 Poor Luftwaffe administration meant the German defence took time to get the information from their radar sites. Major Harry von Bülow-Bothkamp — commanding II. / JG 77 — stated that it was the naval Freya, rather than Luftwaffe early warning sites that gave the alert. Owing to this, the RAF made landfall without interception. The first air-to-air shots were not traded until one hour after the Luftwaffe Freya made the initial report.
