I didn't know that that 1974 wargame was based on a situation where the LW did not gain air superiority. Given that I consider the whole wargame pointless, nobody with at least some basic intelligence between his ears would have gone ahead with a risky operation like Seelöwe if the main striking element (the Luftwaffe) couldn't operate just as they pleased. That's just like the wargame the Japanese held before Midway - pointless as they bent the rules so that the desired result was achieved. Or like the german wargame before Barbarossa - wishful thinking glossed over any problems.

Well, we are talking bout Hitler and Goering here! While they had relatively decent judgement early in the war, no one could accuse them of having basic intelligence later on! lol

(Well, maybe for Hitler, there's a common theme from some sources that indicate he was bright, but very shielded from the realities that were occurring later in the war).

Hitler was a compulsive gambler but only on dry land. Anything that involved water wasn't to his liking at all.

Besides there's a political component here. An operation like that, involving insane risks, may have sparked open rebellion within the german Army. Remember there were advanced plans to remove Hitler from power as early as 1938 and not by relatively low-level staff officers, either. A gamble like that might have prodded men like Halder into action to prevent a disaster. And Hitler knew that - which is why he began to erode the traditional chain of command to install himself as the one and only authority for the german armed forces.

Wow, this thread and posts have been notched up a level. Good stuff!

Just throwing in my bit that one must remember the two highest ranking Nazis were junkies, and I'm not talking a little spliff every-now-and-then And not just Hitler and Goring, most of those in power were screwed up in one way or another. Living by the sword I suppose... The success of the initial campaigns (annexes, Poland, BoF) and German public opinion, also largely silenced the early usurpers to power.

If seriously interested in this topic, and I find this era a pivotal point in history, there is a terrific book written by Peter Flemming in 1957 entitled (just guess) "Operation Sea Lion: The projected invasion of England in 1940 - An account of the German preparations and the British countermeasures". It is so well researched with archival docs, interviews (written within recent memory of those who were involved), etc. that it could/may have been a PhD dissertation. Well worth looking it up.

EDIT: The above book is not to be confused with his later work, "Operation Sea Lion (Grand Strategy)", which I have not read and just discovered is available in paperback. May be easier to find...

Depends on your POV

+1

I have used the Flemming book as background for writing the plot and knowing which army units may have been involved on both sides. You can actually get it free in epub format from internetarchive.org.

Would Sealion have proceeded if the Luftwaffe didn't have air superiority? One camp says obviously not, since it didn't. Another says it was only ever a bluff anyway. But the wargame in 74 wanted to test if it could have succeeded anyway, and the interesting thing, I think, was that the German army did get 330,000 men ashore, despite lacking air superiority, and it was not lack of air superiority, but naval inferiority, which was decisive after that because British naval forces made resupply impossible.

To the point of rebellion at home, imagine how strengthened Hitler's position would have been if he had fought England to an armistice through Sealion. Total capitulation by Britain wouldn't have been necessary, just a cessation of hostilities. Another victory under his belt and he could have drawn down forces in the west to throw everything at Russia... It may have been a different and darker world we live in today...

H

OK, agreed, but what is the big pink vertical thing to the centre-left of your screenshot?

Dude! Now I'll never be able to look around the cockpit again without thinking this... Seriously just killed 1 plane for me, haha!

About the history, as I understand, AH wasn't a junkie yet at this time of the war? I thought most of that came after Barbarossa went sour, and AH started putting long nights in, he got his personal doctor to give him speedball injections. Goering always took morphine, at least, since WWI injury. He was never a brilliant strategist it seems, so not sure how much of that can be attributed to the pain meds, and how much of it should be placed on Goering simply being the wrong man for the job, just there due to his early support of AH.

Remember for years, the German public adored these men, they seemed to be quite able to function quite well, and our history does have a tendency to try to demonize them any ways possible. I think they probably weren't as bad of junkies early on, as t.v. makes them out to be.

Really interesting passage in the Fleming Sealion book that I just came across, which shows just how conflicted AH was about the whole invasion...the language in his directive on the operation in Czech said, "It is my unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia by military action in the near future", and on Poland "The aim then will be to destroy Polish military strength", on France "The German attack is to be launched in such a way that it can lead to the annihilation of the French army," whereas with Britain it is very guarded and much softer, "Since England, in spite of her hopeless military situation, shows no signs of being ready to come to an understanding, I have decided to prepare a landing operation against England and, if necessary, to carry it out".

The Fuhrer directives themselves are very interesting reading for milhist types...it isn't easy to find them collected in one place on the net, but this site has the originals, described in a US postwar intel document...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35919416/Fuehr...9-1941-USA-1948

AAR and screenies from the Sealion Mission Pack, missions 3 & 4. (Missions 3,4 are in testing, for release next week). All screenshots taken from in game flyable sorties within the two Day 2 'single mission' files.

22 September 1940: Operation Sealion, S-Tag, Dawn (flyables 111 Sq Hurricanes, 64 Sq Spitfires, 212 Sq Blenheims, LG2 Bf109E4s, ZG76 Bf110C46s)

The first wave of a planned 330,000 men hit the English beaches at dawn. 4 divisions of Army Group A land between Folkestone and Rottingdean (near Brighton), XIII Army Corps under General Der Panzertruppe Von Vietinghoff gannant Scheel, 17th and 35th infantry division together with VII Army Corps under Generaloberst von Schobert, 1st Mountain Division and 7th Infantry Division. In addition 7th Paratroop Div land at Lympne to take the airfield.

Further West the 9th Army made shore between Bexhill and Eastbourne. 2 Divisions of the XXXVIII Army Corps under General von Mannstein, 26th and 34th Infantry Divisions, and from the VII Army Corp under General Heitz, the 6th Mountain Division, 8th and 28th Infantry Divisions.

Opposing them on the British GHQ stop line are the rebuilt forces of the VII Corps (1st Armoured Div, 1st Canadian and elements of 2nd Canadian Div, elements of New Zealand Army Corp Inf Div and the recently arrived Australian 9th infantry division diverted from Africa), Strategic Reserve centred on Surrey and North Hampshire, and the XII Corps (1st London Div, 45 Inf Div, 29 Inf Brigade, 1st Tank Brigade) based in Kent and West Sussex.

At first light, Blenheims make a run on a beach-head a Folkestone


Ju88s sweep across the battlefield to hit British reserves in the rear




German 7th Paratroop division attacks poorly prepared defences at Lympne as 111 Squadron scrambles to get their machines away





Gunners on German car ferries cover the beach as the armour unloads under fire from British defences





LG2 109s and 64 Sq Spitfires in a deadly dance



22 September 194, S-tag, afternoon: West of Folkestone (flyables, as above, plus Bf109E4bs and Bf110C7s of Erpro 210)

German troops of the 17th and 35th infantry divisions supported by the 8th Panzer division have established a beach-head west of Folkestone and are driving through the town of Hythe for the Port. Their objective is the bridge over the Canal. The land battle is taking place house by house, street by street, as British mobile reserves throughout Kent are mobilised. A second invasion fleet has been spotted leaving ports in Norway. Large numbers of German fighters and bombers are sweeping the coast, and attacking naval forces in the Channel.

64 Sq Spitfire scramble from Hawkinge in their third sortie of the day


British forces are caught on the bridge at Hythe as German troops, with motorcyle borne MGs in the vanguard, race to take the crossing


British light armour reinforcements, on the move to strengthen the GHQ stop line, while British anti-tank guns lie in wait in the grass outside Hythe



Anarchy on the beachhead west of Folkestone as Blenheims strike and freighters collide



Erpro 210 moves in to hit British land and sea forces around Hythe




German armour and troop carriers advance on the village, as the concealed British anti tank guns hit back




Erpro 210 strikes British positions along the canal



While in the air, the defenders and attackers tangle