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In 1940 Operation Sea Lion was the code name for the Nazi's planned amphibious attack on Great Britain.
World War II had seen the fall of France and Hitler's eyes were on the United Kingdom but from the start, this planned attacked was flawed. We explore why.
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0:00
In the summer of 1940, the world was reeling as Nazi Germany's military swept victoriously across Western Europe
0:10
France's fall shocked the globe. The same nation who had engaged in a bloody struggle for four years against Imperial Germany on the Western Front during the First World War
0:19
had its military collapse and its capital fall in just six weeks
0:24
Hitler's eyes now turned towards Britain. He had wagered that the island nation and its Commonwealth would align with his ambitions
0:30
or at the very least maintain a position of appeasement, but Prime Minister Winston Churchill wasn't having any of it
0:36
Hitler and his leaders realised that to quash the thorn in their side and invasion of Britain would be necessary
0:42
What developed was Operation Sea Lion, a well-reasoned, foolproof strategy for amphibious invasion
0:47
that would have seen Great Britain collapse like France and Germany become the unchallenged master of Western Europe
0:56
Well, not really. In fact, it may surprise you to know that the German plan to invade was so poorly thought out
1:06
and cobbled together that it would have failed within hours with a huge cost to German lives and morale
1:12
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Michael Brady and this is the bizarre true story
1:16
of the terrible Nazi plan to invade Britain. Welcome to Time Travels
1:26
By mid-1940, the war was going very well indeed for Nazi Germany
1:37
After years of tension, war had finally erupted when panzers swept into Poland from the west
1:42
while Russia invaded from the east. Hitler had gambled that Britain would sit idle in appeasement
1:47
or even align with him. In the lead-up to the war, he had tried to court an alliance
1:51
seeing the British and German people as kindred spirits. By 1938, things had changed though
1:56
and the Nazi leadership began to publicly denounce the British. The truth is that Hitler admired the British Empire
2:02
and was being hurt that his admiration was not returned. In the end, his gamble did not pay off
2:08
Britain and the Western Allies declared war on Germany, but what followed was a shock series of German victories
2:14
First Denmark, then Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. After Poland fell, Britain sent six divisions
2:22
called the British Expeditionary Force, to bolster France against the Nazi tide
2:27
and they waited for what was sure to come. They waited for eight months from September 1939
2:32
in what has since been called the Phony War, a long, drawn-out and quiet period
2:37
when Hitler's armies waited to strike. The truth is, Hitler still wanted to make peace with Britain
2:44
German pilots were warned that bombing British civilians would result in court-martialing or execution
2:49
But then, in June 1940, the floodgates opened, German tanks poured in and overwhelmed the French and Allied defenders
2:57
French troops and their British comrades fought valiantly for their country, but they were simply outmaneuvered by German panzers and troops
3:03
who advanced with incredible speed and confidence. The British Expeditionary Force was pushed up against the English Channel
3:09
and evacuated in a hastily launched operation now known as the Dunkirk Evacuation
3:15
France surrendered and the swastika flew over the Eiffel Tower. It had only been 46 days since the first German tank had clattered over the French border
3:24
You're probably wondering how the German army was able to pull off these incredible military feats
3:28
Often, it's attributed to sheer military superiority. But the truth is that Hitler was pushing his armies very hard
3:34
and they were relying on medical supplements to keep up with the furor's demands
3:39
Today, it's common knowledge that early in the war, the various branches of the German army were being issued variations of the drug Providen
3:46
a form of methamphetamine that staved off fatigue and appetite and induced a sense of confidence and well-being
3:53
It meant that their tank crews, bomber pilots and foot soldiers could cover incredible distances seemingly without needing to catch their breath
4:00
This had unintended consequences and soon after German leadership realised that most of their armed forces were now addicted to meth
4:07
But that's a story for another day. In the end, the German army took incredible risks and gambles
4:12
sending their tanks in surprise attacks through the Ardennes forest, which caught the French completely off guard
4:18
It could have ended in disaster for them, but the sheer audacity of the attacks lent an air of supreme confidence to their troops
4:24
and resulted in victory. Germany's military leaders set their eyes on Britain
4:29
Literally, they could see the white cliffs of Dover from their spot in Calais in France
4:32
While Hitler's troops were enjoying themselves as the recent occupiers of France
4:36
Britain was preparing for invasion. In the lead up to the war, the preparations had begun quietly
4:42
Monuments and treasured public buildings were covered in sandbags. Children were evacuated en masse out of the cities and into the countryside
4:49
And in an act of bizarre countrywide panic, an estimated 750,000 household pets were killed in preparation for coming food shortages
4:58
With the British Army in some disarray from its panicked evacuation from France regular citizens were called up to join the Home Guard and defend Britain from potential invasion There weren enough uniforms or weapons to go around many paraded in sack suits and with pitchforks but at least the enthusiasm was there
5:15
With France under occupation and the British mainland just a short distance away, Hitler now had to decide on what to do
5:21
Secretly, plans were already in place to turn on Germany's uneasy ally, Russia
5:26
The natural enemy of the Nazi party had always been the communists, and Hitler had big plans for Russia
5:32
An invasion of Britain would always play second fiddle to the main event, but still, with Britain unwilling to respond to peace offerings
5:38
the Germans now had a thorn in their side. Britain is a relatively small island, sure
5:43
but they are supported by a vast commonwealth and a network of allies. Somewhat reluctantly, Hitler and his generals began to discuss plans for an invasion
5:50
that would take Britain out of the equation once and for all. First, there's a few things you need to know about the German armed forces in the lead-up to Operation Sea Lion
5:59
We've all seen the great propaganda shots of panzer tanks storming across France and Belgium's beautiful green fields
6:06
And sure, the HIA, Germany's land-based military, was a force to be reckoned with
6:11
But in an amphibious invasion, you need to rely on a strong navy to guide your troops ashore
6:16
And at sea, the balance of power definitely did not rest with Germany
6:21
To get their soldiers to Britain, Germany would need to send its forces en masse across the English Channel in boats or barges, a formidable proposition
6:29
I mentioned that Britain is a small-ish island, but partly owing to that, for centuries, England and then the United Kingdom had cultivated a strong and proud naval tradition
6:38
focusing huge amounts of funds on building ever bigger and better warships
6:42
By the First World War, Britain's navy featured some of the most fearsome battleships, cruisers and destroyers in the world
6:48
And with the armistice of 1918, Germany lost its own navy, which had begun to rival Britain's, putting the Royal Navy on top again
6:56
Hitler had begun rearming Germany in the 1930s, but they had no hope of rivaling the British Navy's conventional warship count
7:02
Instead, the Kriegsmarine, Germany's navy, invested heavily in submarines, building a formidable U-boat armada designed to sink merchant shipping and starve Britain into surrender
7:13
This is all well and good, but it meant that by the time Hitler wanted to invade Britain
7:17
Germany's number of capable warships was considerably smaller than Britain's, and this is where the German plan begins to unravel
7:24
The barges loaded with troops would need protection from the Royal Navy, so to fend off British warships, Germany could commit one capital warship
7:32
one cruiser, ten destroyers and up to 30 U-boats. In return, the Royal Navy could field five capital ships
7:39
11 cruisers and between 50 and 70 destroyers. And on top of this, the British could deploy hundreds of smaller ships and boats
7:47
like minesweepers, corvettes and sloops. This serious imbalance of naval power was a problem which was given to the Luftwaffe
7:54
or German Air Force, to solve. The only problem is that the German Air Force so far had a pretty dismal record
7:59
when it came to attacking enemy ships. During the Dunkirk evacuation, the Luftwaffe had managed to sink or put out of commission
8:06
only four of the nearly 40 British destroyers taking part in the evacuation
8:10
even though many of those British ships were stationary or manoeuvring in a small, cramped harbour
8:15
So with the balance of power at sea resting with the British, all branches of the German military would need to communicate closely with one another
8:21
to coordinate an impeccable invasion plan that might just counter the Royal Navy
8:26
Except the actual plan was somewhat lacking. Very lacking, in fact. First, instructions were issued to begin planning just 84 days before the invasion was meant to commence
8:38
This is a shockingly short amount of time. Later in the war, the situation was reversed and Britain and the Allies were planning to invade Nazi-occupied France for D-Day
8:48
This took all of two years to plan and the Allied invasion involved five divisions of troops
8:54
By contrast, the Germans aimed to get nine divisions of men across the English Channel
8:58
and have the plan finalised and pulled off within three months. The plan called for an incredibly risky crossing with the Kriegsmariner
9:05
responsible for somehow getting about 135,000 men across the English Channel. But where do you even get the sheer number of watercraft required to ferry this many troops
9:15
The German leadership didn't know and the Kriegsmariner had to get creative
9:20
They began to requisition almost every small boat or barge that could float across occupied Europe
9:25
After weeks and weeks of sourcing odd craft here and there, a flotilla of 170 cargo ships, 1,277 various barges, and 471 tugs were gathered together for the invasion
9:37
The tugs and ships would need to tow the barges, but most of the barges were designed to operate on the calm Rhine River, not the choppy English Channel
9:44
Loaded with troops and equipment, the freeboard or the amount of boat above the waterline
9:49
would be dangerously low. If any ship passed by too close or fast, the wash would sink the barge almost immediately
9:57
Now that they had them, the Kriegsmariner had to man the ships, boats and barges
10:01
But how? They would be required to also stave off the Royal Navy even though their ships were outnumbered almost 8 to 1 The German Navy would need to find 20 extra men so they stripped their wartime forces to bare number
10:15
which is not a great move for a force expected to fend off the might of the British Navy and Air Force
10:19
and committed about 4,000 men to the operation. The Luftwaffe and the Heer scrounged together 3,000 men between them
10:25
who had previously been sailors or had some limited experience on the water, but it still wasn't enough
10:31
Reserves lists, factories and work crews were combed through for anybody with any time at sea whatsoever
10:37
resulting in 9,000 more men. That brought the total to 16,000, which was still 4,000 men short
10:43
Meanwhile, there were other serious logistical issues that had to be overcome. I mentioned the barges would have to be towed
10:49
Each tug would be attached to two barges, and with that limited freeboard, the barges and the soldiers inside
10:54
would be entirely reliant on perfect weather and a calm sea. The tugs and barges could only move at two or three knots
11:01
which is about five kilometres per hour or 3.4 miles per hour. This meant that German soldiers would be crowded into their small, open-top barges
11:09
absolutely sitting ducks for British aircraft or warships for 30 hours or so
11:14
and then be expected to carry out a successful amphibious landing under heavy defensive fire on the other side
11:20
Hilariously, the English Channel has tides which can run faster than the speed that the barges would be moving at
11:25
So theoretically, at times, the barges and their tugs would not be moving at all, or worse, end up moving sideways or backwards. Somehow, the undermanned
11:34
barges and boats would need to arrive on station after 30 or more hours at sea, under cover of
11:39
darkness at night, and execute a perfect 90 degree turn to begin to put their seasick, miserable
11:44
troops ashore. Then they developed another logistical issue, life jackets. Thousands and
11:51
thousands would need to be sourced, but only enough for the first wave of troops could be found in
11:55
time. The soldiers landing under British heavy machine gun and mortar fire would first need to
11:59
step off the barge into the surf, remove their pack and their life jacket, load the life jacket
12:04
back on board the barge and only then put their pack back on and begin to return fire at the
12:09
British. Historian John D. Clare stated in a decision that is difficult to understand given
12:14
that there was no heavy equipment for them to pull, the Germans decided to include over 4,000
12:20
horses in the first wave. Then came the moment of invasion. German boots would finally step onto
12:25
British soil. Ahead of this, German paratroopers would be dropped on Dover, a crucial port city
12:31
but experts have described this as just about the worst place you could drop paratroopers
12:35
10 or 15 miles away from the intended target and in a drop zone that was hilly and dense with hop
12:40
fields which would obscure visibility and lead to huge confusion. The troops on the beaches would be
12:45
faced with worse conditions though. As if dealing with seasickness and immense confusion weren't
12:50
enough, after their long 30 plus hours at sea and finally jumping off their barges, they would need
12:55
to immediately face the British army. And despite the Dunkirk evacuation, this was no joke. In the
13:01
immediate vicinity within 30 minutes of the landing zones, the British could field over 100 artillery
13:06
pieces, three infantry divisions, two brigades and two entire armoured divisions. The tanks could
13:12
park on the beachhead and pound the barges and troops with impunity. But this is all assuming
13:16
the barges could even reach the beaches at all. It's a foolish assumption because the German
13:21
invasion force had much bigger issues to deal with during their long crossing. 30 hours is a long
13:27
long time to be stuck in a barge in the middle of the channel and the British military would have
13:31
plenty of time to mount a response. That response would have been devastating for the German troops
13:36
and come from two formidable forces, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force
13:42
The RAF had received something of a bloody nose at Dunkirk and in the fall of France
13:46
and they were keen to strike back. The German Luftwaffe was certainly impressive
13:51
It boasted about 750 bombers and 600 fighters, but many of these were committed to home defence or based in other parts of occupied Europe
13:59
Still more of them were out of commission for repairs or overhaul. The Germans thought the Royal Air Force strength sat at around 300 aircraft total
14:07
so they expected that aerial dominance would be easily won. But they would have been quickly and rudely disappointed
14:14
The RAF's 11 fighter group, responsible for defending the southeast part of England
14:17
where the Germans would land, had by itself 570 fighter aircraft on hand to mount a response
14:23
The German Navy was overloaded with work and responsibility, putting the troops ashore
14:28
But so was the Air Force. Somehow they would need to bomb the landing sites and British defenders
14:33
prevent British reinforcements from arriving, win total air superiority, and then fend off the Royal Navy
14:39
And here is the German plan's killer blow, the warships of the British home fleet
14:44
The Kriegsmarine's small surface fleet was expected to draw the entirety of the Royal Navy's terrifying home fleet
14:50
away from the landing zones well ahead of time by breaking out into the Atlantic
14:54
But even if all of the home fleet's powerful warships chased them, staying behind was a force of light cruisers and destroyers
15:01
These fast warships could make mincemeat of the German landing force. In fact a British destroyer could sail fast past a German barge and sink it and all its troops without firing a single shot If the home fleet could not be tempted away the Germans would somehow need to deal with the mighty guns of warships like HMS Hood Rodney Nelson King George V and many others
15:22
In essence, if the Royal Air Force was being kept busy by the Luftwaffe, the Royal Navy could get the barges
15:27
But if the Navy was being kept at bay by the Luftwaffe, the RAF could get the barges
15:31
The German forces were just too thinly spread to protect their invasion force
15:35
but the German leaders ignored many of these problems and hoped for the best. The barges will be protected, they said, if the soldiers on the barges fire at unidentified ships
15:45
What exactly they would be firing with that was actually capable of damaging a passing destroyer or British ship is anyone's guess
15:51
In the end, one practice exercise was mounted. Off Boulogne in France, 50 ships and barges were used
15:57
but instead of staging the exercise during night time like the real thing would entail, for observation purposes the practice exercise took place during the day
16:05
Despite these fine daytime conditions, less than half the troops in the barges managed to get ashore within the first hour successfully
16:12
Ten percent didn't make it ashore at all. Barges flipped and grounded side on, unable to lower ramps and offload their troops
16:19
All of this despite the fact there was no enemy at the exercise firing back at them
16:24
So what if the Wehrmacht had actually initiated Operation Sea Lion? Would it have been the resounding victory that Hitler was hoping for
16:31
Well, it would have been a resounding victory. For Britain. The barges would have set off from France sometime in September 1940
16:39
towed slowly by their tugs. Days beforehand, the German Navy's capital ships
16:44
like the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, would have attempted to lure the Royal Navy's home fleet
16:48
away from the action out into the Atlantic Ocean, but it's not entirely likely that the British would commit
16:53
their entire force to this fairly obvious ploy. Instead, a small contingent of British warships
16:59
is sent in pursuit of the Germans, but a sizable portion of their fleet
17:03
including capital battleships like Rodney and Nelson, remain on station in friendly waters
17:08
They receive word of the mounting invasion and make full steam for the channel. But hemmed in by the narrow English channel
17:13
the Luftwaffe sends Stuka dive bombers and their Heinkel and Dornier level bombers to meet them
17:18
But in return, the Royal Air Force's Spitfires and Hurricanes easily arrive on station and engage the bombers
17:24
Meanwhile at the beaches, the Luftwaffe is also trying to bomb British defences and keep the British reinforcements at bay
17:30
The RAF engages the Stukas doing much of the bombing and because the German fighter force is busy trying to defend the bomber force
17:36
engaging the Royal Navy in the Channel, the Stukas are largely undefended
17:40
They are shot down in droves. The paratroopers arrive overnight in Junkers' Ju-52 transports
17:48
but they're met with heavy anti-aircraft fire and easily detected by Britain's secret weapon
17:53
the Home Defence Radar Chain. British fighters meet the Ju-52s and their drop position is tracked and relayed to the British Territorial Army
18:02
German paratroopers who successfully get out of their aeroplanes are landed right on the heads of a prepared British defensive force
18:09
Worse still, German paratroopers are landed separately from their weapons. They must retrieve them after hitting the ground
18:15
Hundreds of Fallschirmjäger paratroopers hit the ground near Dover without immediate access to their weapons
18:20
and with nothing to answer the heavy British gunfire. Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe does its best to keep the Royal Navy at bay
18:26
but there are just too many ships to engage. Even a few destroyers making it to the vulnerable German invasion fleet
18:31
would spell disaster. The result would be a turkey shoot. British destroyers, with their quick-firing
18:37
dual-purpose guns, would have a field day shifting from target to target, engaging undefended barges
18:42
and tugs with impunity. 30 hours is a long time to cross the channel. The barges would be engaged
18:48
and lost long before they reached the British mainland. Still, supposing some barges made it
18:53
through the maelstrom of British fire, the troops would find themselves now facing the combined
18:58
might of the British Army, Home Guard and tank forces long since alerted to the landing site
19:03
by the radar stations and RAF observations. Struggling to get up the beaches, the German
19:08
troops in the first wave would be painfully aware that a second wave could not possibly be on the
19:12
way and they would be cut off with no support. But at least they would have hundreds of horses
19:17
right? Surrender would be the only option. In the end, the German leadership saw reason
19:27
Despite having committed thousands of men and tons of resources to the invasion
19:31
don't forget they actually assembled most of the invasion forces' barges and ships
19:35
even though 10% of them were actually sunk by British bombing even before the invasion could start
19:41
the logistical problems became too much. Hitler instructed Hermann Göring, who was the commander of the German Air Force
19:47
to first knock the RAF out of the fight by bombing them into submission on their airfields
19:51
but pretty soon it became clear that the Royal Air Force was not so easily disposed of
19:56
This marked the start of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force held off Germany's bombers and fighters in a bloody war of attrition
20:03
But that, dear time travellers, is a story for another day
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