German raids on Berlin have their intended political effect: they enrage Adolf Hitler. On August 31, Hitler abandons his earlier reluctance and orders Hermann Göring to prepare an assault on London. Although Hitler says the attacks should still emphasize strategic targets and avoid deliberate "mass panic," the chapter makes clear that bombing targets inside London will inevitably hit civilians and mark a major escalation in the air war.

Two days later, Göring formalizes the shift by directing the Luftwaffe toward a massive raid on the capital. Göring wants revenge for the humiliation of British attacks on Berlin and believes a spectacular blow against London could force Winston Churchill either to surrender or to lose power. As Germany also continues preparing for an invasion of Britain, the decision to strike London signals a new effort to break British morale directly.

At the same time, Rudolf Hess grows uneasy about the deepening war with Britain and about his failure to help bring down Churchill's government. On August 31, Hess meets for nine hours with Professor Karl Haushofer, who shares concern about the coming invasion. They discuss using a British intermediary connected to appeasers inside Britain to deliver a peace proposal and possibly trigger a parliamentary revolt against Churchill. Soon afterward, Karl Haushofer writes to his son Albrecht, urging him to use his connection to the Duke of Hamilton to arrange a neutral meeting before Hitler gives the order for a severe attack on Britain.

In Washington, a legal compromise removes the last obstacle to the destroyers-for-bases agreement. Newfoundland and Bermuda are framed as a gift, while leases on other bases serve as payment for the destroyers without assigning exact values, allowing both governments to defend the deal politically. Lord Lothian and Cordell Hull sign the agreement on September 2, and the first destroyers soon arrive in Halifax in poor condition. Churchill values the arrangement less for the ships themselves than for the sign that Franklin Roosevelt is moving closer to intervention, but that hope is uncertain because Roosevelt faces a close election, rising isolationism, the new America First Committee, and a Republican campaign increasingly focused on fear of war.