# German Invasion of the U.S.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-invasion-of-the-u-s/107932 "2002-05-08T17:47:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![warinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@warinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warinner)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-invasion-of-the-u-s/107932/21 "2002-05-09T15:48:01Z")
Mighty Maximino wrote: > [@](#): > > They might have been able to take New York with 100,000 men, but that’s not nearly enough to take over the whole Eastern seaboard, even given the paltry US ground forces at the time. There are just too many people there, and reinforcements would be enroute from the West soon enough. And what good would a handful of regiments do? AW ---
**Author:** ![warinner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@warinner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/warinner)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-invasion-of-the-u-s/107932/22 "2002-05-09T16:03:14Z")
yojimboguy wrote: > [@](#): > > Navy, Schmavy! They didn’t have enough transport ships to support a succesful invasion, even without resistance at sea. They hadn’t developed Blitzkrieg tactics yet, and had no motorized infantry transport, so their soldiers would have been on foot. If America lacked a powerful army at the time, it certainly had a huge and efficient rail system. But we’re talking 1896 here, not 1939. Who needs blitzkrieg tactics? Armies on foot and hoof moved faster and farther in 1914 than they did in 1939 - 1945. The German merchant marine was the third largest fleet prior to WWI. In 1914, the US Army had 98,000 men. Unfortunately, 45,000 of them were stationed overseas. There were 27,000 National Guard troops. Remember, the point of German plan was to seize a naval base, not to conquer the US. AW ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-invasion-of-the-u-s/107932/23 "2002-05-09T22:15:09Z")
This reminds me of the writing of someone that had to work with congress before USA entered WWII. It was being questioned whether the United States really needed to increase the size of its army, that it might be big enough and he had to point out many times that the US army was smaller than Belgium’s. Those guys in Europe at that time were big boys and I do believe Germany could have delivered a lesson in humility by doing such a raid if they wouldn’t have had to worry about other European big boys. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2002, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-invasion-of-the-u-s/107932/24 "2002-05-09T22:46:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by warinner \* > \*\*yojimboguy wrote: > But we’re talking 1896 here, not 1939. > > Who needs blitzkrieg tactics? Armies on foot and hoof moved faster and farther in 1914 than they did in 1939 - 1945. > > The German merchant marine was the third largest fleet prior to WWI. > > In 1914, the US Army had 98,000 men. Unfortunately, 45,000 of them were stationed overseas. There were 27,000 National Guard troops. Remember, the point of German plan was to seize a naval base, not to conquer the US. > > AW \*\* I did misread the period in the OP, but more accurately were talking about 1900-1905 or so as th plan was drawn up in 1898. Perhaps Kaiser Bill thought the British would stay out of it somehow. He also thought that everyone would stay out of it when he urged Austria to invade Serbia in 1914. The British wouldn’t have stood by while to allow the Germans to build a powerful base to the west. They’d have been in it, on the US side, within days. It’s plausible that troops could be landed as bait for the American Navy, so the US forces could be detroyed in detail if they arrived on the scene piecemeal. But it’s impossible to believe that they could have held over, say, the winter, and survived an assault in the spring. So you’d need to plan on them being there a couple of months max, but better yet a couple of weeks, and leave the US Pacific Fleet for another time. But as I read the OP link, the plan didn’t go that way. Cape Cod was to be a “bridgehead” for further (presumably naval) assaults against US coastal cities. The implication to me is that they invisioned it as a defensible long-term base of operations, not merely a target to be destroyed and abandoned. NO ONE winters on the cape! 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/german-invasion-of-the-u-s/107932.md?page=1)