What is Operation Sea Lion and why couldn't Hitler go ahead with it when he wanted to?

Answer 1

Operation Sea Lion was the German plan for the invasion of England . The German war machine needed to have both air and sea supremacy in order for the plan to be effective . The Battle of Britain was the German attempt to gain air superiority which was necessary for an amphibious landing to be successful .

The air war was a conflict that Britain won and this thwarted any plans that Adolf Hitler had for conquering Britain .

Had Germany gained control of the English Channel by commandeering the French Fleet he then would have had sea supremacy which would have facilitated a seaborne invasion of Britain .

Britain launched a Pearl Harbor styled surprise attack upon the French Fleet based at Mers-el-Kebir in French Algeria and "scuttled" any plan that the Germans may have had of utilizing French naval assets to further Hitler's plan of invading Britain .

Hitler also lacked the resources to both defeat Britain and to launch the invasion of Russia (Operation Barbarossa) which was an upcoming military campaign and Hitler did not have the logistical capacity to do both simultaneously . He had hope that once he had defeated Russia he could then marshal his military resources and turn his attentions once again to Britain where he hoped to finally defeat Britain which would have meant that the Nazis would essentially control and dominate Europe .

Had Hitler not been frustrated by a resolute Winston Churchill and the British people then the US would have focused on a 'Japan First' policy rather than a 'Europe First" agenda .