Case Gold

Geon

Donor
I have a question for my fellow AH members.

A few days ago I was talking with a friend of mine who is a history professor at a local university, and is very well read. We started discussing World War II - one of my favorite periods in history - and he told me that the Nazis had developed a plan to invade the U.S. I had never heard of this before save in fictional or hypothetical accounts.

While he gave few details what he did tell me was first the plan entailed a successful Sea Lion. It then posited the Germans seizing the British Fleet at Scapa Flow. They would then use the British Fleet to invade the U.S. aiming to seize our major port cities on the east coast and thus have the means to bring in more troops to invade the interior. The plan was named purportedly Case Gold.

Has anyone here ever hears of this Case Gold, and if so could you give me more information on this?

Thanks!
 

Geon

Donor
My problem with the scenario is this.

I could see the Germans trying to seize the British Fleet assuming a successful Sealion which is for the most part dismissed. But even in such an unlikely eventuality I could not see the British allowing such a thing to happen. They would either scuttle those ships they couldn't sail or sail any vessels they could to Canada.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
Case gold = Fall Gelb This is the code name for the 1940 invasion of France. It is often translated into English as Case (or Fall) Yellow.

AFAIK there was never even a serious Heer staff study on the idea after 1910.
 
Yeah, I've never heard of anything like this...

Granted, Hitler saw the final battle royal for the world as being between America and Germany, but I don't think it really passed the daydreaming stage. You do have some faint reaching towards that with trying to secure island bases, the Amerikabomber and a fleet plan that would have dwarfed Bismarck, but nothing serious ever came of it.
 
Hitler thought a war between the US and Germany for mastery of the world was inevitable, but he also saw the German-America war as the next generation's task while his was to gain the Lebensraum to make Germany the continental power that could take on the US in a future global war. Some aspects of World War II, or at least German diplomacy, could be seen as preparing for the next war. Germany hoped to gain the Canary Islands from Spain in exchange for giving it French North Africa, obtain parts of the Royal Navy, and secure other strategic bases so that Germany could conceivably threaten the US and get dominance in the Atlantic. He also supported development of long range bombers that could attack the US from bases in Europe, but that went nowhere. However, there was no plan to invade the US which was far beyond Germany's ability during WWII.
 
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