Operation Sea Lion (1974 Sandhurst Wargame)
- Thread starter Not James Stockdale
- Start date
Well, obviously. And if the Wehrmacht was just one guy named Hans with a paddle boat, the chances for Germany winning the war would be much, much lower(not that they had many).
being a lifelong member of the flat earth society i believe all the water should drain of the edges and they can just drive across the now dry channel.Well, obviously. And if the Wehrmacht was just one guy named Hans with a paddle boat, the chances for Germany winning the war would be much, much lower(not that they had many).
hipper
Banned
the’d probably use the two Royal marine Brigades preparing for Amphibious assaults in Plymouth if an opposed landing was planned.
otherwise the’d just reinforce the defence using shipping in Plymouth with whatever troops were locally available. all the British have to do is keep hold of Cowes and they can reinforce in overwhelming force at leisure.
If only they had some ready made Roll on Roll off Ferries operating between the Northern Island ports and several ports on the mainland that could make the journey in about 30 minutes.............
Ian_W
Banned
After the shock of the Fall of France, the invasion expected by many occurred, with a night paratroop landing on the Isle of Wight on the 15 July 1940.
This landing, timed for the full moon of 19 July, triggered a full on invasion scare with British defense plans put into motion to repel a full scale invasion.
The expected follow-up invasion of England proper did not occur, but the British preparations to defend the rest of the UK did give the German troops on the Isle of Wight 72 hours or so to consolidate their control over the island and conduct limited over-the-beach resupply. This resupply involved limited reinforcement from the 22 Airlanding Division, however great difficulties were found unloading artillery from small boats over beaches.
The focus of the Battle of Britain then became the Isle of Wight and the waters around it, with the British attempted to prevent the reinforcement of the German paratroops and destroying any German attempts to establish an airfield, and the Germans attempting to attrit the RN forces blockading their air-head while improving their rudimentary airfield to allow control of the island.
While at this time the RAF was inferior in the number of single-engine fighters, it was still at rough parity with the Lutwaffe's forces.
Once the British got over their initial shock, planning began for the counter-attack.
The geography of the Isle of Wight was the key to the plan, with the British planners correctly assessing that the German defenders would be without tanks and short on artillery.
While the Camden-Lloyd firm had experimented with amphibious tanks in the 1930s (1), none were immediately available. The firm was, however, contacted and conversion began, expected to be completed by September.
The Royal Marines were the obvious choice to lead the retaking of the island, and 101 Brigade began assembling. Lacking their own artillery, two Royal Artillery regiments were assigned. It was a critical feature of the upcoming battle that the 13 500 yard (12.2km) range of this artillery could reach much of the island from batteries established on the mainland.
Additionally, liaison officers were assigned from each of the RN ships in Portsmouth, with the plan being to use the RN as floating artillery batteries.
The preparatory stages of the battle were a task for the RAF and the Navy, with the Navy preventing major reinforcement of the island while the respective air forces fought a grinding battle of attrition over the Solent, the Channel and the Isle of Wight itself.
The Royal Artillery and Royal Marine Division was in place by the end of the month, and Army Cooperation squadrons hunted down the limited amount of German artillery for destruction by the RN or RAF. The FJs still had their mortars, but ammunition for them was limited.
When it happened, the invasion of the north-west corner of the island began on 2 August 1940, and the paralyzing affect of not only the British 25 pounders but also British destroyer fire prevented coordinated German defense. Yarmouth was the focus of the British landing, and the line Hamstead-Brightstone was established by the night of 2 August.
The remnants of the German forces defending Yarmouth retreated to the rubble that was the old fort at the Needles, and were destroyed by 15 inch gunfire by the old battleship Revenge.
Having absolute naval supremacy in the Solent, and having their artillery based on the mainland the British were able to use the small port of Yarmouth solely to resupply the Marines and evacuate casualties. The Germans had no such luxury, with the RAF and RN competing to attack any resupply vessels, and then the supplies moved across the island. The Luftwaffe could, of course, extract a price from this but they could not prevent losses of shipping.
German counterattacks on the night of 2-3 August were broken up by British artillery fire - it was later found that 25% of all British 25 lber ammo had been stockpiled in Portsmouth for support of this operation, allowing rapid fire of 4 rpm to be maintained for longer than the Germans could sustain a counterattack.
British troops pushed along the north coast to Cowes, forcing the German defenders to decide whether to stay in place and be outflanked or maneuver and be caught outside their foxholes by the British artillery.
Once Cowes fell to the Marines on 5 August, the fate of the defenders was sealed.
The last holdouts surrendered on 12 August.
The first British amphibious tanks landed on 28 August, having successfully navigated the crossing from Lymington to Yarmouth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers-Carden-Loyd_Light_Amphibious_Tank
http://www.visitmyharbour.com/harbours/solent/yarmouth/charts.asp?cattype=5
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I'm fairly certain the Portsmouth Division of the Royal Marines, plus ship board detachments and attached Naval Brigades, can use the available Ship's Boats and row across in under 4 hours if absolutely necessary. Eastney Barracks is exactly opposite Ryde.
(Under the cover of the shore batteries that can see the North Shore of the Isle of Wight, at night!)
those are most of the paddle ferries in or about the isle of wight.one hour to load one hour to cross one hour to unload one hour to return....a very leasurely trip
Ian_W
Banned
Yes, but their losses will be a lot lighter if they wait and get a couple of regiments of Royal Artillery with 25 pounders in place that can cover most of the island.
Ian_W
Banned
I actually think it's reasonable that the German para landing takes all the ports before reinforcement happens - any sane person looks at this landing as the opening salvo of an actual invasion, rather than something that stands alone.
Basically, it'll be all hands on deck to hold Portsmouth and Southampton from the follow up German air landings.
After that, once the British take any port on the north coast of the island, then yes it's all over.
my opinion is taking into consideration the folks at bletchly park were reading the luftwaffes mail that atleast one ferry port would be very well guarded and not fall.
Ian_W
Banned
Well, if I was the British, I'd assume it's a deception operation to distract from an actual landing aimed at a port, because landing on the Isle of Wight is absolutely paste-eating pants-on-head retarded.
But the thing is, it doesn't matter. The Royal Marines can land on any beach in rowboats, and it doesn't matter they have Lewis Guns and rifles because their artillery is either floating in the Solent or sitting happily on mainland England.
A FJ force without artillery isn't going to stop the Royal Marines taking a port, and without a working port they can't either get or supply artillery.
well i shall have to say i can t find anything to disagree with your logic.
Let's go with questionable shall we?
(South West IOW)
(Central IOW)
(South Coast, looking towards France)
... small sloped fields, lots of trees, an abundance of hills. And the North Shore is easily observed from the Mainland
From the 1940's courtesy of the University of Cambridge's Department of Geography.
Ian_W
Banned
Given the RAF's air recon capability, the whole island is easily observed. Any proto-air base is going to be absolutely flattened by naval artillery fire.
hipper
Banned
they had @ 28 landing Craft assault available plus several hundred little ships back from dunkirk
The Isle of Thanet plan is the traditional way to succeed. Followed by laying waste to the country with fire (and, of course, the sword). How else do you think the English conquered England and subjugated the British?
Experience of other air landings at night during this period right up to the very well organized D-Day landings all had one thing in common - in most examples only about 10% of the troops landed where they were supposed to and it took days sometime for units to regroup to their approx call sign strength.
While I am sure that FJs would make a bloody good show of it I do not believe that they would do any better than say 1st Airborne Brigade During Husky with regards to a night drop and would be in no position to capture all of the ports on the Island before reinforcements could be ferried in once the initial surprise had worn off.
Once no follow on attack is conducted 3rd Division turns up and methodically sweeps them off the island.