Chapter 405 Operation Sea Lion
At the beginning of World War II in the original time and space, Germany swept through most of Europe with a raging force.
In less than a year, Germany successively captured Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. In the entire Western Europe, only Britain was still resisting. At this time, Mustache extended an olive branch to Britain. Due to the insufficient crude oil reserves in Germany before the war and the need to prepare for the subsequent war against the Soviet Union, Mustache believed that too much power should not be consumed on the Western Front. Moreover, Germany's main enemy was the Soviet Union, so it could just beat Britain. As long as Britain said it was no longer an enemy of Germany and returned the former German colonies it had taken away during World War I, it could sign a peace treaty.
Unexpectedly, the new British Prime Minister Churchill was a hard nut. Chamberlain's past experience made Churchill completely ignore the mustache's diplomatic tricks. In his speech at the inauguration ceremony, he clearly stated: "Our policy is to use all the power God has given us, on land and sea. and the sky, fighting against the evil forces of darkness that have never been seen in human history!" After several attempts by Mustache to persuade him failed, he couldn't help but became angry and ordered the formulation of the "Sea Lion Plan" to invade Britain.
However, the German army, which had previously been invincible and invincible, suffered a huge setback on the British battlefield. The German Air Force and the British Air Force fought fiercely over Britain. From July to the end of October 1940, the German Air Force lost 1,733 aircraft (the British claimed 2,698 aircraft), and the British Air Force lost 915 aircraft (Germany claimed 3,058 aircraft). German ground forces were unable to enter British territory from beginning to end, and the "Sea Lion Project" ultimately had to be shelved indefinitely.
In 1974, after the war, the British Military Academy Sandhurst conducted a large-scale battlefield simulation activity, using the most advanced computer simulation technology at the time to re-enact "Operation Sea Lion" that the Germans failed to execute.
In order to reflect the authenticity of this reenactment, the British Army specially invited three senior German generals from World War II to serve as referees for the exercise - ace pilots who participated in the Battle of Britain and were later appointed "Fighter Directors". General Adolf Galland, who participated in the "Operation Weser" invasion of Norway, and General Friedrich Rueger who was responsible for clearing minefields off the British coast in "Operation Sea Lion", and who participated in the Battle of Crete, and General Heinrich Reitner, who commanded the German 4th Parachute Division.
In addition, the various parameters set in the exercise were set according to the actual establishment and deployment positions of British and German naval, land and air force units in September 1940.
On the first day of the exercise, which was September 19, 1940 in reality, all parties involved in the exercise calculated the severe weather on the strait based on the weather forecast at the time. Due to the delay in improving the weather conditions, the German landing fleet had to wait in the port. At the same time, German aircraft and ships launched offensive mine-laying operations, laying mines on various routes where British ships rushed to rescue the strait, and the German feint attack troops also began to conduct landing operations in Iceland.
The bad weather continued until the afternoon of September 21st. In the evening of the 21st, the German army received a weather message indicating that the weather conditions had improved the next day and landing operations could be carried out. As a result, the huge German landing fleet began to assemble at dusk and crossed the English Channel at night. This fleet was soon discovered by the British, who immediately sounded the invasion alarm. At midnight, the British Home Fleet set off from various anchorages and headed south towards the English Channel.
At dawn on September 22, a German airborne force composed of 8,000 paratroopers landed in southern England, blocking the communication line between the beachhead and the interior. Behind them, a German army consisting of 80,000 ground troops successfully landed on the beachhead in southern England. However, due to the lack of professional landing ships, the German army was forced to use barges to forcibly deliver troops to the beach. This resulted in 25% of the barges being destroyed by artillery fire during the landing process. In order to cover the landing battle, the Luftwaffe used all its forces to seize air superiority on the beach, but failed. They lost more than 300 fighter planes in one day. In contrast, the Royal Air Force paid the price of 237 fighter planes being shot down.
On the naval side, a small British ship formation led by the cruiser HMS Manchester tried to rush into the Strait to bombard the landing site, but was blocked by German torpedo boats and submarines. Fearing that large ships would be targeted by German aircraft and submarines, the Royal Navy temporarily refused to allow these ships to enter the Channel for reinforcements.
During the ground battles from the 22nd to the 23rd, the German army managed to advance more than ten miles inland and occupied the ports of Folkestone and Newhaven, but both ports were completely blocked before the British army retreated - Just like the behavior of the German troops in the port of Cherbourg during the Normandy landings. Although the railway leading to the beachhead was blocked by the Luftwaffe, the British army still managed to organize forces to carry out a counterattack on the 23rd, preventing the German beachhead troops from continuing to advance inland. Although the German army had deployed all 10 divisions as the leading force ashore, due to the lack of follow-up supplies, they had to stop the attack and wait for the next wave of fleets to arrive with supplies and ammunition.
However, these supplies would never arrive.
On September 24, when the second and third waves of German barges sailed out of the port and embarked on their journey across the English Channel, they were intercepted by a Royal Navy interception formation consisting of 17 cruisers, 57 destroyers and torpedo boats. .
In this near-massacre naval battle, 65% of the German transport ships were sunk by the British fleet, and the rest were forced to return to French ports. Only a small number of transport ships successfully delivered supplies to the British mainland.
At the same time, when the British fleet confirmed that the situation in the channel was under control, the main battleships of the British Home Fleet sailed into the channel one after another, completely cutting off the German reinforcement channel. Seeing that there was no hope of winning, the Germans had to try to withdraw some of the landing troops with transport ships. However, during the retreat, many transport ships were sunk by the Royal Navy's fleet, causing heavy losses to the German army. In the end, the German vanguard, isolated and helpless on the British mainland, was forced to surrender to the British on the 28th because they had run out of ammunition and supplies.
In general, although the first batch of German landing troops achieved better results than expected in this computer simulation exercise. However, because the German Air Force failed to gain air superiority on the beach, they were unable to prevent the British Home Fleet from entering the English Channel. This ultimately led to the devastating blows to the Royal Navy against the second and third waves of the German fleet. Of the nearly 90,000 German troops that landed in France, only 15,400 were successfully withdrawn to France. 30,000 were captured by the British, 60,000 died in battle, and another 50,000 died in the English Channel when their transport ships were sunk by the Royal Navy during the operation - accounting for one-third of the total casualties.
Including three German military representatives, the six judges participating in the exercise all agreed that "Operation Sea Lion" would be a complete defeat.
Although "Operation Sea Lion" was declared bankrupt, the German high-ranking officials still did not seem to give up the surplus value of the operation. They geniusly used this already finished plan in the biggest scam in human history - the "Barbarossa" plan to attack the Soviet Union.