The Splendid and the Vile
by Erik Larson
Contents
Chapter 31: Göring
Overview
Weather delays briefly spared the Luftwaffe, but when the skies cleared on August 15 Göring launched a massive assault that instead became “Black Thursday.” A key raid from Norway failed because German commanders wrongly believed the RAF had stripped northern defenses, revealing how flawed intelligence and overconfidence undermined the campaign. The chapter also humanizes the battle through the diary of a young German pilot killed that day, showing the growing toll on Luftwaffe crews.
Summary
Bad weather continued to interrupt Hermann Göring’s plan to destroy the RAF. On Thursday, August 15, when the campaign was supposed to be nearing completion, Göring gathered his senior officers at Carinhall and scolded them for the Luftwaffe’s disappointing results. When the skies cleared late that morning, German commanders seized the opportunity and launched a huge offensive of more than 2,100 aircraft.
Part of the German strategy rested on a mistaken assumption. Luftwaffe planners believed that heavy attacks in southern England would draw nearly all RAF fighters south, including units from northern England, leaving the north exposed. Acting on that belief, and on faulty intelligence that the RAF was already badly worn down, one commander sent bombers from Norway to attack RAF bases in northern England despite the lack of adequate long-range fighter escort.
At about 12:30 p.m., sixty-three German bombers approached the northeast coast with only a small force of twin-engine Me 110 fighters. The RAF had not stripped the north of defenses, however, and kept squadrons in place for exactly this contingency. Spitfires intercepted the formation before it reached land, attacked from above, and shattered the raid.
The German bombers broke formation, dumped their bombs harmlessly over the countryside, and turned back without reaching their targets. In that single action, the Luftwaffe lost fifteen aircraft while the RAF lost none. Across the whole day, thousands of aerial engagements took place, with the Luftwaffe flying about 1,800 sorties and the RAF about 1,000; within the Luftwaffe, August 15 would become known as “Black Thursday.”
The chapter closes by narrowing from the scale of the battle to one German airman killed that day, a young Luftwaffe lieutenant flying an Me 110 with a wireless operator-gunner beside him. RAF intelligence recovered his diary, which recorded repeated combat damage, the deaths of close friends, and the mounting strain on German crews. His final entry is supplied by British intelligence itself: a note that the diary’s writer was killed on August 15, making the broader disaster personal and immediate.
Who Appears
- Hermann GöringLuftwaffe chief who rebukes his commanders and launches the massive August 15 attack.
- RAF pilotsDefenders who intercept the northern raid and destroy German bombers before they reach targets.
- Luftwaffe commandersGerman field leaders whose assumptions about RAF weakness and deployments shape the failed attacks.
- Young Luftwaffe lieutenantUnnamed Me 110 pilot whose recovered diary reveals combat strain before his death on Black Thursday.
- Wireless telegraph operatorRear-seat gunner in the lieutenant’s aircraft, noted in the diary as previously badly wounded.
- RAF intelligenceBritish analysts who recover the dead pilot’s diary and preserve its final notation.