Flying over enemy territory, taunting him, daring him to rise and fight, is but part of the varied job performed by a fighter squadron. Actually there are a dozen types of operational jobs that must be done by the fighters. Each kind of operation has its own particular name. Some of these names are military secrets, and I am, therefore, forced to substitute others which will sound strange to pilots and all people of the RAF; but they will, of course, be able instantly to identify the operation even tho ugh an unofficial name is given here. First there is the operation we shall call the “Pineapple.” It is the small-scaled harassing operation when a few fighters, usually only two, go over enemy territory and attack gun posts, trains, power plants, ammunition dumps, ground troops, airdromes, or anything else they can get near enough to destroy.
The “Rover” is an organized challenge to the Germans in which a dozen, three dozen, a hundred planes may sweep out over enemy territory, flying over Occupied France or the Occupied Low Countries in an effort to flush the Hun and make him fight.
The “Intruder” is the offensive night operation when our planes go over enemy territory between dusk and dawn in an effort to destroy whatever they can. These night intruders particularly like to hover above airdromes, waiting to pounce on enemy aircraft when they come in to refuel after their routine patrols.
The “Feint” is a small force of fighters which approaches the enemy coastline, then withdraws before it becomes engaged with enemy fighters. But the enemy doesn’t know it’s only a feint, that the fighters will withdraw without giving battle, and he is constantly worried as the RAF sends these feints from different directions, mixing them with real attacks to give emphasis to the false ones. In following these tactics, the RAF forces the Hun to keep his coastal defenses at the highest possible state of preparedness and forces him to work under a condition of strain, keeping him jittery and lessening his efficiency. And while the War of Nerves is not written about so much as in the early days of the war, it still goes on. Each side is forever trying to work out some plan to unnerve the other. The Germans drop bombs that not only explode but scream like hysterical women as they fall. The English send over a Commando raid that rushes ashore, snatches a few prisoners, and races away: it’s done not only for the sake of capturing the prisoners, but also for the unnerving effect on the Germans left behind—they don’t know what dark night the English are going to swoop down and bang them over the head
