In September 1939, the successful German invasion of Poland infringed on both a French and a British alliance with Poland and both countries declared war on Germany. At the time, the only forces with experience and modern equipment for such landings were the Japanese, which they used during the Battle of Wuhan in 1938. It was never put into action.Īdolf Hitler hoped for a negotiated peace with the UK and made no preparations for amphibious assault on Britain until the Fall of France. However, in light of mounting Luftwaffe losses in the Battle of Britain and the absence of any sign that the Royal Air Force had been defeated, Hitler postponed Sea Lion indefinitely on 17 September 1940. These included training troops, developing specialised weapons and equipment, modifying transport vessels and the collection of a large number of river barges and transport ships on the Channel coast. Nonetheless, both the German Army and Navy undertook major preparations for an invasion. Further, both the German High Command and Hitler himself held serious doubts about the prospects for success. The German forces achieved neither at any point during the war.

Īs a precondition for the invasion of Britain, Hitler demanded both air and naval superiority over the English Channel and the proposed landing sites. He considered invasion a last resort, to be used only if all other options had failed. Following the Battle of France and that country's capitulation, Adolf Hitler, the German Führer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, hoped the British government would accept his offer to end the war. It was to have taken place during the Battle of Britain, nine months after the start of the Second World War. Operation Sea Lion, also written as Operation Sealion ( German: Unternehmen Seelöwe), was Nazi Germany's code name for their planned invasion of the United Kingdom.

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