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

[David Hayward]

Originally Posted by MikeC1980

After the defeat of the French and the British Expeditionary Force, weren't a lot of the UK's equipment left burning on the road to Dunkirk? I don't think the UK was at all ready to fight off the undefeated German army.

That is meaningless if the Germans don't have a way to get past the British navy.

[Al Schlageter]

Originally Posted by MikeC1980

After the defeat of the French and the British Expeditionary Force, wasn't a lot of the UK's equipment left burning on the road to Dunkirk? I don't think the UK was at all ready to fight off the undefeated German army.

That is what is said but the Brits were not that bad off. A little digging will turn up the statistics on what the Brits had.

[Triggaaar]

Originally Posted by David Hayward

Most of the issues you bring up would not have mattered. The RAF didn't have to respond to German attacks on the beach defenses or harbors. All it had to do was fly cover for the Royal Navy as it destroyed the German invasion fleet.

But how could it fly cover for the Royal Navy in the scenario we're discussing: where Britain lost the BoB and the Germans had air superiority over the south of England?

[David Hayward]

Originally Posted by Triggaaar

But how could it fly cover for the Royal Navy in the scenario we're discussing: where Britain lost the BoB and the Germans had air superiority over the south of England?

The Brits would have based their remaining fighter out of the range of German fighters.

[SlipBall]

Originally Posted by David Hayward

The Brits would have based their remaining fighter out of the range of German fighters.

Would have been too little to late I believe.

[David Hayward]

Originally Posted by SlipBall

Would have been too little to late I believe.

Why? They only needed enough fighters to protect the fleet for about 24 hours.

[BlackbusheFlyer]

Originally Posted by csThor

3.) While I have my doubts about the actual landing and the sea transport situation I am very much doubtful if the British Army could have taken on even a small german force (two or three divisions initially, to be reinforced by mobile formations soon after) in the field once it had passed a certain point. And to exploit the initial weakness of the landing the British Army would have needed excellent Command and Control facilities, quick reaction times both of forces and commanders ... and on top of it all mobile forces. But the British Army wasn't having any of that in 1940, in fact the Wehrmacht always considered them to be rather slow and methodic (Monty turned that into a form of art ). It had lost most of its best equipment on the continent, its best formations were still in extremely bad shape, it was almost devoid of battle-worthy tanks, it suffered from an acute shortage of motor transportation, AT guns, artillery and ammunition (to make matters even worse). As a result its numerically strength meant little when the essential mobility, support and logistics weren't there.

IIRC the only armored formation in somewhat battleworthy state was 1st Armored which translates into one good shot at the german lodging - after that it had little more than static infantry to man static defense lines ... and the Wehrmacht had made short work of static lines a lot more formidable than anything the Brits could put up in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Hmm so you are suggesting just two or three divisions could have established and held a beachhead (bearing in mind they themselves would have had no heavy weapons/tanks etc)? I am sorry but get real. It is true the British Army was in a sorry state in 1940 after the previous decade of disarmament and the BEF disaster in France, however it was still a highly professional, well organized and determined adversary. My father was in that army and he retained no doubt what-so-ever that had the Germans invaded they would have got more than they bargained for. At the time the threat of invasion was a galvanizing force, defences and organization were rapidly constructed and arrangements made.

I think all in all the necessary air superiority achieved by the destruction of the RAF would have made the difference. However it would have been a bloody and protracted battle. Bare in mind this is the British, we love a good scrap.