The 17th Military History Blog Carnival has been posted at Military History and Warfare. (It was posted nearly a week ago, but I've been busy ...) The most interesting post for me this week is on the Maginot Line, by the carnival host. He points out that, though much-maligned, the Maginot Line did its job: the Germans generally avoided a frontal assault in 1940. Even at the time of the Armistice, most of the Line still held out. Of course, that raises the question of what would have happened if the Line had been fully extended to protect the border with Belgium? Would the Germans have tried to penetrate it? Or would the Sitzkrieg have lasted for years instead of months? Even if successful, a German Army exhausted from battering its way through would not have been able to even think about invading Britain in 1940, and maybe the USSR would be off for the following year, also. Which could, paradoxically, have been very bad for Britain ... Rommel might have gotten more resources and so goodbye Egypt and Suez. Or maybe Sealion would happen in 1941. Ah, the pleasures of counterfactual history and just making stuff up!
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Heather
I love this kind of "what if..." stuff.
I've been a Battle of Britain wannabe historian for most of my adult life. I've found myself drawn to why the war and Battle happened, which is why the Sudeten day-by-day blog you're doing is so good.
I've got an English translation of a book by a German historian (I'm not at home right now, so I can't give the name immediately). He looked at Seelöwe in some detail, based on the German military archives. The planning was very detailed - as you'd expect from the Germans! - but in the end it appears pretty obvious that the whole thing may well have been a spectacular bluff to try and put the frighteners on the British.
It seems a Channel crossing could have taken place quite easily in the summer of 1940, albeit slowly and at the mercy of the weather, provided the Royal Navy was taken out of the equation completely.
As I say, I love this kind of speculative history!
Brett Holman
Post authorThat sounds about right! I tend to agree that nobody on the German side actually wanted to go through with an invasion. A collapse of the RAF followed by a negotiated peace would have been just dandy.
I like the what-ifs too, but they're frowned upon in history! Not as much as they used to be, though. On topic, Julian Jackson has some interesting ones in The Fall of France.
Heather
For those interested, I've retrieved the book, complete with its complement of post-its and bookmarks!
Invasion of England 1940: The Planning of Operation Sealion by Peter Schenk. I have the hardback English language edition, published by Conway Maritime Press, London, in 1990.
The original German edition, Landung in England, was published in 1987 by Oberbaum Verlag, Berlin.