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It never landed any troops on Crete. Destroying the convoy would have only exposed the RN to more losses, although with hindsight it might have been safer amongst the convoy, the Saggitario not withstanding...This change the fact that the Force C didn't pursued the second landing force?
700 meters were in the first engagement (Force D - Lupo), as I stated and you obviously didn't understand.
And so? Have I ever said that it wasn't in the firts engagement? Have I ever said that it wasn't accidental? Have I ever said that were more than a few hits, or that they were a serious threat?
I said that "the RN ships even shoot themself".
You stated that it was "a fantasy".
So? It was my fantasy or your ignorance?
Actually only three of the shells exploded, and the damages were light. Two sailors were killed (as those abroad the Orion for the friendly fire).
And they are normally a match for a force of three cruisers and four destroyers (by night, having the force of cruisers and destroyers the radar, and the torpedo boat not)?
Apparently the Italians and Germans came to the same conclusion because they made no more attempts at seaborne landings for another 5 days or so. In any event Cunningham didn't have to operate in daylight to destroy Axis landing attempts, but it seems likely that the fleet would have done so if necessary.So, when Cunningam reported to his superiors that it was no more possible to operate in daylight, he was lying. Interesting...
Do I detect the rattle of commonwealth chains being pulled here?
No-one in this thread has so far demonstrated how the Germans are going to overcome the following:
The crossing and transport problems: How will they achieve surprise? How will they protect the transports - some of which will take more than 30 hours to reach their disembarkation points - from the Royal Navy? How will they land the troops? How will they provide protection for the flotilla and fire support?
The follow-on transport problem: How will Germany supply its land forces, both the seaborne and airborne infantry? How will it protect the supply convoys?
The land combat problem: How will Germany make its planned broad-front advance against an opposition that has superiority in availability of men and materiel and is fighting from prepared positions, in depth? How will it advance with less than 200 armoured vehicles in the first wave, as well as reduced organic artillery levels? How will will it maintain its beachheads for the nine days required before the second wave of divisions arrive?
The air combat problem: How will it defend the beacheads and ports from night bombing?
No one has mentioned yet the landing in the Romney Marsh area.
Some quotes from this link, Problems with German Plans for Operation Sealion
The standard argument that if the Germans had gained air superiority they would have been able to sink the British vessels does not really stand up to much scrutiny. During the Dunkirk evacuation, despite having control of the air for long periods, and despite the ships spending a lot of time stationary in the harbour (loading), the Luftwaffe was able to sink only 4 of the 39 Royal Navy destroyers which took place in the operation.
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So how does your comment square with Hitler's offer that Britain would retain it's Empire? Vichy France held onto its empire so why not Britain. As for painting this purely as a Tory issue...again, I disagree. There were plenty in the Labour party who didn't want war. They weren't necessarily on the side of Nazism but they were in favour of reaching an accommodation with Berlin because war ended up with "the people" killing each other...that would be a bad thing.
We don't know what terms Hitler was prepared to offer, there was no formal offer made nor was there one drafted as far as I know so it is just speculation. I expect the very least Hitler would have wanted was to be sure that his western flank was secure in order for him to safely attack Russia and for this he would need to be certain that Britain was out of the war for good and not just using the time to gather strength. With this in mind he would have wanted to occupy at least part of the country with the option of occupying the whole of it as he did in Vichy France, he also would have robbed the place blind and bled it try through taxes. Vichy France was a rump state controlled by the Germans who were able to and did invade it on a whim. As far as the French Empire was concerned, the Germans were just using French troops as a convenience to stop it falling into British hands, the Germans said OK to the Japanese taking Indo-China from the French. Similarly Hitler would probably have used British troops to protect India from Russia in the short term but have handed it over to Japan in the long term.So how does your comment square with Hitler's offer that Britain would retain it's Empire? Vichy France held onto its empire so why not Britain. As for painting this purely as a Tory issue...again, I disagree. There were plenty in the Labour party who didn't want war. They weren't necessarily on the side of Nazism but they were in favour of reaching an accommodation with Berlin because war ended up with "the people" killing each other...that would be a bad thing.
And what of them is normally a match for a force of destroyers and cruisers?
As far as the French Empire was concerned, the Germans were just using French troops as a convenience to stop it falling into British hands, the Germans said OK to the Japanese taking Indo-China from the French.
There were plenty in the Labour party who didn't want war.
I think initiative and surprise would be a major asset for the Germans.
Personally, I think England could be invaded, but supplying the invasion force might be the real issue.
There were plenty in the Labour party who didn't want war.
Certainly not the leadership. Attlee was one of the most vociferous opponents of appeasement. This went for most Labour politicians if not some of the party's grass roots. The reason they joined the coalition was because it was perceived as being in the national interest...