Operation Sea Lion
Operation Sea Lion (German: [Unternehmen Seelöwe] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) was the plan to invade the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany during World War II. However, Germany first had to control the sky and sea of the English Channel before a land invasion.
With the Kriegsmarine weakened during the German invasion of Norway and the Luftwaffe defeated at the Battle of Britain, the invasion was "suspended indefinitely" on 17 September 1940 and ended up never happening.[1]
Some historians think Germany could have invaded Great Britain with the help of friendly countries and unity within the German military. Most historians, however, believe that the German plans would have had little chance of success.[2]
Operation Sea Lion Media
British soldiers in France in 1939
Winston Churchill visiting bomb-damaged areas of the East End of London, 8 September 1940
The Channel (Der Kanal), D.66 Kriegsmarine nautical chart, 1943
Invasion barges assembled at the German port of Wilhelmshaven.
- BundesarchivBildIIMN,Russland,LandungsbootmitZugkraftwagen
A Panzer III Tauchpanzer under test (1940); the crane ship Template:SMS, which was to support Tauchpanzer operations, is in the background
The huge 21 cm K12 railway gun was only suitable for bombarding targets on land.
Edward, Duke of Windsor reviewing SS guards with Robert Ley, 1937
Franz Six in 1940. He was later convicted of war crimes in the Nuremberg trials.
References
- ↑ David Shears, "Hitler’s D-Day", MHQ, vol. 6 Number 4 (Summer 1994)
- ↑ McCanne, Col randy (30 August 2002). "OPERATION SEA LION: A JOINT CRITICAL ANALYSIS" (PDF). apps.dtic.mil. Retrieved 8 February 2024.