Battle of Britain

Wolfgang H · Post by **Wolfgang H** » 24 Apr 2003 14:17

[Moved from the Polls section]

I think the Brittish would have fallen and would have been invaded.
How about the rest of you?

What would have happened if the Luftwaffe kept targeting the Brittish airfields instead of London?

Britain would have fallen and been invaded
Britain would still have repelled the Luftwaffe and won the Battle of Britain
Germany would have complete air superiority, but the Brittish would have still defeated Germany with their navy

Billy Bishop · Post by **Billy Bishop** » 24 Apr 2003 15:36

I think it would just force the RAF to relocate to nothern airfields, out of the range of German aircraft. They would've still controlled the air over Britain.

Britian wouldn't have fallen, their navy was too powerful.

Caldric · Post by **Caldric** » 24 Apr 2003 16:12

They would have just moved the Airfields, the Hurri I was a great rough airfield plane, and it won the war anyway. Err battle I mean.

Sam H. · Post by **Sam H.** » 24 Apr 2003 17:13

I doubt the Luftwaffe would have won, they lacked the strategic strike capability needed to seriously hurt Britian. The British would have withdrawn from the battle and waited in Central England for the invasion.

David Brown · Post by **David Brown** » 24 Apr 2003 21:07

Sam H. wrote:I doubt the Luftwaffe would have won, they lacked the strategic strike capability needed to seriously hurt Britian. The British would have withdrawn from the battle and waited in Central England for the invasion.

But given that the Germans had landed and most of Britains military equipment was still on Dunkirk Beach, what would we have used to repell the Nazi invasion?

Benoit Douville · Post by **Benoit Douville** » 25 Apr 2003 01:07

I voted for that England would have fallen and a lot of historians would agree with that. If the Luftwaffe had destroyed the Airfield, I didn't see how the RAF and England would have recoveredfrom this defeat. When the Germans lost the Air superiority in Western Europe in 1944, it was more easy for D-Day and the invasion of Normandy by the Allies.

Sam H. · Post by **Sam H.** » 25 Apr 2003 12:07

David Brown wrote:
Sam H. wrote:I doubt the Luftwaffe would have won, they lacked the strategic strike capability needed to seriously hurt Britian. The British would have withdrawn from the battle and waited in Central England for the invasion.
But given that the Germans had landed and most of Britains military equipment was still on Dunkirk Beach, what would we have used to repell the Nazi invasion?

The Royal Airforce and the Royal Navy. Getting ashore is only half the fight, staying ashore and keeping the troops supplied is where the Germans would fail. Those troops aren't going far after a week without food, water and ammunition.

Blackheart · Post by **Blackheart** » 26 Apr 2003 14:04

Hitler believed Briton was finished, If he really wanted to he would've easily defeated the Brittish (sorry my UK friends, that's the bitter truth!!)
Black

David Brown · Post by **David Brown** » 26 Apr 2003 17:44

Sam H. wrote:
David Brown wrote:
Sam H. wrote:I doubt the Luftwaffe would have won, they lacked the strategic strike capability needed to seriously hurt Britian. The British would have withdrawn from the battle and waited in Central England for the invasion.
But given that the Germans had landed and most of Britains military equipment was still on Dunkirk Beach, what would we have used to repell the Nazi invasion?
The Royal Airforce and the Royal Navy. Getting ashore is only half the fight, staying ashore and keeping the troops supplied is where the Germans would fail. Those troops aren't going far after a week without food, water and ammunition.

Good point but the Luftwaffe would have already taken out the R.A.F. in order for the invasion to go ahead.

Lord Gort · Post by **Lord Gort** » 26 Apr 2003 18:21

Great Britain would have sacrificed its fleet before letting one German cross the channel, as well as that by late august early september Britain had seriously fortified her southern coast, Greek fire in the, tank traps, etc etc etc.

Still it would have a damm close run thing. The point is you look at the planning and equipment used for D-day and see whether their is even a fraction of it in summer 1940 and you quickly see that the idea of an invasion was a joke.

The barges the germans were going to use were the flat bottomed coastal and river barges, the elite German SS and army regiments would have been tossed about like mad in the channel, even on a relatively calm day, they would all have been feeling sick as dogs if they ever got ashore, its a factor!

regards,

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » 26 Apr 2003 19:42

I agree with Lord Gort and not out of blind patriotism but as he has stated in his post and as I have stated in previous thread's on this subject, that the German plans were a shambles.

It took the allies years to come up with the palns for Overlord, yet we are suppose to believe that Germany did them on the hoff so to speak

.

The British Navy would have caused havoc to the landings. Germany had no reserves in terms on landing ships or barges. Once they were gone they were gone. Supporting a German invasion force after it had landed would have been a logistical nightmare for Germany

Andy

David Brown · Post by **David Brown** » 26 Apr 2003 19:58

You're right about those barges - they looked more like the old bath tubs grandad used to sit in in front of the fire.

However, this was only one strand of any invasion in 1940. Don't forget that the Luftwaffe would have dropped it's crack paratroops to secure the docks and harbours firstly. The Royal Navy was our strongest force, arguably the best in the world at the time, but they were already being stretched to the limit.

Once they're behind the shore defences all they have to really contend with is the shambles of a Home Guard (they had already shot a Polish Air Force fighter pilot who had bailed out of his RAF plane after being shot down by a Messerschmitt - He could only speak Polish and they thought he was a German).

Had the Luftwaffe stayed with attacking the RAF airfields, the Germans would have landed and they would have gone through us like a hot knife through butter.

Andy H · Post by **Andy H** » 26 Apr 2003 20:13

David

I dont doubt for a minute that if the German army had landed it would have knocked the stuffing out of our under equipped troops, but could the Germans keep them supplied, and thats where it would fall apart IMO

Andy

David Brown · Post by **David Brown** » 26 Apr 2003 23:00

Hello Andy H

It's definately food for thought but they managed it in Norway.

While the Kreigsmarine took a battering off the Royal Navy in the process, hence their inability to give full support to the invasion of Britain, they were still able to supply them and it was a wider stretch of water to contend with.

I have to say in answer to your question "Yes". I believe they could.

Eduard Chivu · Post by **Eduard Chivu** » 27 Apr 2003 21:08

I voted that england would fall. Although they had a powerful navy the german airforce and navy would eventually secure a sea lane through which convoys could bring supplies to the attacking german force. and let's not forget that air superioty is the reason why normandy was succesful.
eduard

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