Jolly Roger has kindly left an opening for me to add another post to my tally. Beowulf.
Quite before my time and I do not recall if the subject was even remotely on the curriculum when I alledgedly attended school. The origin of the tale certainly seems to be a matter so undocumented that any interesting and entertaining hypothesis could be put forward with a modicum of supporting evidence.
If the origin is indeed English (between 8th and 11th centuries) , how can it be that the Scandinavians are portrayed not as vile, foul-smelling Vikingr beasts, but rather are the heroes in the tale?
Gentlemen, after much thought and very little actual fact-finding I have come to the conclusion that it was written by a homesick Vikingr permanently relocated to England!
Supporting evidence: When on my travels to England I have been looking forward to speak the English language once again, the concierge at the hotel is always a b***** Dane! QED.
Bridging the gap most elegantly to return to our discussion of Hitler's intentions regarding the invasion of the Fortress Isle, I seem to remember having been informed somewhere that Hitler was quite an Anglophile, a secret admirer of England.
Furthermore there were family ties across the channel between the ruling classes of Germany and England. Until Hitler revealed the horror of his true intentions, the relations on the highest of levels, yes, even to the Royals were quite good.
Hitler's armies were totally dedicated to Blitzkrieg, conquering, and war on land and in the air. His U-boat fleet was initially quite small, and scheduled to be on a decent footing by 1943-45, according to plans hatched before Sept. 1939. Hitler did not want to wait that long before starting the war, as he would be too old by then. So I think it is fair to assume that by faulty logic or self-deceit, he had no intention of invading the British Isles until he was actually realizing, possibly as quite a shock that he'd conquered his way all the way to the channel; no trenches in France this time round.
Why did he stop at Dunkirk, and leave the British time to evacuate the men that were to form the backbone of the new British army?
