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

ElAurens · #1 04-07-2011, 04:37 PM

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 · #2 04-07-2011, 05:00 PM

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 · #3 04-07-2011, 05:19 PM

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

Quote:

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?

Quote:

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?

David Hayward · #4 04-07-2011, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triggaaar

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?

That is, more or less, what they tried to do.

Triggaaar · #5 04-07-2011, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Hayward

That is, more or less, what they tried to do.

No, I'm replying to comments that they'd have no chance even if they won the BoB and had air superiority.

GnigruH · #6 04-07-2011, 05:49 PM

Air superiority is not something you get and have forever.
They planned to invade few years after gaining air superiority? LOL, how they could be sure they will still have it?

David Hayward · #7 04-07-2011, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triggaaar

No, I'm replying to comments that they'd have no chance even if they won the BoB and had air superiority.

I know. You said that if they could not invade in 1940, perhaps they could try later. Essentially, that is exactly what happened.

bongodriver · #8 04-07-2011, 06:02 PM

Quote:

I know. You said that if they could not invade in 1940, perhaps they could try later. Essentially, that is exactly what happened.

they tried another time?

Triggaaar · #9 04-07-2011, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GnigruH

Air superiority is not something you get and have forever.
They planned to invade few years after gaining air superiority? LOL, how they could be sure they will still have it?

It's only conjecture on my part that they'd have a good chance of keeping air superiority if they had it, as they'd be largely free to bomb factories as they pleased.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Hayward

I know. You said that if they could not invade in 1940, perhaps they could try later. Essentially, that is exactly what happened.

No, I was saying that if they had air superiority, but were unable to invade due to their shipping and experience, they could try later (having bombed the navy). That's not at all what happened, because they never got air superiorty and never destroyed the navy.

swiss · #10 04-07-2011, 09:06 PM

Quote:

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.