Convoy Peewit: Blitzkrieg from the air and sea, 8 August 1940 - Softcover

During the morning of 7 August 1940 over twenty merchant ships set sail in Convoy CW9 "Peewit" and edged past Dover, hugging the shore, slowly heading westwards as daylight faded. Under the watchful eyes of the Germans, the large convoy had been seen from Cap Gris Nez and warning messages flashed to the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. At Boulogne E-Boats were readied and left port in the early hours of the 8th to take up station off Beachy Head to watch and wait for the inevitable convoy. With horrendous suddenness the E-Boat Flotilla was amongst the convoy as it passed Newhaven. Like a pack of wolves into a flock of sheep, the German boats scattered the convoy and mayhem ensued until the E-Boats called off the attack in the gathering light. The rest would be left to the Luftwaffe. What followed was initially and correctly recorded in history as the first day of the Battle of Britain, and resulted in the heaviest losses witnessed in the war so far. After sustaining massive damage RAF fighters were scrambled from Tangmere to defend the convoy and clashed with attacking Me 109s, Me 110s and Ju 87s in a vicious battle over the channel. Andy Saunders gives a blow by blow account from the perspective of the RAF, Luftwaffe, Merchant Navy, Royal Navy and Kriegsmarine on this milestone day. Using personal accounts of the action, official diaries, logbooks, contemporary records and a host of new photographic material, Convoy Peewit gives a chronological breakdown of events on land, sea and air, successfully setting them into context against the wider picture that was the Battle of Britain.

Andy Saunders has been involved with historic aviation for over thirty-five years and is well known in the aircraft preservation and restoration field. His specialist area of interest is in the air war over Europe, 1939-1945. One of the co-founders of Tangmere Aviation Museum, and its first curator, Andy is also respected as a serious researcher, author, and editor and is a prolific contributor to the aviation press. He is passionate about flying and history, regularly travelling in search of historic aircraft and artefacts. He also acts as adviser or consultant to film and television companies and was past editor of Britain at War.