Operation Sealion: Could it have been pulled off?

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

I recall reading somewhere that the Germans didn't figure out the effectiveness of divebombing against moving ships until 1941. So, the Stukas might not have done much against the Royal Navy.

I disagree about the British being well dug in. They had little equipment after Dunkerque, and were pretty disorganized. If the Germans had managed to get even a token, mobile force across the Channel, they probably would have run roughshod over the British defences, the way Rommel did in late 1940 in Egypt. The downside is... no sea cover, no air cover... no way to keep that token force supplied.

[Sandman]

Another authorative essay for the ignorami:

http://gateway.alternatehistory.com/essays/Sealion.html

[monolith94]

The british would have almost certainly repelled nazi germany with their magic ways and reanimated suits of armor

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by Sandman
Another authorative essay for the ignorami:

http://gateway.alternatehistory.com/essays/Sealion.html

Apparently an authority without a name, or sources.

[Sandman]

Try these for size:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwt...n_ww2_02.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwt...ritain_1.shtml

I would like to see detailed essays on why Sealion would have succeeded, but there don't seem to be any.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Until 1940, the Maginot line was impenetrable, too.

I'm not saying Sealion would have worked (see my post, above), but the British army was in sorry shape after the Dunkerque evacuation, and it wouldn't have been quite so cut and dried as British academicians and alternate universe theorists would have us believe.

And in retrospect, Hitler would have been better off trying and failing, than not trying at all.

[chequita guevara]

The Germans were winning the Battle of Britain until they switched to targetting civilians (btw, it was not Britain who first targetted civilians, but the Germans, who bombed Warsaw). If they had continued on this strategy, they would eventually have forced Britain to come to terms, probably without even risking an invasion. Once the Nazis had air superiority, success in the Channel and in England would be a foregone conclusion. Churchill might say never surrender, but in the face of total defeat, I doubt they would have carried on.

The war with the USSR would have happened regardless. In 1940, the USSR occupied Bessarbia and the Baltics, in preparation of war with the Nazis. Stalin, while helping the Nazis out, was preparing his own war, and would have launched an attack in 1944 or 1945.

All that knocking Britain out of the war would have done is keep the US from having a staging area in Europe. The US still would likely have occupied North Africa, though it would have been harder without Monty pushing from Africa. The US just would have had a much harder fight, and the US and USSR would defat the Nazis in 1945 or 1946 anyway, especially once atomic bombs began falling in Germany.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
The US still would likely have occupied North Africa, though it would have been harder without Monty pushing from Africa. The US just would have had a much harder fight, and the US and USSR would defat the Nazis in 1945 or 1946 anyway, especially once atomic bombs began falling in Germany.

That's an awfully long supply line for the USA, che... and based on US military thinking, they probably wouldn't have attempted Africa, first (the US high command favoured the early direct cross-channel invasion in 1943, remember). Probably no US invasion until 1944-5, by which time the USSR would have already turned the tide, or lost outright.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by monolith94
The british would have almost certainly repelled nazi germany with their magic ways and reanimated suits of armor

So I wasn't the only one thinking of that movie.

[Ned]

That link reinforces my original thinking that Hitler had no choice but to build up to Sea Lion just as the Allies built up to D-Day. They needed long range fighters and long range bombers to attack the Northern airbases, fleet anchorages and aircraft production. They also needed a horde of transport ships and landing craft, just as did the allies in '44. Finally, they needed torpedo airpower in force to take out any British naval vessels heading for the English Channel.

It may have taken them two or more years to assemble the necessary equipment. I believe they could have had the necessary equipment by '43.

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man
I recall reading somewhere that the Germans didn't figure out the effectiveness of divebombing against moving ships until 1941.

This is the point I made earlier. The main thing that saved Britain was the potency of air power against ships had not yet been recognised. The land battle would have been a doddle.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse


This is the point I made earlier. The main thing that saved Britain was the potency of air power against ships had not yet been recognised. The land battle would have been a doddle.

Sorry, didn't read your post AH. Yourself was not the 'somewhere' that I was referring to Nonetheless, you did say it first.

[monolith94]

Originally posted by Skanky Burns




So I wasn't the only one thinking of that movie.

I was wondering if anyone would call me on that!
One of Disney's best, if I say so myself…

[Drake Tungsten]

Was Angela Landsbury even alive during WWII?

[Dr Strangelove]

Actually during the first few weeks of the Battle of Britain the Germans did indeed deploy their Stukas against British coastal shipping. They were less effective than hoped for because many of the coastal transports were fairly small and therefore able to manuever. Stukas really weren't all that great of a naval dive bomber. It was apparently difficult for them to stay locked onto a moving target. Furthermore they were extremely vulnerable to fighters. The Germans had thought at the outset that they could use the Stukas as bait to draw out the British fighters which their fighters would chew up, but it didn't work that way because the Brits eventually improved out their command and control enabling them to usually acheive local superiority. Even when British fighters couldn't beat up the German fighters they could seperate them from the Stukas and have a field day destroying the bombers. Apparently British fighters were better able to follow the Stukas on their steep descent bombing runs than were the Messerschmidts.