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OPERATION SEALION

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by BIGSCRUMBOY (U2275657) on Friday, 21st October 2005

  Would the germans have invaded in just one area or would they have tried to land in strength in scotland from norway , as well as on the south coast , and if the germans had got a foot hold could the british forces held out

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by wargamewarwick (U2309376) on Wednesday, 26th October 2005

  all the evidence I've seen suggests a single landing over the shortest distance. This is based on the lack of suitable landing craft and the need to use river barges from across northern europe.
  
  If they had have landed (having got past the Royal Navy), it would have been "a close run thing", given what we now know of seaborne landings and the Germans lack of experience they would have suffered considerably. However if they'd have got a foothold, the "ramshackle" defences we'd got in place in summer 1940 would have collapsed fairly quickly (as would Churchill's government).
  
  Personally I'm not convinced the German high command had the stomach for the venture, hoping that Britain would "see reason" and agree to join with Germany in pact of mutual benefit (thus allowing them to deal with the bolshevik threat).
  

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• Message 3

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  Posted by Elistan (U1872011) on Thursday, 27th October 2005

  Judging from German tactics in other theatres there is no reason to suppose a Scottish invasion as it would be two far removed from any real objective target. Whilst the British naval bases could be argued for as probable targets, Marseilles did not draw the Germans in that direction. The structure of England is such that a quick conquest of the home countries and London, with an inland stab towards birmingham, would cause the whole system to collapse. The north would become divided by pennines, and the Welsh and Scottish highlands would could only manage rump resistance.

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  Posted by Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ auto-messages (U294) on Thursday, 27th October 2005

  Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Battlefield Academy' to 'Wars and Conflicts'.

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• Message 5

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  Posted by Seelowe (U2371119) on Monday, 31st October 2005

  A German assault on Scotland from Norway would not have been possible. By the summer of 1940 the German navy had been reduced to one heavy cruiser with defective engines ( Hipper ) & 8 destroyers, and in any case they lacked the shipping to transport any meaningful quantity of troops & equipment over such a distance, although doubtless the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Fleet would have been delighted if such an attempt had been made.
  
  Indeed, any German invasion of Britain was impossible in 1940, not because of the Battle of Britain but because of the overwhelming strength of the Royal Navy, which at the time had some 40 destroyers & several cruisers in the area between the Nore & Portsmouth, as well as several hundred small patrol craft of which some 300 or so were at sea at any one time. The Battle of Britain myth which still survives was simply a propaganda tool used by Churchill to win support in the U.S., as Churchill knew that Operation Sealion was a non-starter. Indeed, in early August, four full armoured regiments were shipped to the Middle East to make possible the O'Connor offensive which culminated in the Battle of Beda Fomm. Had a German invasion been even remotely possible, surely these tanks would have been sent to the South Coast.

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  Posted by SmegheadRed (U1879559) on Saturday, 5th November 2005

  "By the summer of 1940 the German navy had been reduced to one heavy cruiser with defective engines ( Hipper ) & 8 destroyers"
  
  I understood that the Blucher was sunk, and that 10 destroyers were sunk in Narvik, but what about the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, or the Prinz Eugen? I'm not saying that they on their own could have defied the RN in the Channel, but they werent sunk in the Norwegian Campaign, were they?
  
  Smeg

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• Message 7

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  Posted by arnaldalmaric (U1756653) on Saturday, 5th November 2005

  Reply to message #1
  
  The Germans would invade in one area along the shortest route. A landing in Scotland is out of the question. It is too far for the Luftwaffe to support a landing in Scotland and the Germans had no Aircraft Carriers. The Royal Navy would have minced such an attack in very short order even if you asume that the worlds worst commander was in charge. (The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Fleet was in Scapa Flow).
  
  Regarding other posters comments, the whole purpose of the Battle of Britain was to deny air supremacy. (In a modern war, which WW2 was you can't win without air supremacy, however without air supremacy you can draw, providing you can have ground or naval supremacy).
  
  Cheers AA.

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• Message 8

  , in reply to message 6.

  Posted by Turnwrest (U2188092) on Monday, 7th November 2005

  "By the summer of 1940 the German navy had been reduced to one heavy cruiser with defective engines ( Hipper ) & 8 destroyers"
  
  I understood that the Blucher was sunk, and that 10 destroyers were sunk in Narvik, but what about the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, or the Prinz Eugen? I'm not saying that they on their own could have defied the RN in the Channel, but they werent sunk in the Norwegian Campaign, were they?
  
  ³§³Ύ±π²µΜύ
  
  Prinz Eugen hadn't yet entered service at that point, and Salmon & Gluckstein were both non-operational undergoing repairs from the Norwegian campaign.
  
  The onnly place that the Germans stood a chance of occupying by attempting an invasion in 1940 was the sea bed between France and Britain, IMO.

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