Australia's Few. 16 September 1940

The newspaper headlines of 16 September blazed the news, in large typeface, of the RAF’s victories on the 15th. The Daily Herald reported 175 enemy aircraft down, and ‘raiders chased back to channel.’ The figures might have been exaggerated—56 German aircraft had been shot down to the RAF’s 27—but the RAF had had a string of recent successes and now clearly had the upper hand. And that was all that mattered.

About this time, both Bill Millington and Des Sheen wrote home. Both their families had close relations in Britain and so they tried to alleviate any feelings of fear they might hold about their safety.

Bill told his sister that ‘morale is very high and tails are definitely “up”. After the recent fighting we are more confident than ever in the superiority of our aircraft, and thus in ultimate victory.

Des could not help but mention that:

‘London has had some heavy bombing all the week but they are just dumping their bombs anywhere at night. Regent St, Strand, Sloan Square etc have all had a packet but the military value has been very little considering. I saw lots of wrecked houses and shops in South East London.’

But despite the fact that ‘the East End has had it pretty bad’ Des was quick to state that ‘public feeling is even stronger now especially as Buckingham Palace has been bombed twice’.

Like Bill, he commented on the positive morale.

‘Taken all round things are gradually coming our way. It’s noticeable in the public confidence. Three months ago it was more of fighting to the last man to keep Jerry out. The improvement has been so marked the general topic is “when will we attack them on the land”.

 

Bill and Des weren’t just spinning yarns to comfort the folks back home. Their opinions reflected the secret home intelligence reports with that of 16 September stating that ‘yesterday’s aerial successes have produced enthusiastic praise for the RAF’ and that most people still ‘anticipate an invasion within a few days, and are very confident that it will be a failure’. Indeed, ‘rumours that it has already been attempted and has failed are reported from many quarters’.