Let's Put this Battle of Britain thing in Historical Context..

[MadTommy]

lol.. when i said the BoB was tiny.. i meant it.. but i was also playing with language..it was very important but it was very small. It only involved a few 1000 personnel, whilst large battles in the East had millions of participants.

It is pure speculation what would have happened if Germany had got control of the skies. They might have invaded they might not, if they did it might have successful or it might not.

Their 'defeat' was a significant turning point in British fortunes and did help the Allies eventually open a western front in Europe.

[major_setback]

Originally Posted by MadTommy

It is pure speculation what would have happened if Germany had got control of the skies. ....

They would have bombed London into submission, or tried to. (Speculation).

Remember Birmingham was heavily bombed too, and of course Coventry.

[major_setback]

Interesting, showing all the countries that participated in the war. More than I imagined.

- Participants in WWII:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partici...n_World_War_II



.

[Wutz]

Originally Posted by major_setback

Interesting, showing all the countries that participated in the war. More than I imagined.

- Participants in WWII:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partici...n_World_War_II



.

Yes it is also interesting when they declared war some only days before it ended!
But this "what if" stuff I feel is always very thin ice as it easily can get nasty.

[ElAurens]

Almost every war college in the world had done studies and simulations of the German invasion of South East England.

And in every case the German main force never gets across the Channel in sufficient numbers to create a sustainable beach head. Why? Because of the Royal Navy, and it has little to do with capitol ships. The German invasion "fleet" was well equipped, to cross the Rhine, not to cross the English Channel. The river barges that they were counting on were ill suited to use on open seas. RN destroyers and corvettes racing through the formations of barges basically would not even have to fire on them, as the majority would be swamped by the wake of the much larger ships tearing by at 30+ knots. The German units that did get ashore would be on their own, with no re-supply, little fuel, and no hope of retreat.

It never would have worked.

[GnigruH]

Allied landing in normandy was succwssful cos' they've practiced and perfected it in north africa, italy and pacific islands. Germs didn't have that experience with such operations, so chances are it would be a massive fail.

[Triggaaar]

Firstly, wow! When I read the start of this thread yesterday I never imagined there would be 5 pages of sensible discussion. Congratulations everyone.

Originally Posted by ElAurens

And in every case the German main force never gets across the Channel in sufficient numbers to create a sustainable beach head. Why? Because of the Royal Navy, and it has little to do with capitol ships. The German invasion "fleet" was well equipped, to cross the Rhine, not to cross the English Channel.
...
RN destroyers and corvettes racing through the formations of barges basically would not even have to fire on them, as the majority would be swamped by the wake of the much larger ships tearing by at 30+ knots.

The RN was the largest navy in the world, but if the Germans had air superiority, persumably it wouldn't be that difficult to destroy most of the navy and ports?

Originally Posted by GnigruH

Allied landing in normandy was succwssful cos' they've practiced and perfected it in north africa, italy and pacific islands. Germs didn't have that experience with such operations, so chances are it would be a massive fail.

Germany didn't have the experience, so perhaps they couldn't have invaded in the short term, but what reason is there that they couldn't invade a few years down the line?

[swiss]

Originally Posted by ElAurens

Almost every war college in the world had done studies and simulations of the German invasion of South East England.

Who says they would have decided for an invasion come hell or high water? If there were an offer for an armistice the German would have accepted at any point.
That was the original plan - what the f*** you want with that island anyway if the tadeoff grants you access to the resources of North Afrika without messing with the Tommies.

[Skoshi Tiger]

Originally Posted by swiss

That was the original plan - what the f*** you want with that island anyway if the tadeoff grants you access to the resources of North Afrika without messing with the Tommies.

An Island is an aircraft carrier that cannot be sunk.

By having the British Islands the Alies could continue an air offensive in the west and tie up valuable German resources that would otherwise have been used by the Germans in the invasion of Russia.

There is no way that the alies could have begun the Stategic bombing campaign that brought Germanys Industrial might to it's knees without the British Islands