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WTF?! Dude, you are really obsessed by saving the whole Kriegsmarine. I saved them once - hardly partly. 🙃 That's enough for me since they are supposed to become sunk in that mission.
Force was divided into 3 battlegroups. One small one went north to block the river crossing. The second stronger one went across the middle to first block the road at the town, then help block the southern river crossing. The third went to the airfield by the coast. The last group had 2 Sdkfz 7/1s with it. Seize the airfield first and move all fighters there and then the level bombers when they don't have something to hit within range.
Use bombers to hit adjacent targets (ships) so the fighters can escort multiple ones a turn. Brit fighters get hit by support fire from your escorts and also some of the mobile AA near the coast. Kill them one at a time as they get weakened, often using 110s to get final kill. But always have bombers hit ships.
The naval guns want to hit your AA so don't leave them too exposed to land counter-attack. There are some Brit units near the coast that will come out to play. But the AA units can soak up some of that naval gunfire and keep them from shooting at your ships for a few turns.
Remember that ships fire full strength even when damaged down to 1 strength. So kill them. Work on the ones nearest your fleet first.
The rest of my force was 5 infantry (azul, pioneer, inf, 2 para), 4 tanks (2 KV2, Char 2C, IIIG) and 3 arty (15, 21, wurf). Had to leave out a lot of core units to bring that much air force. So went quality over quantity. You can have a lot of heroes by this point. Use them wisely, move them around. Use terrain to your advantage for blocking. Kill ground units when they are on river hexes (with tanks) or in close terrain (with infantry). Keep your mobile AA with your arty. When you have air supremacy, you can change them to AT guns.
Once the Brit fleet is gone, you can use yours for coastal bombardment. And your level bombers are good at suppressing air defenses and removing entrenchment levels. That battleship killer is now an AA killer.
I found the 1940 DLC fun in that I kept having to rotate my core units to better optimize the battles, including shuffling heroes. Putting all your heroes in the air for Dunkirk was a blast. You can win Brighton without a big air force but you'll lose the fleet. Not that saving it gets you any later advantage, as with the Blucher. But you know you saved the fleet, despite the briefings.
And it seems I have to kill the same British ships again and again like I have to keep killing that same white French tank.
Carrier based bombers could not have dropped an atomic bomb. The bombs were dropped by a heavily modified B29. The Doolittle raid launched bombers from a carrier, with minimal bomb loads. The B29 required a HUGE length of runway to get airborne and no way could have that happened from a carrier with NO bombs on board let alone one heavily burdened with an atomic bomb.. it is possible they may have been able to launch from Iceland but getting to Germany would have been very difficult.
In the event that this actually had to happen, the B-36 was being developed as a contingency. Originally designed to strike the Japanese homeland from Hawaii, it was also capable of reaching Germany from the US mainland if bases in Britain became compromised. Cruising altitude was 40-45 thousand feet, so out of range for most all fighters and anti-air capability.
Granted, I imagine dropping a conventional bombing load from that altitude would have abysmal accuracy, but if it's atomic, being in the general vicinity is good enough.
On the other hand the Me-262 jet fighter came into service late 1944. And it reached almost the same altitude as the B-36. Imagine a Me-262 two or three years more advanced, I guess it could have easily shot down the B-36.
True, although even as the proposal for the plane was being submitted, it was becoming clear that the intended purpose would never actually be needed, given how the war was progressing. Could it have been brought online sooner if there was an operational need? Probably, but so many things have to change in history for that to happen.
Service Ceiling on the ME-262 was supposed to be only 37,000, so a B-36 could technically fly 3 to 8 thousand higher. I do agree though that these things don't happen in a vacuum, so no doubt the Germans would have developed a response, and either an updated fighter or new design to combat the B-36. That takes time though, and if we're talking an atomic drop, you only need the first trip to get through.
That's of course right. But the german cities, unlike Hiroshima or Nagasaki, weren't built of wood or sheet metal but of stone.
Those very first nukes wouldn't had destroyed a whole german city with just one bomb, but undoubtely heavy damaged.
Also Hitler sure as hell would have only surrendered if there were like 10 atomic bomb drops on Germany, not 1 or 2.
Especially if Germany had won the war in the european theatre in this fictional history Imagination.
Yes, B-36 only entered serial production in 1949... because its development was put on the backburner after it became clear that it was no longer needed to win the war. Otherwise? Try summer 1946. And by then, with the whole Europe first policy in place, they'd also have a couple dozen nukes instead of one or two, and would have quite likely dropped all of them at once to take maximum advantage of the momentary surprise. Basically, the Ruhr Area would be gone in a single day, and with it any chance for the Germans to pull things around.
1. If the British have an all powerful naval force you would never get across to begin with.
2. No matter how bad you maul the British fleet the end of scenario briefing is the British had the largest fleet in the world at that point. This is TRUE but that fleet was scattered around the world. If the Germans had sank several BB BC and CV the British were in DEEP trouble. The Home fleet in 1940 was 6 BB/BC and 2 or 3 CV you sink 6+ BB/BC and 3 CV along with I think 6 HC in the 2 scenarios so WHAT British Fleet is opposing you?
Yes they had other ships that COULD have been pulled home but that would have taken several weeks to months depending on where they came from. This would have seriously compromise the defense of those area the fleets were pulled from.
3, With southern England in German hands the RAF would not have the airbases they need to project air power over the channel.
4. Yes the Brits would have fought on with the loss of London, But with so much of their industrial capacity lost (about 70% was in England) where would the materials to continue the fight come from?
5. With the loss of heavy equipment at Dunkirk the British would not have the Tank forces in the numbers you see in the Sealion scenarios. they were woefully short of tanks and artillery after Dunkirk. Yes in time this was corrected but it took MONTHs not a few weeks as in the scenarios.
The 4 battles are fun and enjoyable but to simply slam the door shut after you work to kick it open leaves one feeling abused. When taking into account the above it was a cruel way to take the content. It was the way they could get RAF planes into the captured pool. On that anytime you take an enemy airfield you should get a few random planes added to your capture pool. There are a couple airfields in France that this happens but it should be every enemy airfield.
An actual landing on the isles and serious damage to Home Fleet would see RN forces from across the globe flooding in, no question about it. And them being temporarily weak? That makes it plausible for your raid to be bale to withdraw isntead of getting cut off and annihilated wholesale.
Um, yes they would? Their planes do in fact have the range to project out to the channel from central England. In fact, that was a contingency the RAF had planned for extensively and considered to enact in case Luftwaffe pressure on southern airfields would grow too much.
Much of it was in England, but not exactly just southern England and London. As for continuing the fight? Expect more and earlier lend-lease and greater committments from the Empire.
They were weaker than they liked to. There was still a lot of reserve equipment to go around, on top of mobilising training units and similar emergency activations that you'd see in case of an actual landing.
Why? It makes sense to happen rarely. Overrunning an airfield is one thing, doing so so fast that the planes aren't withdranw however is something extremely rare and only possible within specific circumstances.
YES the British Fleet would have sent everything they could spare. BUT that weakens their forces elsewhere. The British Navy was not all powerful. By pulling ships from elsewhere they risked losing those area. If the British Navy was suddenly pulled out of the MED ( the closest and therefore fastest replacements) the Italians may well have jumped into the war sooner. The Western Med fleet at Gibraltar would have been able to get home the fastest, but the Eastern Med fleet would have taken longer. The rest of their fleet was scattered all over the world and I again stand by my statement.
The RAF had planes that could reach the channel from central England yep you are right , HOWEVER... The tactical problems would have been flipped the Germans would enjoy close bases and could stay in the air for longer time over the channel, also the RAF would have to fly past hostile air fields. Could the RAF reach the channel? SURE but not effectively just like the Germans had problems reaching very far into England from French air fields.
You say expect more and earlier Lend Lease and commitments from the empire. The truth was at this point there was no huge reserve of troops ANYWHERE in the empire.
Also a lot of those areas were being threatened by Japan aggression. If they had pulled out the fleet AND sent more troops to England this might nave spurred the Japanese to action. They were gearing up for deployment but were not ready to ship the troops at this time. Even if they could have shipped the troops it took time to get there, Add to that if they had to send transports to get them the time doubles.
Lend Lease
In March 1941, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act (subtitled “An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States”) and Roosevelt signed it into law.
So if this was 6 month PRIOR to that there was no lend LEASE and even if there was the problem would have been getting the stuff there when it was needed. With Germans holding a good part of England that would be difficult. This is assuming the US Congress would have passed it with England on the edge of collapsing.
But we will say they could have gotten it going in late 1940. Again the problem is getting it there when it is still needed. This brings us to...
There were not a huge stockpile of military equipment in the US in 1940. Yes the US was gearing up but the US Military was in bad shape at that point ( remember when asked about our military strength in late 1941(yes a YEAR later than we are talking) the sec of war stated our troops are almost as strong as the British and Belgium were in early 1940 when the Germans invaded) and the priority would be defending the US. Remember the US was trying very hard to remain neutral at this point.
There was plenty of equipment in reserve. Really, I would like to know where you get the facts here. IF Sealion had happened the VAST majority of the troops England had to oppose them were Home Guard units. The Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) was formed in May 1940 and renamed the Home Guard in July 1940. Civilians aged between 17 and 65, who were not in military service, were asked to enlist in the LDV.
So the Home Guard were barely trained, equipped with obsolete weapons these came frp Canada and surplus British US armaments so at the point of these scenarios the Home Guard was in existence but in name only. Again no AFV or ART support. They had some improvised vehicles with MG and some 37mm guns on them. These were TRUCKS not tanks. Yes they were defending their homeland but you might just want to check and see how the Germans did later in the war with these type troops.
Airbases. I am not advocating for you to get 10 to 15 points of planes when you capture an air field. what I would like to see is 1 to 3 RANDOM planes they might even be different types. This would represent the planes the air field tried to destroy and some one did not do a good job. It would not be game Breaking. You can force every type of enemy units to surrender except airplanes. Why are they not able to be captured. In the early scenarios, If I use a para to capture an airbase that has planes based on it why should I not capture them? If they made it so each air field we capture we get captured planes this would represent just that. There is no way to OVERRUN and air field in the game. The planes simply fly away if there is another field in range or crash if not. This is not very realistic. There were a lot of cases where air field and the planes on them were captured EARLY in the war. You get some captured planes in France, Poland so why not elsewhere.
Yet none of that is even relevant. So what if pulling back forces from elsewhere would leave them thin in those areas? The UK/Home Fleet is the #1 overriding priority. If other areas have to suffer for it, then so be it. The result in-theatre remains the same - the whole exercise becomes untenable and you're left with the choice between retreat or the invasion force being cut off and annihilated wholesale.
That's still enough to contest things, especially given that any airfields the Germans capture in Britain would be liable to be wrecked to the point of being nigh-unuseable without some serious rebuilding.
There was more than enough avaiable, and again: The defense of the UK takes overriding priority over anything and everything else. And Japan wasn't in the war - and mired deeply into the chinese quagmire already and virtually completely unprepared for anything else. You can't just try and pull off a massive multiple-naval-invasion warplan without any preparations, that's just going to result in an instant total debacle against even minimal resistance. The Japanese weren't going to do anyone that kind of favour.
And you can bet your ass that an actual invasion of the UK would have sped up all these events considerably. Cash and Carry was already a thing, and credit would have been extended if necessary. To preserve the UK was one of the highest priority goals of US foreign policy by that point - unspoken or not. Congress would have passed the Act, and would have done it earlier and with greater committment under those circumstances. And no, the Germans holding a small part of the southern end of England wouldn't stop the convoys rolling across the Atlantic any more than it'd stop the Royal Navy from flooding in everything necessary, no matter the cost.
Uh huh. So neutral that it was de facto already backing the UK to the hilt, that it had already committed to and started building the largest navy in both the Atlantic and the Pacific at the same time, that it was giving out whatever assurances and making whatever deals under the table necessary to keep the UK in the war. Face it, the US was "trying to remain neutral" in name only by 1940. In practice, it was already waging an undeclared war against the Axis, and an invasion of Britain would have only intensified and sped up that development. "Defending the US?" Yeah, that's what THE NAVY is for. The Army is for bringing the fight to the other guys' doorstep. Handing more army equipment to the British hence would not actually hinder the defense of the US.
Plenty enough to defend against the extremely limited kind of invasion that even a stupendously overoptimistic Sea Lion scenario like that in the campaign would produce. No AFV or ART support? (The latter isn't accurate btw, even the Home Guard had quite a bit of artillery, if older guns pulled from the old surplus stockpiles.) Well, I guess that would put them largely on par with the German invaders then in terms of gear, givne the Germans would also be hard-pressed to operate armor or heavy artillery in truly meaningful numbers with the all-around extremely shaky and limited logistics they'd have. The Germans later in the war were facing an overwhelming combined-arms onslaught with more heavy equipment than the best of the Wehrmacht could have ever dreamt of having. A far cry from what little the Germans themselves could have sustained across the Channel in 1940 with their pitiful sealift capacity - and that's if we assumed them to have total and uncontested control of said channel.
Getting ANYTHING AT ALL would be an incredible stroke of luck. Newsflash, it's pretty damn easy to fly out or thouroughly sbaotage airplanes to prevent capture. Aircraft capture numbers were absolutely miniscule for everyone in the war, at all points. Even the freakin' Soviets during Barbarossa were able to prevent large-scale capture of airplanes, and that was virtually the textbook optimal scenario to make it possible.
The locally based British destroyers alone would of sent the pig pile German invasion armada to the bottom of the English channel, regardless of the outcome of the aerial battle. Destroyers weren't easy targets even for the Japanese or the Americans naval air forces, much less the luftwaffe. Even if a comparative handful of English destroyers survived the onslaught of the luftwaffe, they would be sufficient to sink or scatter the German barges.
Even if the somehow missed the German barges and tugs before they landed the first wave, they would of sunk or scattered them before they could make a return voyage to pick up the second wave. Then there's the matter of getting supplies regularly landed over open beaches, in the English Channel, in the fall. Good luck with that. That's why the allies built mulberries for their invasion 4 years later, even one of those was wrecked by a storm just 2 weeks after the landing. And that was in June, By September the odds of the germans capturing a working port were nil. In the end it all comes down to logistics.