by Robert Forczyk
In June, 1940, Nazi Germany was master of continental Europe. Great Britain stood alone and the all-conquering German armed forces were poised to cross the English Channel and launch an invasion that would if successful, change the entire course of World War II.
The prevailing historical narrative of Operation Sea Lion leans heavily on the Luftwaffe’s failure to gain aerial supremacy over the RAF during the Battle of Britain, but is attributing the cancellation of the invasion to this alone a dangerous oversimplification? How inadequate were the British defensive preparations? Would the British Home Fleet expose itself to air attacks in the English Channel in the event of a German invasion? Had the British really lost all their heavy equipment on the beaches of Dunkirk?
In this ground-breaking new work Robert Forczyk, acclaimed author of Where the Iron Crosses Grow, looks beyond the traditional British account of Operation Sea Lion, the German code name for the invasion, at the real scale of German ambition, plans and capabilities. Providing in-depth analysis of the major inter-related German campaigns and examining the real state of equipment and training for troops on the ground, Forczyk’s comprehensive account reveals exactly why German troops never set foot on English soil.
