Hitler decision was a political decision. He thought that France was the first target and UK without France had come to an agreement with Germany. Allowing the UK units to retreat was some sort of goodwill act.
A thing that is important to remember when evaluating Hitler strategic thinking are his experiences of the First Worl War.
Hitler volunteered in the German Army. He participated in a number of major battles on the Western Front, including the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Arras and the Battle of Passchendaele. Hitler was twice decorated for bravery. He received the Iron Cross, Second Class, in 1914 and Iron Cross, First Class, in 1918, an honour rarely given to a Soldier.
Those experience influenced the strategic thinking of Hitler. Seeing the trench war has formed in Hitler the convinction of the importance of not giving ground to the enemy and the superiority of the defense on the offense. In WW II Hitler has alwasy been doubtful of the mobile warfare preferring to hold ground with fortified defensive line and “Fester Platz” (Fortified City).
Back on topic of Dunkirk, Hitler has been convinced by his War Experience that if French Army is put out of action then UK alone have no way to fought a land war with Germany, no UK invasion is needed and an agreement with UK will be the natural consequence. So in his belief there is no need of destroying a retreating Army that will be useless to UK.
Very well put about Hitler, Romulus.
I actually refer to Dunkirk in conversation, as “The Luftwaffes first loss”, not really the 3rd Reichs. It was the first time the Luftwaffe was up against pilots as good as them in aircraft that was a fair match and they failed their objective or “Goerings objective” shall I put it.
I believe Operation Sealion would fail even if the Luftwaffe had worn the R.A.F down in the Battle of Britain.
Studing the Battle of Creete has helped form this conclusion. It’s common knowledge that the Germans had to support the attack on Creete by air. In the Battle the Royal Navy blocked any attempt to supply the invasion by sea. The Germans had complete air control. This fact did not stop the Royal Navy from evacuating most of the defenders of Creete in the face of heavy losses.
How would the Royal Navy act to an invasion of the homeland? With the Germans Navy strength weakened by the invasion of Norway the Royal Navy would destroy most if not all the supporting forces.
I have no idea what losses the Royal Navy would suffer, prehaps a pre-war fleet. The cost would be light considered the consequence of failure. The British were aware of the failures of 1066 A.D.
Given that the Germans would have only had some control of the air during daylight, and the landing would have been timed for right around dawn, the Royal Navy would have had a free ride in attacking the invasion force during night hours. Add to that the fact that the British were reading the Luftwaffe signals, they would have known in advance when the invasion was coming and started moving their ships prior to nightfall. The term “massacre” strikes me as being a pretty accurate description of what would have happened.
In my opinion, Hitler was an idiot to underestimate the British. He could have easily negotiated terms with them and closed that front before invading Russia. Of course, Stalin would have gotten wind of this and been more prepared when the Germans attacked Russia but at least Germany wouldn’t have been fighting the 2 fronts.
Hitler wanted an accommodation with England, he made a number of peace offers following the demise of france with guarantees of protection of British colonial assets. Hitler himself admired them Historically as the bulwark against the people Hitler deemed as less desirable like an enforcer of civilization against barbarism and chaos. He probably envied them.
But Churchill would have none of that and would rather rid the world of the pestilence of both Hitler and Stalin. Their was no way England would “come to her senses” short of total capitulation.
@Imperious:
Hitler wanted an accommodation with England, he made a number of peace offers following the demise of france with guarantees of protection of British colonial assets. Hitler himself admired them Historically as the bulwark against the people Hitler deemed as less desirable like an enforcer of civilization against barbarism and chaos. He probably envied them.
But Churchill would have none of that and would rather rid the world of the pestilence of both Hitler and Stalin. Their was no way England would “come to her senses” short of total capitulation.
I totally agree with your speculation. However I do think a non aggression pact could have been reached if Hitler would have just swallowed his pride. All his negotiations involved some form of German prescence and the British could see right through his BS promises. They weren’t having Nazis on their island. Period. Hitler admired them very much. He even said he hated to wage war with people that were so similar to his.
I don’t think the operation would have been successful for a number of reasons. There was still the Royal Navy, something that would have made any landing difficult at best, impossible at worst. There were more of them to begin with and were pretty decent ships. I think maybe, from my POV, that one reason would have made any landing very costly for the Germans, and those troops that did survive would have had to deal with resistance of some sort after that.
