Operation Sealion

you know, it'd be cool if someone were to do an AH movie about a Sealion attempt, laden with CGI.... the barges swamping and being shelled by the RN while the RAF and Luftwaffe battled overhead... the handful of submersible tanks the Germans had springing leaks and drowning at the bottom of the channel... and the final surviving handful of invaders coming ashore at Dover, only to be dispatched by the Home Guard, who sit in deck chairs and pause between sips of tea to club the Germans as they stagger up out of the surf....

Sounds kind of like the opening scene of "Enemy At the Gates" to me. Well, at least a little bit. I guess we can forget the whole deck chairs part. Or can we?
 
So I don't have tostart an NPC thread...

...tell me about why Sealion never works, it keeps coming up...

(Showing up the fact that I am just a prolific n00b...)

Goodnight! (Really this time!)
 
...tell me about why Sealion never works, it keeps coming up...

(Showing up the fact that I am just a prolific n00b...)

Goodnight! (Really this time!)
Rhinebarges, to begin with.
Oh, and comparisons between the Kriegsmarine and the Royal Navy... just counting the Atlantic.
 
The one word responce for why Sea lion won't work is logistics.
There has to be a 'reasonably' solid and constant supply line.

Even if they can get say 50,000-100,000 soldiers to the beaches (doubtful given Rhinebarges which can be sunk by a large wave, let alone RN destroyers) its meaningless if they don't have fuel for their vehicles, food for their soldiers and ammunition for their guns. After a few days the British can just swamp the beacheads. People like to play up the incompetence of the home guard, but dads army with guns has a slight advantage over the Wehrmacht armed with sticks.

Well, okay, if the invasion happens right after Dunkirk the Wehrmacht armed with sticks might have a slight edge on the homeguard with sticks, but the British still have a sizable trained force with atleast small arms and are getting more equipment by the day.

Resupply by the Luftwaffe would be minimal at best. The Kreigsmarine needs to be able to contest the channel on a serious basis. It couldn't do this. Even if you adopt the most optimistic assessment of their capabilities simple attrition shall see them destroyed. From there resupply becomes impossible and the time that invasion force can last is measured in days.
 
I think the best testament as to why Operation Sealion was so utterly ridiculous and failworthy is that even Hitler didn't attempt to embark upon it.
 
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