 on conducting a wide air war against England. The aim of the latter directive was the widespread use of three air fleets (3, 2, and 5) under the command of Colonel General Sperle, Colonel General Kesselring and Colonel General Stumpf for bombing England. The UK government has taken all possible measures to ensure the country's security. More than 100 radar stations were deployed on the coast, which could warn in advance of a German air attack aviation. However, the total number of combat aircraft and anti-aircraft guns did not allow Britain to ensure the complete security of the country. In April 1940, German troops landed in Norway and in a short time captured the country. Luftwaffe airfields were created on its territory, from which it was now possible to provide bombing of the northern regions of Great Britain.

The port city of Glasgow, located on the northwest coast of Great Britain, was the center of the shipbuilding and aviation industry. Over 20 shipyards built and repaired ships for the British Navy and ships to supply the country with ammunition and products. The city was famous for the fact that it was the football capital of Scotland. Back in 1887, in this city, the priest Brother Wolffried created the first football team. This team was named Celtic, and the football club to which it belonged was Brave Guys. The authority of the Celtic football team in Scotland was immense. For example, at the city stadium "Hempden Park" before the outbreak of hostilities with Germany in the game with the team "Aberdeen" was attended by more than 140 thousands of fans.

In the area of ​​Glasgow, in addition to factories producing weapons, there were a lot of hospitals where wounded British soldiers were treated. German air raids after the losses it suffered in the fight against the fighters of the Royal Air Force and from air defense systems, demanded to change the tactics of bombing. Now the German non-111 bombers carried out attacks on military and civilian objects at night and in thick fog. The radionavigation systems created in Germany allowed these bombers to accurately reach the targets indicated in the flight task in the absence of visibility. In 1940, a case occurred during the raid of a large compound of Non-111 bombers on Glasgow, which deserves the attention of a wide circle of readers of the Military Review. This case once again confirms that "and there is a warrior in the field." An article about this event was published in a Scottish newspaper in the 1950s. The journalist who published the article had to seriously try to get the material in print (due to secrecy). But even with such nuances, the article aroused great interest in the UK and for a few days the people of the country discussed it for a long time. The article was titled "Notes by the radio operator of the N-sky battalion of the 22 Guards Regiment of Ernest Robert Hart." Below I will give the story of this radio operator.

“I am writing about events about which I cannot be silent, I understand that my end may be close. There are no reinforcements, but the Boshes continue to advance. My walkie-talkie has long been broken, so I have nothing else to do. So I decided, while I have free minutes, to write my own history about how I got to the front. If someone finds the material written by me, then let him draw the appropriate conclusion for himself and publish the article. I do not want anyone else to suffer for the same reason as me. Africa today is far from the best place for aristocratic travel — it is a place of fighting.

My name is Ernst Hart. I was born in London in 1908. After school, he graduated from the College of Radio Engineering and, by a happy coincidence, got on the BBC radio station. In the first years of work, I was an ordinary employee, and I was only trusted to work with electronics. After a while the management paid attention to me. I got a promotion and became the editor of the sports department. In addition to practicing technology, I also enjoyed journalism. I especially liked to comment on football matches. Apparently, that's why I was entrusted with this section of work. After some time, the people of London began to recognize my voice in their receivers when I was broadcasting from football fields. I was especially proud that I had the honor of commenting on the UK Cup semifinal in 1935. Yes, yes, you heard my voice then! They began to consider me a valuable employee, and with the beginning of the war with Germany they gave out a reservation. When the bombing of London began, I was transferred to work in Glasgow. Upon arrival there, I had to radio comment on the Celtic-Glasgow Rangers match. For those who do not know, I inform you that it was a charity match, all the fees from which were to go to the Admiralty Fund. On the stadium on this day, representatives of the highest commanders of all the armed forces were expected, and according to the receiver, the Prime Minister himself should have listened to the report about the match. There were practically no empty seats at the stadium, among the spectators there were many wounded from the local ones. On this day, the strongest fog descended on Glasgow. He tightened the stadium bowl so that it was difficult to distinguish the players. This can be compared to the fact that in a bowl of mushroom soup with a large amount of cream no mushrooms can be seen. I wanted to cancel the broadcast in the air: nothing could be seen from the commentary booth on the football field. But the phone did not work, and that it was impossible to broadcast, I could not inform the management of "BBC". And then a terrible story began in my life. The officer entered the commentator’s booth, where I prepared for the broadcast. He asked to postpone the broadcast for some time and go down to the representative of the Headquarters of the Royal Air Force. I quickly went down to the lobby of the stadium, where an officer with the rank of captain was already waiting for me. He told me about what everyone in the stadium could not even imagine. According to him, a large group of non-111 bombers was approaching Glasgow from Norway. According to intelligence reports, their mission was the complete destruction of the city, to which they had to approach within half an hour. I felt bad because the bombings of London were fresh in my mind when our house was destroyed before my eyes.

Our fighters in the fog will not be able to intercept the German bombers, nor will the air defense anti-aircraft artillery be able to destroy them, due to the lack of visibility. I advised the captain to urgently evacuate even the fans from the stadium, to which the officer, grinning, replied: “This is impossible! A crush will begin, and people will not have time to get out. To cancel such an important match for the country means to cause great damage to our nation. We must play. The last words of the captain reminded me of the expression of the poet Newbott.

“Recently in Edinburgh,” continued the captain, “we destroyed a group of Nazi spies.” Therefore, the source of the fog over the city from the enemy can not be. Except, of course, non-encoded radio messages, that is, yours. ”

For some reason, the words of the captain did not flatter me. The captain further explained that there is a high probability of preventing the bombing if the commentator, that is, I manage to convince the residents of Great Britain, including German pilots, that the weather is fine over Glasgow, there is not a single cloud, and the sun is shining brightly. Indeed, in such an environment, our fighters and anti-aircraft guns will be able to destroy the German bombers. Therefore, I was advised to return to the cockpit, sit comfortably in the chair and start broadcasting the match, inventing various situations.

Returning to the cockpit, I with great difficulty squeezed the words on the air that the weather was beautiful over Glasgow. The judge announced the start of the match. Then I called the starting lineups, and then stopped for a while. It turned out pretty stupid, but I really did not know how and what to talk about further. Only a few seconds later I realized that the words I said depend on the lives of thousands of people not only in the stadium, but in the whole city. Involuntarily, before my eyes, I had a picture of a little Londoner who sat on the ruins of his house and clutched a teddy hippo to himself. Somehow I couldn’t argue about anything, I didn’t understand the Scottish league so far, but I only knew the state of the English League teams. The match continued, and the only thing that I could somehow navigate was the cries of the fans, but they could not help me at this moment. Nevertheless, collecting my thoughts, I began to report.

David Kinar grabbed the ball and quickly reached the Celtic goal on the left! Beautiful chamber! But the ball takes goalkeeper Willie Miller. The goalkeeper throws the ball in the center of the field picks it up ... I can hardly see from the speaker’s booth who. But it seems to be Jimmy Delaney. As we are glad to see, Delaney is on the field today, I continued to inform the fans. He passes the ball to Lynch, and Lynch gives the ball to the right. For Lynch, this is a farewell match today, because he, as well as ... uh ... Mouzson and Devers will be leaving for the army tomorrow. What a patriotic move by football players. We will all be waiting for their return from Africa and hope that everything will be fine with them. But George Paterson! Well ... what are you waiting for? What is there? Yellow card? It seems no!

So I reached the halftime break. I was shaking like a fever. Suddenly, the same captain who gave me instructions from 40 minutes ago rose to the commentary booth. He, smiling, informed me that, according to intelligence, the German planes turned back. The captain expressed his gratitude to me, and he, as he told me, urgently goes to headquarters. Then the officer shook my hand and promised to contact me later. I remember it well. But I did not receive any news from the captain either in the evening or the next day. The only thing that caught my eye was a note in the newspaper, where it was mentioned that the country's air defense ensured the protection of the city during a football match from German aviation. Among those awarded for this operation was the name of the captain, who was awarded a medal. And I was glad that I remained alive, but my feelings were mixed.

I commented on the match to the end and, of course, I composed everything to the fans of Great Britain who were listening to the report on the radio sets. After the match, I left Hampden Park Stadium neither alive nor dead, and spent a couple of hours at a local pub sipping a beer. In the morning I received news from the editorial office. They, it turns out, no one warned about anything, and they fired me for falsely reporting. I was booked.

At the front I was determined by my education as a radio operator. That, in principle, was not so bad. But who could know that our detachment will have to please in such a mess. The commander was killed, and I, saying goodbye to you, are writing these sheets, which I then put in the battery compartment of the walkie-talkie so that they do not spread over this damned desert. Read them.

Comments

[parus2nik]

Exposure .. well done ..

[Ptah]

And this is from what place pumped ??? -

In the summer of 1940, the Nazi German government tried to make peace with Great Britain in order to secure the rear for the upcoming war against the USSR.
But this operation did not achieve success. Then, on July 16, 1940, Hitler issued Directive No. 16 on the preparation of Operation Sea Lion, and on August 1, 1940, Directive No. 17 on conducting a wide air war against England.

Two, rather THREE, mutually exclusive dr. approval.
With 33 years of quantity. Jews escaping to Nagliya increased unusually. It turns out that Hitler, before the age of 40, had the idea not to scare them ahead of time, but to make friends with Churchill. Or, conversely, ignited a love of Jews, then what happened after the 39th in Poland how to explain ....

[ReifA]

As often happens, some heroes gain recognition after death. And this episode shows that heroism is possible not only on the battlefields, sometimes it is a room and a microphone, and your voice saves lives. Thanks for the interesting article.

[OPTR]

There is nothing to say about whether the act received at least a belated recognition or whether the case was limited to "for several days the inhabitants of the country discussed it for a long time" (article). By the way, so long discussed or was it enough for a few days to sharpen your hair and forget forever?
A quick search by the name of the commentator yielded nothing, obviously there is no wide popularity.
If the episode was real, then it seems that he did not deserve the latest assessment of compatriots.

[Day 11]

And what we don’t remember R. Hess? There was still a type. A guy frankly threw that those that are. By the way, here is his 110th. Is everyone aware of his flight?

[Kuvabatake]

These are the ones that all states hold on to, and the world as a whole 5+

[Fitter65]

It was foggy, but the radio station was working! To transmit! To German aircraft equipped with the PKK, it was like a beacon beam on a dark night. If our long-distance workers have memories in their memoirs, how, returning from raids on Germany, they tuned the receiver to the frequency of the Comintern radio station, and how they walked along the rails home ... And the Germans equipped with radio equipment are an order of magnitude better than us, what could have prevented the use of such a "helping hand"? Yes, nothing. Most likely there was no such raid.
Who is not too lazy to look on the net when such a match took place (if it was). Then we look at what the Luftwaffe did that day and put it on. And the question is why are these Germans who by this time practicing raids into the fog and / or turned back at night will disappear Moreover, the weather scout, and the Germans also had him (he was necessarily, even our long-range specialists sent a weather scout), reported the weather in the target area. If he had not been, the scout and his report, the Germans would have shished from Norway to slaughter would have flooded. And if they went, they knew what the weather was like, the radio station was broadcasting in English, they hardly listened, and I doubt that all the radio operators in the crews of German planes knew "English", and so this radio station they are in at best, they would use it as a driving PCT, and not listen to the report from the "charity football match." Is such a situation real, German bombers are flying, each radio station is tuned to the PCT Glasgow, switched on for general communication - it is very interesting for German aviators to listen to Commentary from a football match! Damn, and then the sun is shining, they twirled in the audible zone, listened to the report and lay down on the return course.

[drop]

Dear Fitter65, the events are real. Having created the "X" system, the Germans know what it is, they began to practice bombing in bad weather conditions. If at night, in the absence of fog, bombers captured searchlights and then shot them with anti-aircraft guns, then this could not be done in the fog. The accuracy of the exit of the bombers on the "X" system was about 900 meters. Suitable for bombing large cities. Then in 1944 they created the "Y" system to be more accurate. According to our information, Hitler personally went to the creators of these systems to get acquainted with them. Now remember the bombing of Leningrad, the work of our first and only radar station, which was installed in M. Izhora in August, and how it saved our Baltic fleet. There were many interesting and instructive events. The main thing is to write the truth for the readers of "VO". You can also read the article "The task is to improve the accuracy of missile and bomb strikes", published in "VO". I have the honor.

[Fitter65]

Quote: Drop

events are described real.

Perhaps, please indicate the number when it was.

Quote: Drop

According to our information, Hitler personally went to the creators of these systems to get acquainted with them.

And I read that they came to him ... What kind of systems the Germans had and how they worked, thank God I know the truth is not up to the concept, but I have a clue. And if memory serves me right then M. Izhore was ONE of the first but neither if not the only radar.

Quote: Drop

The main thing is to write the truth for the readers of "VO"

So who is against, write the truth. But only if you write that "what happened happened to happen" - so let's indicate at least the date of this action.

Quote: Drop

If at night, in the absence of fog, bombers captured the spotlights and then they were shot by anti-aircraft guns, then in the fog this could not be done.

In addition to the searchlights, there were also night fighters, both single and multi-seat equipped with radars (the Blenham was one of the first), which did not need searchlights. By the way, knowing the location of the searchlight fields, they can be bypassed, and those caught in the beams of searchlights did not always get lost , the same Molodchiy more than once fell under the "X-ray". Again, the article describes the daytime raid. Having suffered losses in the "Battle of Britain", the Germans did not understand anything, and again flew in the afternoon in a large group? It is unlikely. worthy, from the agents learned about the weather and about the target. The group rose, and earlier it took off a weather reconnaissance aircraft, which transmitted information about the weather, and of course, I repeat again, it is unlikely that the crews of German bombers (and at least only the host's crew) knew English and listened to English radio during the flight. Then the flight from Norway to Scotland was not half an hour, especially since the British had radar stations, and not equal to our "Redoubts". In addition to the radar station in that area at various distances nor x there were patrol ships, patrol aircraft ... Therefore, a German squadron flying during the day would have been spotted a lot in advance before the match ... Well, for the sake of interest, look when the Germans from Norway stopped making massive raids on the British Isles. to increase the accuracy of bomb strikes. So, too, I have the honor, well, there is also a little knowledge and the ability to think to it. By the way, we simply cannot be aviators without this.

[drop]

Dear Fitter65, the events are real. Having created the "X" system, the Germans know what it is, they began to practice bombing in bad weather conditions. If at night, in the absence of fog, bombers captured searchlights and then shot them with anti-aircraft guns, then this could not be done in the fog. The accuracy of the exit of the bombers on the "X" system was about 900 meters. Suitable for bombing large cities. Then in 1944 they created the "Y" system to be more accurate. According to our information, Hitler personally went to the creators of these systems to get acquainted with them. Now remember the bombing of Leningrad, the work of our first and only radar station, which was installed in M. Izhora in August, and how it saved our Baltic fleet. There were many interesting and instructive events. The main thing is to write the truth for the readers of "VO". You can also read the article "The task is to improve the accuracy of missile and bomb strikes", published in "VO". I have the honor.

[senior engineer]

A truly unusual scenario of events described in the story. This was not shown in the movies. Thanks to the author for the article. I would like to know, at least briefly, about the navigation systems used by the German aviation of that time for guidance in difficult weather conditions (system "x" and system "y"): the principles of work and the history of creation - I had never heard of them before.