ABSTRACT
The network of Observer Corps posts and communications was also slated for progressive withdrawal as an invasion developed. There were Chain Home stations at Dover, Fairlight and Pevensey which, given the assembly of invasion craft on the other side of the Channel, were evidently in the potential invasion area. The Chain Home Low installations at Foreness, Dover, Fairlight, Beachy Head, Truleigh Hill and Poling would all have to go if the Germans got anywhere near. For Air Chief Marshal Dowding the battle had reached a turning point. His pilots and aircraft were not being destroyed at an intolerable rate, severe though the damage was, but the ability to operate was being denied to him. The craters in the runways could be filled and the damaged machines repaired or replaced, but the operations rooms were mostly above ground in inadequately fortified buildings and communication was by land telephone line.
