Operation Sealion [Unternehmen Seelöwe] being the German plan to invade Britain in World War II, in the event it was never attempted.
Was there ever a similar plan or talk of it in World War I, a German invasion of the British mainland? Was there any chance the territorials would be used for their intended purpose?
With the British navy so dominant over the German High Seas Fleet for most of the war, an invasion attempt would’ve been suicidal (not to mention the lack of decent landing craft).
On the other hand, a half-serious British plan to land troops in Germany would have failed due to being crushed by superior weight of German forces.
They controlled a fairly decent chunk of the Belgian coast, including the port of Antwerp.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some sort of plan on file. The German military establishment loved making war plans. They even had one for [invading the United States](invading the United States) before the war. But like Jackmannii said the naval deadlock would need to be broken first and it seems unlikely that would have come out in Germany’s favor.
The German navy did well tactically, but the battle merely served to reinforce the fact of British control of the North Sea. The Germans needed to gain a clear and crushing superiority over the British Navy to make a landing a serious possibility. That they never did - and in fact, the German navy never risked large-scale battle again.
Without control of the sea, a landing just isn’t possible.
The Spanish Armada actually had a lot of trouble dealing with these realities - they were supposed to ‘pick up’ troops from the Spanish army in the Netherlands, but the Dutch “sea beggars” (basically, the Dutch inshore navy) threatened the small boats that were supposed to ferry the Spanish soldiers over to the (deep water) Spanish navy - and the Spanish had nothing of shallow draft to defend them with.
The Spanish general in the Netherlands kept pointing this flaw in the plan out, but the Spanish king simply ignored him. As a result, the Spanish general simply refused to make the attempt. The Armada pulled in to the rendevoux point, no-one was there, and they got attacked by English fire-ships … but even if the English navy had not existed, the Spanish simply had no way to load their troops, let alone un-load them.
William the Bastard was using what amounted to viking long-ships, so beaching was a breeze.
Just to add to the ‘No, they couldn’t possibly have done it’. Britain had broken the German naval codes and could pretty much decrypt them in real time.
That’s a generous description. I would have pointed out that the Germans fled at Jutland – twice. Although they inflicted more damage on the British than they suffered in return, they only avoided more serious loss by making a run for it, including ordering the sacrifice of the smaller ships in one of their escapes.
Only some sort of monumental error by the Royal Navy could have made it possible for the Germans to get troops ashore, and even then it would have been a one-time fluke; they would not have been able to resupply or reinforce them. And war plans that depend on the other side making a monumental error are dangerous fantasies.
Sea invasion is never easy, but usually you get low draft boats or make multiple trips with the ship’s boats.
The French Armada, some decades before the Spanish Armada, had very minor success at landing troops on the Isle of Wight. But were effectively beaten by local troops.
Germany, of course. It’s so obvious that we’d never expect the sneaky Hun to actually try it, which is precisely why they would!
Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it was such a non-starter the idea didn’t get as part as the planning stage like in the sequel, though Operation Sealion would never have worked if it were attempted either.