Operation Sealion: Hitler's Invasion Plan for Britain

by David Wragg

Overview

During the Summer of 1940, Hitlers Germany appeared unstoppable. The Nazis were masters of mainland Europe, in alliance with Stalins Russia and only the English Channel prevented an immediate invasion.Britain stood alone. The BEF had been routed but, due to the Dunkirk miracle, most of her manpower had returned albeit without their transport and heavy equipment and guns. There was no doubt that the Nazis planned to invade all intelligence pointed that way. In the event it never materialised, thanks to the outcome of the Battle of Britain and Hitlers decision to invade Russia.Operation SEALION examines just how realistic the German threat of invasion was. The author studies the plans, the available capability and resources, the Germans record in Norway and later Crete. The author weighs these against the state of Britains defences and the relative strengths of the land, air and particularly naval forces.The result is a fascinating study of what might or might not have been.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473867406
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	01/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

David Wragg has published several highly praised books on railway history, and he produced a textbook for the old Chartered Institute of Transport. He has also written on railways for the Sunday Telegraph, The Spectator, The Scotsman, and the Yorkshire Post. His Wartime on the Railways was reviewed by Rail as 'very readable' and by Railways Illustrated as 'as a fascinating insight and also an important record', and Railways Illustrated chose his Southern Railway Handbook as 'Book of the Month'.

One of his most recent publications is The Historical Dictionary of Railways in the British Isles. He is also well known as a writer of military history and provide the British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand material for On Seas Contested- The Seven Great Navies of the Second World War, published in 2010 by the Naval Institute Press in the United States and which won the Stonebooks award for "The Best Non-Fiction book on World War II" to have been published that year.'

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Introduction ix

Maps xi

Chapter 1 The Unstoppable Hun 1

Chapter 2 After Dunkirk 21

Chapter 3 Lessons of Invasions Past 29

Chapter 4 The Germans Prepare Their Plans 41

Chapter 5 The Battle of Britain 63

Chapter 6 The State of the Navies in 1940 79

Chapter 7 Woe to the Conquered - German Occupation in The East 91

Chapter 8 Woe to the Conquered - German Occupation in The West 107

Chapter 9 The Lessons of Crete 135

Chapter 10 Barbarossa and Deliverance 141

Chapter 11 What Would German Occupation Have Meant? 167

Chapter 12 The Lessons of Normandy 175

Chapter 13 Was a Negotiated Peace an Option? 199

Chapter 14 Could The Germans Have Invaded? 203

Appendix A The Invasion Barges 209

Appendix B Specialised Equipment 213

Appendix C New Equipment 217

Glossary 219

Bibliography 225

Endnotes 227

Index 231