Could Hitler have invaded mainland Britain in 1940?

Messerschmitt Bf 109 plane.

Sea Lion

a novel by Steve Barrett

Alternative History

Background

Sea Lion started off as a factual examination of a fascinating period of history but soon metamorphosed into an alternative history novel. The exploration of how ordinary people reacted in extraordinary situations was very appealing to me.

Sea Lion was the code name for the planned invasion of Britain by Nazi Germany. It was not put into practice, and most historians agree that if Hitler had launched an invasion of the U.K. when he had the opportunity, it would have failed, or at best had only very limited and temporary success.

But authors are encouraged to ask “What if…?”

What if the evacuation from Dunkirk had failed? What if a German bomber had not (as is sometimes suggested) become lost and loosed its bomb load over London rather than the purely military target for which it was searching? What if Britain had lost its lead in the balance of naval power? These and many other possibilities are explored, and some people will doubtless enjoy spotting the facets of history that have been changed and those that have not. Anyone who would like a "short cut" can look on my "alternative history" page.

This is a novel, however, so the real and imagined historical aspects of the book are secondary to the effects that these events have on the lives, loves and deaths of the characters. The promotion of Karl Brucke, an official in the German War Ministry, the mysterious disappearance of his lover and an indiscreet remark in a London pub spawn espionage, intrigue and treachery culminating in an ultimate test of loyalties.

Some web sites of related interest

The Tank Museum, Bovington An excellent museum and a mine of information for those interested in armoured fighting vehicles.

The Imperial War Museum. The main site has links to HMS Belfast, The Cabinet War Rooms, Duxford aviation museum (also has an excellent land warfare exhibition) and the new IWM North.

Tangmere aviation museum in West Sussex, near Chichester based around an airfield used in World War 2. Several incidents in the book are set here.

Newhaven Fort fascinating museum based on the fortification overlooking the Channel. Another location which features in the book.

RAF Museum Hendon/Cosford. Nicely designed website (uses Flash plug in and can be a little slow to load but worth the short wait).

Sussex Military Museum The Redoubt Fortress at Eastbourne houses an interesting collection in an historic fort. The fort itself and the web site are well worth a visit.

Books for further reading about Operation Sea Lion and related topics.

Note: many of these may well be out of print, but any good book search service (or the Internet) should be able to help. From personal experience, for books on any subject, I can recommend the Bookfinder General.

As well as talking to a number of people with first-hand experiences, (to whom I am indebted), I used numerous books during the research phases of writing the novel. The main works consulted were:

Correlli Barnett (ed) Hitler's Generals	Sir Winston Churchill The Second World War	Len Deighton Blitzkreig
Len Deighton Fighter	Chris Ellis Tanks of World War II	Peter Fleming Operation Sea Lion
Michael Glover Invasion Scare 1940	Richard Grunberger A Social History of the Third Reich	Heinz Guderian Panzer Leader
Nicholas Harman Dunkirk	Peter Longstaff-Tyrrell That Peace in our Time	Kenneth Macksey (ed) The Hitler Options
Kenneth Macksey Invasion - The German Invasion of England July 1940	Ivor Matanle The Hitler Years	R C F Maugham Jersey under the Jackboot
Leonard Mosley Backs to the Wall	Peter Schenk Invasion of England 1940	Christopher Shepherd German Aircraft of World War II
David Smurthwaite, Mark Nicholls, Linda Washington and others Against all Odds	Louis L Snyder Encyclopaedia of the Third Reich	Patrick Turnbull Dunkirk - Anatomy of a Disaster
	Ronald Wheatley Operation Sea Lion - German Plans for the Invasion of England 1939-1942

I would like to thank the staff at the Imperial War Museum for access to their library resources and the Librarian at the Tank Museum, Bovington, for providing sources of information about amphibious tanks.

Web site and novel both copyright 2001 Steve Barrett