Operation: Sea Lion

Do you think the Third Reich had the ability to accually invade Great Britain? Personally I think that they did, but Hitler put all his "power" so to speak into invading the Soviet Union. Personally I would have taken care of England first. What do you think?

 

Germany was totally unprepared to mount an invasion, and Sealion was hopelessly inadequate as an invasion plan. If Germany had tried it, they would almost certainly have suffered a disastrous defeat.

For an invasion to be successful, Germany would have had to start planning, equipping and training for it, several years beforehand.

 

The Germans did not have the suitable equipment to cross the channel and thus not any good chances to make the invasion. And the RAF and the Royal Navy would have taken care of the rest.

 

Given the original set of events up to Seelöwe, the Germans could not successfully invade England...PERIOD. "Taking care of England" required Germany to find a means to defeat England at sea. The best the Germans could hope for in historical circumstances was negotiating a peace. They should have done this regardless of cost prior to cosidering any action against the Soviets.

 

Or, as T. A. said very accurately in some previous post, Germany could have started building a modern aircraft centred fleet, which was within its real technological and industrial posibilities. Of course, the German admiralty was perhaps the most conservative back then…

'No big battleships with big guns?! Hell no! No matter how many of my limited resources I waste on them…!'

Wonder what Freud could say about Grand Admiral Raeder?

 

SV, I don't mean to impune or insult you with this question but, have you even really looked into the Seelöwe planning / operation? Even a very cursury review of the operation shows just how badly the Germans planned it. The execution would have been a literal disaster.
We all have to start our learning of history somewhere but, it is best when we gain at least a basic understanding of it first. Following this we can ask intelligent questions that really further learning.
A good starter book on this subject is Peter Fleming's Operation Sealion.

 

TA is right - the attempts to convert Rhine barges, etc were afterthoughts and would have led to total failure. Germany had no experience of opposed seaborne landings. Remember that after years of preparation and experience of other landings ( Dieppe, Torch, etc ) D-Day was a close-run thing for the Allies.

In 1940, Hitler needed - yet again - a collapse of political will which was in fact, what he hoped to achieve against Russia (' one kick at the door and the whole rotten edifice will come crashing down....' ).