Posted on 07/16/2010 4:25:29 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jul40/f16jul40.htm
Germans prepare to invade England
Tuesday, July 16, 1940 www.onwar.com
From Berlin... Hitler issues his Directive 16. It begins, “I have decided to begin to prepare for, and if necessary to carry out, an invasion of England.” It goes on to explain the importance of the air battles for the achievement of this aim. At this stage in the planning the German army’s views are dominant. They wish the Channel crossing to take place on a wide front with landings all along the south coast of Britain. They envisage that the force to be employed will be at least 25 and perhaps 40 divisions. They hope that the crossing can be protected by the Luftwaffe and mines on its flanks. This is not a very realistic plan.
In Tokyo... Japanese Prime Minister Yonai resigns because of military pressure.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/16.htm
July 16th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: Whilst returning to Scapa Flow in thick fog, Destroyer HMS Imogen collides with the cruiser HMS Glasgow off Duncansby Head at 58 34N 02 54W. Imogen catches fire and is abandoned. (Alex Gordon)(108)
Destroyer HMS Whaddon launched.
Destroyer HMS Dulverton laid down.
Submarine HMS Saracen laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)
London: The Labour MP Hugh Dalton is appointed political head of the Special Operations Executive.
FRANCE: The Vichy government deprives naturalised Jews of their French citizenship.
Germany expels 22,000 French citizens from Alsace-Lorraine, which it claims as part of the Reich.
GERMANY: Berlin: Hitler issues his directive no 16, “On the Preparation of a Landing Operation against England (Sealion)”
He talks of invading England with 20 divisions, to be put ashore on the south coast between Ramsgate and Lyme Regis. Hitler says that the aim is to “eliminate the English mother country as a base from which the war against Germany can be continued.”
General Alfred Jodl says that the invasion should be seen as a river crossing on a broad front, and in place of bridging operations the navy would keep the sea lanes secure against British attacks. The Luftwaffe would knock out the RAF. Operation Sealion will be ready in nine weeks.
But the admirals in the Kriegsmarine are unhappy. In the absence of purpose-built landing craft, they say that they cannot guarantee to protect hundreds of river barges being towed slowly across the Channel, Among other things, the Wehrmacht’s famed mechanised army uses several thousand horses to pull its guns. How, ask the admirals, do you propose to get horses across the Channel under fire?
OKW issues Führer Directive #16. Plans for Operation Sealion. Despite Englands hopeless military situation, she shows no sign of being ready to come to an understanding, therefore we must prepare a landing operation against England, and if necessary carry it out. The aim of the operation is to eliminate the English homeland as a base for the prosecution of the war against Germany and if necessary occupy it completely.
(i) The landing will be in the form of a surprise crossing on a wide front. Units of the Luftwaffe will act as artillery and units of the Kriegsmarine as engineers. Possible advantages of other limited operations (e.g. Isle of Wight or Cornwall) should be considered. Preparations should be completed by the middle of August.
(ii) Preparations should create such conditions as to make the landing possible; the RAF must be reduced morally and physically to impotence, mine-free channels must be created, the Straits of Dover must be sealed off with minefields on both flanks, strong coastal artillery forces must protect the forward coastal area, the Royal Navy must be tied down shortly before the crossing, both in the North and Mediterranean Seas. Air attacks against home-based enemy naval forces should begin immediately.
(iii) Under the Führer’s overriding command, the Commanders-in-Chief will command the branches of the Wehrmacht for which they are responsible. One Army Group will be detailed to carry out the invasion. The Army will draw up the operational and crossing plans for the first wave of the invasion, and will lay down methods by which the invasion is to be carried out, forces involved, and selection and protection of points of embarkation and disembarkation. The Kriegsmarine will procure the means for invasion in accordance with the wishes of the Army, use will be made of captured shipping wherever possible. In addition the Kriegsmarine is responsible for coastal artillery, and in conjunction with the Luftwaffe, the defence of the crossing of the Channel on both flanks. The Luftwaffe will be tasked with preventing interference by enemy airforces, the destruction of enemy coastal fortresses, breaking the first resistance of enemy land forces, and the dispersal of enemy reserves on their way to the front. Opportunities for use of airborne troops should be investigated.
(iv) Preparations for ensuring necessary communications between France and England will be handled by Chief, Wehrmacht Signals. Possible use of remaining length of the East Prussia cable should be examined.
(v) Plans from all services should be submitted as soon as possible. (Marc Roberts)
PALESTINE: Italian bombers attack the British base at Haifa.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Submarine HM S/M Phoenix is sunk in the Mediterranean off Augusta by depth charges. After having attacked a tanker which was escorted by Italian Navy Albatros, the escort commander raced back down the track of the torpedoes and delivered 10 depth charges directly over the submarine. All submarine crew of 53 are lost. (Alex Gordon)(108)
RN and RAN ships bombard the Libyan port of Bardia, a key Italian position. (Dave Shirlaw)
JAPAN: Tokyo: Military pressure forces the resignation of the Premier, Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai.
CANADA: MTB hull arrived Montreal, Province of Quebec, to become HMC MTB 1. (Dave Shirlaw)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 1223, the Scottish Minstrel in Convoy HX-55 was hit by one torpedo from U-61 about 130 miles NW of Bloody Foreland. The tanker caught fire and remained afloat after the hit, but sank the next day. Nine crewmembers were lost. The master and 31 crewmembers were picked up by HMS Gardenia and landed at Folkestone. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 320 July 16, 1940
Battle of Britain Day 7. Low cloud, fog & heavy rain ground both sides in the morning & early afternoon. Spitfires from 601 Squadron intercept German bombers over the Isle of Wight in the English Channel (1 Ju88 is shot down). Germans bomb Fraserburgh & Peterhead in Northeast Scotland (Spitfires of 603 Squadron shoot down 1 Heinkel).
Hitler still hopes to bring Britain to a negotiated peace but time is running out for a cross-Channel offensive in the Summer. He issues Führer Directive 16 to prepare for an invasion on a wide section of the South coast of Britain by the middle of August, but the plan is hastily conceived and rudimentary. The intention is to transport 39 divisions across the English Channel in flat-bottomed Rhine river barges, in 3 waves (3 infantry div. then 6 armoured & 3 motorised div. finally 17 infantry div.). This requires the English Channel to be swept of British mines and then both ends blocked with German mines to prevent entry of Royal Navy. In addition, the Luftwaffe must annihilate the RAF to prevent aerial attacks on the barges. In contrast, Churchill believes the invasion can be thwarted simply by minesweepers clearing a path through the minefields to allow British destroyers into the Channel to sail back and forth, overturning the unstable barges in their wake. http://www.alternatewars.com/WW2/WW2_Documents/Fuhrer_Directives/FD_16.htm
British cruiser HMS Glasgow and destroyer HMS Imogen collide in heavy fog off Duncansby Head, North of Scotland. Imogen catches fire and is abandoned (17 killed, 133 rescued by HMS Glasgow), drifting 20 miles South before sinking. HMS Glasgow suffers a 6 foot gash above the water line (2 killed) and will sail to Liverpool for repairs (completed September 4).
Torpedo duel in the Mediterranean. British submarine HMS Phoenix attacks Italian torpedo boat Albatros but misses, Southeast of Sicily. Albatros then torpedoes HMS Phoenix and sinks her (all 55 crew lost).
In the South Atlantic, German armed merchant cruiser Thor sinks British steamer Wendover carrying 7250 tons of coal (4 killed, 36 crew and 1 gunner taken prisoner).
130 miles northwest of Ireland, U-61 hits British tanker Scottish Minstrel with 1 torpedo (9 dead). The tanker stays afloat, its cargo of 9200 tons of fuel oil blazing fiercely, and sinks the next day. 32 survivors are rescued by corvette HMS Gardenia and landed at Folkestone, England. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/426.html
You know if I wanted to come up with a codename for an amphibious landing I don’t know if I’d choose “Sea Lion” if I were concerned about secrecy.
FDR talking up his friend Missouri Governor Lloyd Stark. He was probably just trying to help Stark in his primary run against Harry Truman. (FDR and Truman would later make up.)
They could have given it a name to throw the Brits off track. Something like "Eagle Attack." At this point I don't think Hitler cared that much if the British got wind of a coming invasion. If they got sufficiently alarmed maybe they would ask for a negotiated peace so Hitler could get on with his true calling and invade Russia.
Are you sure about that? I thought Roosevelt wound up sticking Truman in some dead end administrative post later in his presidency.
They were sure not friendly at the time of this 1940 convention. Truman was working for the nomination of John Nance Garner, and FDR was backing Lloyd Stark in his primary challenge to Truman.
They didn’t like each other, politically or otherwise. They pushed Truman into the VP slot to get him out of the way since the VP was an empty job and they considered Truman a troublemaker. They overlooked the fact that by the 4th term POS FDR was almost as incapacitated as Wilson had been.
Date: 16 July 1940
Enemy action by day
Enemy air activity was greatly reduced, apparently owing to unfavourable weather conditions. The few hostile raids that were plotted up to 1600 hours were probably meteorological reconnaissance and searching for shipping. In the early evening bombs were dropped on two points in North East Scotland and one of the raiders shot down. Off the South and South West coasts activity remained slight, but in the evening a raid appeared off the Isle of Wight, and two enemy aircraft were shot down into the sea.
South and South-West
In the early morning a raid appeared in the Bristol area, crossed the coast near Swanage and headed out to sea. Fighters attempted interception but were unsuccessful. It is reported that this aircraft sent out weather reports of the Aylesbury and Selsey districts. Between 1100 and 1300 hours raids were plotted off the Lizard and Start Point, probably searching for shipping. At 1430 hours a Heinkel was seen over Cardiff; fighters went up but were unable to contact. At about 1700 hours No. 601 Squadron shot down two Ju88s which appeared off the Isle of Wight.
East Coast
A few isolated raids were plotted off the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, probably searching for shipping, but bad weather made recognition very difficult.
Scotland
Between 1300 and 1600 hours one raid was plotted about 100 miles east of Montrose and another 10 miles east of Arbroath flying north-west, and at 1600 hours another raid originated near Kinnaird's Head. Peterhead and Fraserburgh were bombed, no serious damage is reported. One He111 was shot down by No 603 Squadron 25 miles north-east of Kinnaird's Head, and two survivors were seen to take to a rubber raft.
By night
Activity during the night remained very quiet. Dundee, Middlesborough, Hull and Grimsby were given red warnings. One raid was plotted over Duncansby Head and two in the Aberdeen area. No reports of any bombs having been dropped have as yet been received. Five or six raids were plotted between Newcastle and the Humber, some of which were probably minelaying, and a few crossed the coast. One of these, after cruising around for over an hour off the Humber, was first given as being friendly owing to its having fired the correct signal, but was later stated to be hostile, as it disappeared towards Germany.
________________________________________
Statistics
Casualties:
Patrols:
Balloons:
Aerodromes:
Organisation:
Air Intelligence Reports
Home Security Reports
Sealion was never more than a bluff; no need for secrecy, in fact, if it’s a bluff, you don’t want secrecy. So why not “Seelowe?”
It definitely telegraphed it’s intention didn’t it. Of course the Germans could also swing a code name 180 degrees ala WACHT AM RHEIN.
Which I guess lends to the notion that Hitler was only trying to intimidate the British into negotiating.
I would definitely say that. I think that if Chamberlain was still in power, Hitler would have gotten exactly what he wanted. It really is a bad situation right now for the British. They have no allies left and are facing Germany alone. Their army has survived but has little equipment to fend off an invasion. The only stalwart against invasion is the RAF. I think Chamberlain would have folded. Churchill, though, had made the decision to fight to the end, even from the colonies if need be.
I recently read a great book on this period called "The Duel: The Eighty-Day Struggle Between Churchill and Hitler" by John Lukacs. What's fascinating is how hard Churchill had to work to just convince FDR that he wasn't going to cut a deal with Hitler.
Sounds interesting. I’ll have to add that to my book wish list. Thanks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.