Questions Regarding the Sea Mammal That Shall Not Be Named
It is with soft and fearful tread I enter...
Not to suggest that the Nazi invasion of Britain could have succeeded. Many posts on this topic have explained so many aspects of the shortfall of German resources to accomplish the task. But, I'm more curious of just how bad the shortfall was? I know-"a whole lot". But if someone has something more concrete. Imagine yourself, if need be, as a staff officer in OKW getting a memo saying, "We want to invade Britain. What will it take to accomplish this? What do we have of what is needed? How much more should we have?" A snapshot, if you will, of the need vs. ability between Dunkirk and Barbarossa.
For example, air superiority/supremacy is needed. At the loss rates of the LW and RAF, how many more planes (of what kind) are needed-right now-to protect the crossing, landings and advance off the beachheads? Haw many ships will be needed to hold back the RN and keep the invasion force and subsequent supply lines open? How many supply ships are needed to keep going to London? How many parachute troops? Transport planes? How much at the ready to launch the invasion, and what kind of production to stay on track?
I know it is a large and multi faceted exercise. I have read many analyses of different parts of the problem from many posts on other threads but not (and-please-direct me to an existing thread that has asked this already if one exists that I missed) "all in one place".
I'm not looking for what Germany could do but, rather, what Germany needed to do in order to be able to succeed...some sort of quantification of what we already know in general. Revisions to the invasion plan are OK but, please, limit yourselves to only what equipment was actually available for use in the time period (e.g., no nukes, V weapons, jets, etc.).
I know this is a big topic and I scarce expect a definitive answer to all of it but any information from anyone's area of expertise would be helpful.
It is with soft and fearful tread I enter...
Not to suggest that the Nazi invasion of Britain could have succeeded. Many posts on this topic have explained so many aspects of the shortfall of German resources to accomplish the task. But, I'm more curious of just how bad the shortfall was? I know-"a whole lot". But if someone has something more concrete. Imagine yourself, if need be, as a staff officer in OKW getting a memo saying, "We want to invade Britain. What will it take to accomplish this? What do we have of what is needed? How much more should we have?" A snapshot, if you will, of the need vs. ability between Dunkirk and Barbarossa.
For example, air superiority/supremacy is needed. At the loss rates of the LW and RAF, how many more planes (of what kind) are needed-right now-to protect the crossing, landings and advance off the beachheads? Haw many ships will be needed to hold back the RN and keep the invasion force and subsequent supply lines open? How many supply ships are needed to keep going to London? How many parachute troops? Transport planes? How much at the ready to launch the invasion, and what kind of production to stay on track?
I know it is a large and multi faceted exercise. I have read many analyses of different parts of the problem from many posts on other threads but not (and-please-direct me to an existing thread that has asked this already if one exists that I missed) "all in one place".
I'm not looking for what Germany could do but, rather, what Germany needed to do in order to be able to succeed...some sort of quantification of what we already know in general. Revisions to the invasion plan are OK but, please, limit yourselves to only what equipment was actually available for use in the time period (e.g., no nukes, V weapons, jets, etc.).
I know this is a big topic and I scarce expect a definitive answer to all of it but any information from anyone's area of expertise would be helpful.
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