In the spring of 1940, the storm clouds of war were hovering over Europe. After the German conquest of Poland, the previous Fall, a "Phony War" was being waged as France & Britain stood by waiting for a Nazi attack.  In April, German troops launched an invasion of Denmark & Norway, overrunning both countries in a matter of weeks. On May 10, German forces invaded Belgium, Holland and France.  Five weeks later Paris fell, and on June 22, France surrendered to Germany.   Britain now stood alone against Adolf Hitler – the master of continental Europe.
    The English Channel put a halt to Germany’s Blitzkrieg tactics that earlier easily defeated the Allied Armies on land.  Adolf Hitler had great respect for the English Navy and was deeply concerned that any cross-Channel invasion would inflict enormous casualties on the German military. “On land, I am a hero. At sea, I am a coward,” Hitler told his naval Commander-in-Chief.
    Prior to the invasion of France and the Low Countries, Grand Admiral Raeder (head of the German Navy) ordered that preliminary plans be drawn up examining, "...the possibility of troop landings in England should the future progress of the war make the problem arise."
    The German Navy’s study set forth the following prerequisites before any invasion be attempted:
-Destruction of the Royal Air Force (RAF)
-Sealing off of Royal Navy forces from the landing & approach areas
-Protecting the landing fleet from British submarines
-Destruction of all Royal Navy units in the coastal zone
    Later in the year, the German Army conducted its own study for an invasion of Britain. Using ports from the Low Countries, German troops would cross the North Sea and land on England’s eastern coast, between the Thames & Wash Rivers. The German navy and air force both outlined the difficulty of such an undertaking in their contributions to the report.
    Following Germany’s relatively easy conquest of France and the Low Countries, and growing impatient with England’s indifference to his peace overtures, Adolf Hitler issued Directive No. 16 (Operation Sea Lion) on July 16, 1940 setting in motion preparations for an invasion.
    In his own words, Hitler stated that Directive 16 was necessary, "As England, in spite of her hopeless military situation, still shows no signs of willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare, and if necessary to carry out, a landing operation against her. The aim of this operation is to eliminate the English Motherland as a base from which the war against Germany can be continued, and, if necessary, to occupy the country completely."
    Using the earlier German army and navy studies as a guideline, Directive 16 set four pre-conditions before an invasion could occur:
1. The coastal zone between France & England must be dominated by German artillery.
2. The destruction of the Royal Air Force (RAF).
3. The Royal Navy must be tied-up in the Mediterranean and North Seas. British coastal units must be destroyed so as to not interfere with the seabourne invasion.
4. The English Channel must be cleared of British mines.  German mines must be layed to protect the invasion routes.
    Achieving all of these goals would be a very daunting task for the combined arms of the German navy and airforce.
    The lack of specialized landing craft was a serious issue for the Germans. Two prototypes were being developed –one was a small boat that could carry 45 infantry, two light vehicles and 20 tons of cargo.  Another much larger craft was being designed to carry tanks and heavy equipment, but neither would be available in sufficient quantities until well into 1941. With no other options, the German Navy collected close to 2,400 river barges from all over Europe and sent them to ports along the North Sea and English Channel. If the other German objectives were achieved, these barges would be the vessels that would have to carry the nearly 160,000 German soldiers to invade England. In the meantime, rivirine commerce was severely damaged.
    The "Battle of Britain" began on August 12, 1940, with a massive German bombing raid on airfields, radar stations & aircraft factories. In this raid, 22 Royal Air Force planes were destroyed and airfields and radar stations were badly damaged. Daily raids of British installations followed this initial attack.
    The attacks on the British airfields continued through August 24. Despite inflicting heavier losses on the German Luftwaffe, The Royal Air Force lost nearly 25 percent of its pilots in the first two weeks.  If the German attacks against the RAF airfields continued, the British were well on their way to losing control of the air and the "Battle of Britain."
    The entire battle changed on a chance occurrence –a lost German bomber, flying through the fog, emptied its bombs over what it thought was an open field in the English countryside. The bombs actually hit the capital of London.  In retaliation, the British launched a raid on Berlin causing only minor damage.  
    Furious that the British could penetrate German air defenses and actually reach his capital, Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to switch from bombing the airfields to attacking London.
    On September 7th, the London "Blitz" began with a huge German bombing raid of the English capital. For the next 57 nights, Germany would bomb London and other cities hoping to break the will of the British people.
    The German strategy shift of attacking cities instead of airfields gave much needed relief to the RAF.  Unable to get control of the English skies, Hitler indefinitely postponed Operation Sea Lion on September 15.
    On June 22, 1941, Germany turned its attention to the east with a surprise attack on the Soviet Union.  Britain no longer stood alone against the Nazi menace.
    In a speech before Parliament, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill remarked on the role of its pilots in saving England from a German invasion: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
    NEXT WEEK: “100 REGIMENTS’ OFFENSIVE”