Answered / closed BoB1940: How strong was the British Army in the Folkestone area?

[kraut1]

I would like to know if the british Army were well prepared in the Folkestone area in ca. late September ... mid October 40?

 

I think in this time frame the german high command had already accepted, that a real invasion would never work.

 

But could a limited amphibious /airborne Raid have had some limited success just for 1 or 2days? Just for propaganda reasons. E.g. in the close Folkestone / Hawkinge area.

Or were the british defensives so strong, well prepared, that they would have defeated any german attacks immedeately?

 

I ask because because I think about to add such a short fictitious raid to my semi historic Luftwaffe40-45 campaign.

(Of course at the end the german troops would have to retreat or to surrender)

 

But only if it could have been possible under consideration of the historic situation.

 

Many thanks in advance!

 

Edited 16 hours ago by kraut1

[AndyJWest]

It would probably depend on the strength of German forces involved in the raid. At that point in the war, the British army's biggest problem was it's lack of weaponry after the Dunkirk disaster. Numbers were increasing rapidly (not just from Britain, but from the Commonwealth/Empire, and from troops from the occupied countries), but what would have been needed most (artillery etc) was in desperately short supply. They were certainly making preparations for invasion - see British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War on Wikipedia.

 

Having said that, the Germans weren't exactly prepared for a raid either. Their entire invasion planning was suspect, being based on using large numbers of river barges for the crossing. Much of it seemed to be wishful thinking. Defending the invasion forces would have required prior elimination of the RAF as an effective threat, and it would still been vulnerable to the Royal Navy. See Wikipedia's Operation Sea Lion article for background on this.

 

And frankly, a raid as you describe doesn't sound like something Hitler would do. He didn't need 'propaganda' raids, he'd just defeated France, and much of the world was expecting Britain to sue for peace. Why throw forces into something temporary? What was it supposed to achieve?

 

At a guess (too many variables to come up with anything better), I can only imagine such a raid ending with the Germans losing significant numbers to no purpose, even if they managed to get them ashore in the first place. The more they sent, the better their chances (for the raid, if not for the individual soldiers), but by that logic, they'd be better off going for a full-scale invasion anyway. 

Edited Sunday at 03:22 PM by AndyJWest

[kraut1]

18 hours ago, AndyJWest said:

It would probably depend on the strength of German forces involved in the raid. At that point in the war, the British army's biggest problem was it's lack of weaponry after the Dunkirk disaster. Numbers were increasing rapidly (not just from Britain, but from the Commonwealth/Empire, and from troops from the occupied countries), but what would have been needed most (artillery etc) was in desperately short supply. They were certainly making preparations for invasion - see British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War on Wikipedia.

 

Having said that, the Germans weren't exactly prepared for a raid either. Their entire invasion planning was suspect, being based on using large numbers of river barges for the crossing. Much of it seemed to be wishful thinking. Defending the invasion forces would have required prior elimination of the RAF as an effective threat, and it would still been vulnerable to the Royal Navy. See Wikipedia's Operation Sea Lion article for background on this.

 

And frankly, a raid as you describe doesn't sound like something Hitler would do. He didn't need 'propaganda' raids, he'd just defeated France, and much of the world was expecting Britain to sue for peace. Why throw forces into something temporary? What was it supposed to achieve?

 

At a guess (too many variables to come up with anything better), I can only imagine such a raid ending with the Germans losing significant numbers to no purpose, even if they managed to get them ashore in the first place. The more they sent, the better their chances (for the raid, if not for the individual soldiers), but by that logic, they'd be better off going for a full-scale invasion anyway. 

Hi AndyJWest,

Thank you very much for your very comprehensive answer and the link to "British anti invasion preparations".

 

After reading your answer and the mentioned historical source I came (like you) to the conclusion, that a limited Raid could have worked only for a very short time for the price of high losses and that there was in summer 40 after the victory in France no need for the Germans to conduct such a Raid just for propaganda reasons.

 

So I will not add such an event to my campaign.

 

But I found some other interesting facts about 1940 Royal Navy attacks  on French / Belgium ports that maybe could be used for mission design.

 

Thanks very much again for your support!

 

Best regards

Kraut1

Edited 14 hours ago by kraut1