Ireland invaded 1940.

Say if, neutral Ireland was invaded by the Germans in late 1940. Ireland, officially neutral, had devised the 'W' Plan in cooperation with Britain, whereby the Free State would be re-occupied by British forces, with permission from Dublin, in the event of an Axis invasion. The general plan was that the British forces would move south from Northern Ireland and, in conjunction with the Irish National Army would beat back the German forces. How would this Anglo-Irish force fare against the Germans, and how do you think the battle would go? Would Ireland fall, just like Holland, Denmark and Belgium? Or could the British, with their lightly armed but well disciplined and well led Irish allies pull off the impossible?
 
ASB. The Germans would have to get into England first, or somehow secure Iceland. The better question would be what would happen if the British invaded Ireland.
 
The operation which shall not be named involved @300,000 men in the first wave landing over a period of 2-3 weeks but that involved huge numbers of tugs and barges useless on the high seas so they can't be used to invade Ireland.

I suspect that an all-out effort putting most of Germany's ocean going merchant marine at risk might land a reinforced division of 30,000-35,000 men tops with equipment to support a Luftwaffe presence, aircraft and pilots to arrive pending success of landings, this includes any plausible airborne effort. This will be escorted by, at most, 2 battlecruisers with 11" guns, 2 pocket battleships, 2 8" cruisers and 4 6" cruisers...and NO air support for much of the trip each way.


The RN thanks you for this tasty snack! With a side order of major weaking of anti-British sentiment in the Irish-American community and some useful anti-sub bases.:)
 
There's a TL along these lines over at changingthetimes.net, called "It (almost) Happened Here". I don't think it's very plausible myself, but it's a good read.
 
If by invasion you mean a few paratroopers dropped, then at a stretch, sure. And even then German fire will be nullified by the powers of shamrocks. ;)
 
The operation which shall not be named involved @300,000 men in the first wave landing over a period of 2-3 weeks but that involved huge numbers of tugs and barges useless on the high seas so they can't be used to invade Ireland.

I suspect that an all-out effort putting most of Germany's ocean going merchant marine at risk might land a reinforced division of 30,000-35,000 men tops with equipment to support a Luftwaffe presence, aircraft and pilots to arrive pending success of landings, this includes any plausible airborne effort. This will be escorted by, at most, 2 battlecruisers with 11" guns, 2 pocket battleships, 2 8" cruisers and 4 6" cruisers...and NO air support for much of the trip each way.


The RN thanks you for this tasty snack! With a side order of major weaking of anti-British sentiment in the Irish-American community and some useful anti-sub bases.:)

Not to mention the serious annoyance in the USA's Irish community in an election year.....:D
 
Why would this be done?
Its 100 times the risk/difficulty of Sealion with a fraction of the reward.
 
I think if anything Ireland was a potential ally of Germany.
Not really. Sure, Dev was an anti-British asshole, but most sources say that between the two he preferred the Allies to win. Neutrality was the most favored option, and so that's what they took.
 
I think if anything Ireland was a potential ally of Germany.

It's a common held misconception in Britain that just because Ireland didn't automatically side with the British, like the rest of the Empire....they must have been allied to the Germans. In fact, the opposite was true. As someone side before, it was the best option for Ireland considering their recent history with their British neighbours across the Irish Sea, it was difficult politically to openly side with the British. However, Ireland perhaps did what it could under the circumstances to accomodate the Allied war effort. For example,Ireland left Irish airspace open to Allied aircraft during the Atlantic Campaign, especially over Donegal, Sligo and Galway, most significantly when the British sank the Bismarck. Furthermore, Irish intelligence passed information to the British Government that they had gained from the German Legation in Dublin on a regular basis.

It is true that Allied personnel shot down over Ireland were interned along with German airmen and spies,as was the procedure with 'neutral' countries but the Allied personnel were usually released 'on the quiet'.

De Valera, it's true didn't have much time for the British, but to be fair he was a man of his time and he was involved in an awful war against Britain for Ireland's independence. However, he was pragmatic enough to sanction negotiations between Dublin and London which resulted in the 'W' Plan mentioned above, something the British was willing to do so as to guard their western flank.

Again, some IRA membersmisguided attempt to bring about a united Ireland, were involved in attempting to establish an intelligence and sabotage networkon behalf of the Germans, but this was largely unsuccessful due to the IRA's lack of resources and organisation. On the other hand, De Valera's Government deliberatley didn't legislate against Irishmen volunteering for the British Army.....subsequently nearly 40,000 joined up to fight for Britain.
 
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It would be a defeat for Germany. If Sea Lion was impracticable invading Eire across the Western Approaches against what was then, the worlds largest navy would be difficult. Mainting supplies and communications would be virtually impossible, the only problem for Britain or Eire would be if the Germans managed to establish an airfield.

Britains policy might be to mount a blockade and be slow in sending ground troops making sure that De Valera requested troops to enter Ireland. He would not allow any British troops to enter to prevent an invasion. Thwe besieged German army would haveb to live off the population m,aking them unpopular and restrictinfg any collaborators to a handful of IRA supporters. Britain would gain the use of the three treaty ports. The downside would be having to send fighter cover to protect the major Irish cities when fighter cover couldn't be spared.
 
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