Battle of Britain Research - to what extent was Hitlers indefinite postponement of Operation Sealion due to the Royal Air Forces victory over the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain?

Hitler did not truly want to go through with Operation Sealion unless as a last resort

• After the fall of France, Hitler hoped to somehow make peace with Britain
• When Churchill refused, Hitler devised Operation Sealion: an amphibious invasion of Britain conditioned by the Luftwaffe having air superiority
• Hitler had no previous plans to invade Britain
• From previous battles, there was no evidence that air superiority would balance the Kriegsmarine’s chances of defeating the RN
• The Wehrmacht would have to deal with the Army and Home Guard as well as the RN if an invasion was attempted
• Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe studies argued that Sealion was too risky
• Kriegsmarine studies said it was inadvisable to launch Sealion before 1941
• In August, Goering said his Luftwaffe would destroy the RAF and force Britain to surrender, before Operation Sealion was planned to take place
• This became Hitler’s primary plan to defeat Britain
• Sept. 14, after the London Blitz began, Hitler said he had not yet cancelled Sealion to maintain psychological pressure on the British population

Part C: Evaluation of Sources

Source 1: Snow, Peter and Dan Snow, Battlefield Britain. London: BBC Books, BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2004

This monograph originated as a book that examines some of the most historic battles taken place on the British Isles including the1940 Battle of Britain. Author Peter Snow is a highly respected journalist, author and broadcaster who has been covering military matters for over 40 years. Co-author Dan Snow won a first-class degree in history at Balliol College, Oxford and has published many history articles. The purpose of this monograph was to give a fairly detailed overview of each battle described in it. It is valuable because it gives detailed information about the main battles that took place including the squadrons, strategies, casualties and overall effects. Insight into the political aspect of the battle is also given including conflicts between commanders and the strategies used on either side. It is limited in that it focuses solely on the air aspect of the battle giving no mention as to the RN’s role in preventing Operation Sealion.

Source 2: England: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. Battle of Britain: The Naval Perspective. The Whale and the Elephant London: RUSI, 2006.

The article originates as one of a three part Government article entitled The Royal Navy did not win the ‘Battle of Britain’ But we need a Holistic View of Britain’s Defences in 1940. This section is by Dr. Andrew Gordon, a British naval historian. Its purpose is to give a naval perspective to the Battle of Britain and backs claims as to how the RN was the reason Hitler postponed operation Sealion indefinitely. It is valuable because it gives specific numbers when comparing RN and Kriegsmarine. It is valuable because it gives an explanation as to why neither the Kriegsmarine would have wanted to attempt an invasion, nor why Hitler had ever truly planned to follow through with Operation Sealion. The limit is that it discusses just the naval position, but not necessarily how they relate to other aspects of the battle.

Part D: Analysis

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few,” said Churchill in his speech to the House of Commons on August 20th in reference to the few fighter pilots who were defending Britain from the Luftwaffe at the time. While the Battle of Britain was going on, it would be easy to view the Royal Air Force as the sole force who fended off the Luftwaffe, and therefore preventing the German Operation Sealion. In hindsight, it is important to look at the battle as a whole and all the contributions to the prevention of Sealion. 

        Operation Sealion was a quickly planned out invasion that was first planned for mid-September 1940 even though all estimates said it was inadvisable to launch until 1941. Even then, the German chances of a successful Channel crossing were slim. The Wehrmacht would have had to face not only the Royal Navy but the British Army and Home Guard as well. Even if the Luftwaffe gained air superiority over the RAF, there was no evidence this would make an invasion possible. As Hitler and his High Command realised that Operation Sealion would be too risky, Reichsmarschall Goering “boasted that he would bring Britain to heel…through the destruction of the RAF, making an invasion unnecessary.” Hitler then decided to continue with Operation Sealion to put psychological pressure on Britain to surrender, leaving Sealion as a last resort option if Goering failed.

        John Keegan said, “Some 2500 young pilots had alone been responsible for preserving Britain from invasion.” This belief has been widely debated amongst historians. Historian Christina Goulter agrees with this notion saying, “While the Royal Navy had been a major concern to both the Wehrmacht and the Kriegsmarine when ideas of an invasion were first mooted, and remained an underlying deterrent, the campaign, and arguably the whole war’s, fulcrum was in the air.” 

Naval historian Dr. Andrew Gordon took a different take saying, “The best outcome for the Kriegsmarine would be for the invasion to be cancelled…Thanks to Fighter Command’s victory over the Luftwaffe, that is what they got…But that is not at all the same thing as there being nobody but the RAF ready, willing and able to defeat Operation Sealion.” Wing Commander H.R Allen, himself being one of ‘The Few’, shared this belief. He said, “Without doubt the five hundred or so section, flight and squadron leaders of Fighter Command earned their laurels. But the real victor was the Royal Navy, the Silent Service.”

        There are two extreme views on this topic, the first being that the RAF was solely responsible for the prevention of a German invasion by their defeat of the Luftwaffe backed by Keegan and Goulter. The other, that the Royal Navy had been the true underlying reason Operation Sealion was cancelled, which Gordon had agreed with.

        A more reasonable view, taken by historians Corelli Barnett and Gary Sheffield was that both the RAF and RN played significant roles in the defeat of Britain. Barnett said, “The mastery of the seas by the Royal Navy - although this time protected by the Royal Air Force's hard-won victory in the Battle of Britain - had once again preserved the cause of liberty. To both Services, therefore, belongs the honour of turning the course of the Second World War.” Sheffield conquered with this statement and added, “The Royal Navy’s [importance in the war] was a ‘silent victory’, but that of Fighter Command a physical one.” 

        The “Battle of Britain” including the London Blitz was an attack on Britain by the Luftwaffe, which was fended off by the RAF. Operation Sealion encompassed all three military forces –army, air force and especially the navy from both Germany and Britain. By distinguishing these as separate aspects of the grand scheme of the Battle of Britain we can see that while the RAF had won the battle in the skies over Britain, but it was mainly the RN who prevented Germany from attempting an invasion of Britain.

Part E: Conclusion

        Operation Sealion was Hitler’s plan to invade Britain that required participation of the entire Wehrmacht. The factors that forced Hitler to postpone and then cancel Operation Sealion were not only from the Luftwaffe’s defeat in the Battle of Britain, but also because of the Royal Navy’s superiority over the Kriegsmarine. Although the Royal Air Force did win a decisive victory over Germany in the Battle of Britain, the cancellation of Operation Sealion was mainly due to the “Silent Service”; the Royal Navy. No evidence had proved that air superiority would give the Germans the edge in an invasion attempt of Britain and therefore, in the grand scheme of Operation Sealion’s postponement, the Luftwaffe’s defeat proved less significant than the Kriegsmarine’s inferiority to the Royal Navy.

Part F: Work Cited

Royal Air Force. Background to the Battle of Britain. 16 Feb. 2005. 30 Apr. 2011 < http://www.raf.mod.uk>

Barnett, Corelli. “Both Services Played Heroic Roles in the Battle of Britain.” The Daily Telegraph, 25 August 2006, 28

Churchill, Winston. “The Few,” Selected Speeches of Winston Churchill, 20 Aug. 1940. 30 Apr. 2011 <http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/113-the-few>

Gordon, Andrew, ed. Battle of Britain: The Naval Perspective. The Whale and the Elephant. London: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, 2006.

(Work quoted in another work)

Gordon, Andrew. Battle of Britain: The Naval Perspective. The Whale and the Elephant. London: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, 2006.

Goulter, Christina. Battle of Britain: The Air Perspective. Saluting the Few: The Triumph of British Air Power in 1940. London: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, 2006.

Goulter, Christina and Andrew Gordon and Gary Sheffield. The Royal Navy did not win the ‘Battle of Britain’ But we need a Holistic View of Britain’s Defences in 1940. London: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, 2006.

Keegan, John. The Second World War. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 1990.

Sheffield, Gary. Battle of Britain: The Land Perspective. Operation Sealion and the Battle of Britain: A Land Perspective. London: Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, 2006.

Snow, Peter and Dan Snow. Battlefield Britain. London: BBC Books, BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2004.

---