What is "Operation Eagle Sun"?
On Monday, August 12, 1940, after several days of rain, there was a brief period of good weather over the English Channel, with good visibility.
In the morning, a formation of German aircraft flew westward close to the sea. When their plane climbed up, they soon saw the cliffs on the British coast across the channel. The mission of this flight was not to engage in air combat, but to perform a special mission to blow up radar stations on the eastern and southern coasts of Britain. The attacks targeted antenna towers that tower along Britain's east and south coasts. This towering antenna tower can be clearly seen across the strait with a telescope on the French coast.
For several months, the Germans had been systematically monitoring British radio communications and radar usage. The German army was surprised to find that the enemy was making new organizational progress. The UK has deployed many radars along its eastern, southern and western coastal areas, forming a "coastal low-altitude search radar network". Each radar station in the network receives the information and sends it to the central command post. After analysis by the central command post, the enemy aircraft dispatch situation can be known, so that the British fighter squadron can be correctly and reasonably directed to take off and intercept. This measure deprived the German army of the vital magic weapon of surprise attack. Needless to say, the invasion of German bombers was already detected by the British through radar when the German troops were massing over France. If the Luftwaffe wanted to change its disadvantageous position in fighting the Royal Air Force, it must first destroy the British coastal radar stations. This is the task of the Rubens Delfa formation today. To this end, each aircraft had 250kg or 500kg bombs hung under its wings. Although they are fighter jets, they carry twice as many bombs as a JU-88 dive bomber.
This attack was not only preparation for the "Operation Eagle Sun", but also the prelude to the decisive battle of the German Air Force over the British mainland.
Captain Rubens Delfa looked at his watch. It was a few minutes to 11 o'clock. After he gave the order briefly, the squadrons that had flown to the coast immediately dispersed and flew quickly towards their respective targets.
Lieutenant Martin Lutz led the 1st Squadron into the British interior from Eastbourne when he discovered the Percival radar station. The six German "Messerschmitt" aircraft began to climb higher. However, since there are 500 kilograms of bombs hanging under each wing, climbing is not so flexible. The plane finally climbed to the required height, then made a big turn, throttled back, and roared towards the target. When the optical sight was aimed at the nearest of the four antenna towers, Lieutenant Lutz was the first to drop the bomb. Immediately afterwards, the fleet of aircraft passed over the radar station like a sudden storm. *** Eight bombs hit the target, one of which directly hit the slender antenna tower, and one of which broke the main cable...
At the same time, Lieutenant Lesig The 2nd Squadron he led was attacking the Rye radar station near Hastings, blowing up all the buildings on the ground. The 3rd Squadron, led by Lieutenant Heinz, attacked a radar station near Dover. Three bombs fell near the antenna tower. Although two antenna towers were tilted by the explosion, they did not fall down. Attacks elsewhere were similar, with almost all reports of completing their intended mission.
When the attack formation returned, black smoke rose from each target. However, through the black smoke billowing upward, people found that most of the antenna towers were still standing. It was later discovered that after emergency repairs, most of the attacked radar stations in the UK started working one after another three hours after the attack...
Starting at 11:30, the German 51st and 54th Bombardment Aviation Three brigades of the regiment dispatched 63 JU-88 bombers to attack Portsmouth Harbor. Fifteen aircraft from one of these groups attacked a radar station near Venthol, causing serious damage to the radar station there and beyond repair. In order to plug this gap, the British built a new radar station on the Isle of Wight after 11 days and nights of construction.
On this day, 6 radar stations in the UK were hit and severely damaged, and 1 radar station was completely destroyed. But the Germans did not continue the concentrated attack. The British sent false signals from the ruins of the destroyed radar station to fool the Germans into thinking that their bombing was not in vain. The Germans really fell into the British trap and soon gave up their attack on the British radar station completely, which left hidden dangers for their final failure.
Although the intended purpose of attacking the radar station failed to be achieved, the German army's simultaneous attack on the forward base of the British fighter force in Kent was very successful.
At 9:30, the DO-17 aircraft of the 1st Group of the 2nd Bomb Aviation Regiment of Major Guzman, under the cover of powerful fighter jets, conducted a saturation bombing of Linnaeus Airport in the United Kingdom. Hundreds of 50-kilogram bombs blasted the airport's runway into craters, and even the airport's hangar was blown up. Next to be attacked was the Hawking base of the British Air Force Fighter Command. At the same time, the Linnaeus base that had just been attacked in the early morning was attacked again.
At 13:30, the British fighter jet Manston base also came under fierce attack for the first time. The attack was carried out by the Rubens Delphi formation that had just attacked the British coastal radar station in the morning. Since the British radar station was still as blind as a blind man at this time, the surprise attack of the Rubens Delfa formation was a great success. One minute after the Manston base received the alarm, the German attack plane flew over the airport.
When they heard the alarm, the pilots of the 65th Squadron of the Royal Air Force at the airport quickly jumped into the cockpit of the Spitfire fighter jet and started the aircraft. The 12 aircraft began to taxi towards the runway, and the three aircraft formation at the front had already filled up the throttle and were taxiing on the runway. At this moment, German planes flew over the airport in overwhelming numbers, and suddenly black bombs rushed down from the sky. After a period of indiscriminate bombing, it appeared from the air that the remaining four Hurricane fighter jets and five other aircraft on the airport were almost all destroyed. Bombs also exploded in the hangars and airport dormitories, and fire engulfed most of the buildings. …The damage to Manston Airport was considerable.
By evening, the small operations along the coast had ended. On this day, the German 2nd and 3rd Air Forces launched 300 dive bombers under strong fighter escort. The British army knew that a large-scale air battle was coming, because the dive bombers invested by the German Air Force today were only 1/3 of the total force. On the afternoon of September 7, Goering personally directed the Air Force to use 300 bombers and 600 fighter jets to attack London. Conduct the first systematic bombing. The people of London suffered huge losses in life and property.