On July 19, Hitler addressed the Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin. Goebbels had already told his staff that the speech might divide British opinion and even topple Churchill. In the hall, correspondent William Shirer watched Hitler deliberately moderate his usual style and present himself as both triumphant conqueror and reasonable man of peace. Hitler blamed the war on Jews, Freemasons, Anglo-French warmongers, and especially Churchill, praised his commanders, and publicly promoted Hermann Goring to Reichsmarschall.

Hitler then turned from celebration to warning. He said Germany's military was stronger than ever and threatened Britain with severe suffering if air attacks continued. At the same time, he framed himself as the victor making a final rational appeal, saying he saw no reason for the war to continue and claiming he wanted to spare further sacrifice. The speech therefore combined intimidation with a calculated offer meant to make Britain appear responsible if the war went on.

While Hitler spoke, Adolf Galland and his fighter squadron flew protective patrols over Berlin. The chapter uses Galland's career to show how the Luftwaffe had been secretly built and hardened for war: Galland progressed from a youth obsessed with flying, to secret military training in defiance of Versailles, to service in Spain, where German officers learned useful air-war lessons but also developed the dangerous belief that bombers could operate without fighter escorts. Galland then fought in Germany's early campaigns, met modern RAF fighters for the first time, and concluded that Britain would now present a far harder opponent than any previous enemy.

The balance of aircraft and pilot experience suggested a difficult but imminent struggle. Spitfires, Hurricanes, and Messerschmitt 109s each had strengths, but limited fuel meant German fighters had only a short combat window over Britain. As German armies advanced, Galland's unit kept moving west until it reached bases near the French coast, giving the Luftwaffe more time over English targets and positioning it for the next phase of the war.

Britain's first answer came almost immediately when BBC commentator Sefton Delmer, without authorization from Churchill or Halifax, contemptuously rejected Hitler's appeal on air. German officials who heard the broadcast were stunned. Three days later Halifax gave the official response: Britain would not stop fighting until freedom was secure. After this refusal, Goebbels ordered German propaganda to intensify, using secret transmitters that posed as British stations, spreading fear about air raids and invasion, and even preparing false stories about German parachutists wearing British uniforms left at Dunkirk. By the end of the chapter, nearly all German fighter forces, including Galland's, were massed in France near the Channel coast.