Operation Sealion

[AirborneAllTheWay]

Most of the south of england has beaches very similar to normandy, many were used for training for amphibious ops. During the war this area was very heavily defended, with oil, Gas and mines and bunkers. Some of the area had its population removed and some parts still today are not open to public access.

Crossing the North Sea? No chance. Highly unstable seas and poor weather plus it would increase the distance considerably.

I doubt Hitler ever considered invading the UK with much serious thought. It would have cost lots of German lives. Even if the RAF had been knocked out, you would still have to contend with the Royal Navy and you can be certain the Brits would have used any weapons in their arsenals for defence, chemical weapons included.

[Linlu]

Hi all,

Let's say England was successfully taken over by the Germans and Rommel kicked the British out of North Africa, where would the Americans invade then?

- Linlu

[Zachary]

Maybe the Americans would never get involved in the war, except maybe after Pearl Harbor, if PH happens.
Best Regards,
Zachary

[Andy]

The Germans would never have Reached the Beaches because their weak Navy would have been destroyed by the Royal Navy.

[Linlu]

Hi all,

Andy, the Ju-87 Stukas could do some major damage to the Royal Naval ships. The English could not bring all their ships to the Channel. If you include the U-boats, the German Navy is, in my opinion, actually quite powerful. I agree that the German surface fleet is weak, but they have command of underneath the surface.

BTW, were there any U-boats active in the Channel when the D-Day invasion fleet was launched?

- Linlu

[Romulus]

If the brits used chemical weapons you think the germans wouldn't? Plus the fact that all german soldiers were required to carry a gasmask. Also wasn't the Graf Zeppelin about 88% done in 1940? They could certainly use that against the RN.

[Zachary]

Yeah the aircraft carrier was launched and almost done but had to be scrapped. I don't remember the reason.
As for the U-Boats, they went "spalt" in May 1943, though some did operate till May 1945. 29,000 submariners died out of the 39,000, most in the later years of the war, including Donitz's son.
Zachary

[The Desert Fox]

Yes the mortality rate of the german submariner was pretty hidious.

The grandfather of a guy I once worked with here in Australia was one of those few 10,000 souls who survived the experience! It would have been fascinating to have a chat with him about his experiences.

[Rob S.]

[The Desert Fox]

Any news on the outcome of this television series. Has anyone seen it? It would be fascinating to see it on Australian TV. It would be great if Australian TV networks would import somthing interesting like this, rather than the hundreds of Americian sit coms. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

regards
The Desert Fox

[Zachary]

What television series?
Zach

[The Desert Fox]

The BBC Tv series called "Invasion" you silly sod mentioned in the scanned magaizine article above.

Has anyone had the pleasure of seeing it yet?????????????????

regards
The Desert Fox

[The Desert Fox]

Hi all,

Let's say England was successfully taken over by the Germans and Rommel kicked the British out of North Africa, where would the Americans invade then?

- Linlu

I expect with the UK knocked out of the war, the americians would not have become involved in the European theatre of war. The World war Two experience of the USA would have been a Pacific one. They would have had a war against Japan after Pearl Harbour.


regards
The Desert Fox

[Anthony EJW]

Hi all,

Andy, the Ju-87 Stukas could do some major damage to the Royal Naval ships. The English could not bring all their ships to the Channel. If you include the U-boats, the German Navy is, in my opinion, actually quite powerful. I agree that the German surface fleet is weak, but they have command of underneath the surface.

BTW, were there any U-boats active in the Channel when the D-Day invasion fleet was launched?

- Linlu

39 RN destroyers took part in the Dunkirk evacuation. This operation required manoeuvring in a small harbour, with periods stationary while embarking troops. The Luftwaffe had command of the air for long periods. In these ideal conditions, the Luftwaffe managed to put out of commission a grand total of 4 destroyers.

The Germans would have had to have sunk every ship sortied against the convoy; as a single destroyer could have pretty much wrecked it if it got amoung the slow moving and vunerable German transports.