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Over the past week, Mark and I have discovered "Foyle's War," a series on Amazon Prime. We have been enjoying the first season. (I believe it is on Acorn's streaming service.)
Episodes one and two feature a background on the early moments of the developing war in Europe. By episode two, a good deal of attention is paid to Dunkirk, but only as a background mention. So this puts us in May of 1940.
Much airtime is concentrated on the public's perception of Germany's military might and the fact that England is all that remains of the free world after the many blitzkrieg victories that Hitler has achieved and is in the process of achieving.
It seems to be such a precarious situation for this island nation to face—some are discussing how a German invasion is imminent. There are legitimate fears expressed that Germany may well be the victor if the invasion takes place. People mumble about how ill-prepared the nation is to fight off the Third Reich.
Yet from our vantage point, we all know that no German boats showed up to land German troops and seize control of the country. (Although this is exactly what was happening further north in Norway.)
The idea that Britain is extremely ill-prepared seems to be the predominant sentiment expressed during these episodes. So what happened? If Britain was this vulnerable, why didn't Hitler make his move?
Any thoughts on this would be welcome.
Sidebar: When I lived in Norway, one amazing war fact emerged. The town where I was staying on Norway's western coast, Stavanger, saw not only the late spring 1940 arrival of the German troops by sea but these troops employed a unique method of taking over enemy territory. They waited patiently at the bus stops outside of Stavanger and took the local public transportation into town!
Discussion (28)
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There's always been speculation why the Germans didn't press further. Some common sense factors that probably are part of the reason: The Germans could barely believe their luck by spring of 1940 and simply hadn't prepared for the complicated prospect of a cross-channel invasion. Four years later, we didn't find D-Day easy at all, and the 1940 Germans would have been attacking the enemy's homeland, always a tougher job.
They also believed, surprisingly late, that the British would "see the light" (as they'd put it) and negotiate an end to the war.
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The Battle of Britain with the UK establishing air superiority over it's own landmass is what I've always read was the deciding factor in preventing Germany from making this move. There was no reasonable expectation of Germany being able to land enough troops without air superiority and only a second rate Navy that had taken great losses to help protect the landing.
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When I was in the UK in the 90s old fortifications were still standing along the beach. I was surprised to find a small defensive bunker miles inland (west of Ipswich), but I speculate it might have been to guard a major road. The Brits certainly expected to have to fight on home soil.
All I can say is that I agree that Hitler never achieved air superiority over Britain, and he may have believed he could negotiate Britain out of fighting for a long while.
Foyle's War is a very good series. I recall that it displayed the difficulties and shortages of the time. I have only seen the first season.
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The obvious answer is "Hindsight is 20/20". It's clear now that Germany could not have successfully invaded England in 1940. It wasn't clear then. The British army had just been effectively destroyed at Dunkirk. The got (most of) the men out, but left the vast majority of their equipment behind.
Fortunately for Britain, invasions are difficult and require a lot of supply and preparation. We had a couple years of build-up and still delayed Overlord by a month at least in part have more invasion craft available.
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I had always heard that line of thinking myself, but the problem was - according to what is portrayed in "Foyle's War" - that the British military had not yet gotten enough planes to actively fight a German invasion by war.
Foyle's son in the series is sent to train as a pilot, and he relates to his dad while on leave that the military uses antiquated, possibly WWI vintage planes to teach the pilots. There are then discussions of how there is an up and coming model that would have a better advantage in any conflict with the Gerry's but the initial supply of such planes was surely not enough for a prolonged attack.
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