  operation sea lion () was nazi germany's plan to invade the united kingdom during the second world war, following the fall of france. for any likelihood of success, however, the operation required both air and naval superiority over the english channel, neither of which the germans ever achieved during or after the battle of britain. sea lion was postponed indefinitely on 17 september 1940 and never carried out.david shears, "hitlerâs d-day", mhq, vol. 6 number 4 (summer 1994) ==background== adolf hitler had decided by early november 1939 on forcing an end to the war by invading france. in order to avoid the heavily-defended maginot line the germans had to invade belgium, the netherlands and luxembourg in order to invade france. with the prospect of the channel ports falling under kriegsmarine (the german navy) control, and attempting to anticipate the obvious next step that might entail, grand admiral (groÃadmiral) erich raeder (head of the kriegsmarine) instructed his operations officer, kapitÃ¤n hans jÃ¼rgen reinicke, to draw up a document examining "the possibility of troop landings in england should the future progress of the war make the problem arise." reinicke spent five days on this study and set forth the following prerequisites:ansel, p.43 * elimination or sealing off of royal navy forces from the landing and approach areas. * elimination of the royal air force (raf). * destruction of all royal navy units in the coastal zone. * prevention of british submarine action against the landing fleet. in december 1939, the german army issued its own study paper (designated nordwest) and solicited opinions and input from both
Cancelled_invasions Cancelled_military_operations_involving_Germany Cancelled_military_operations_of_World_War_II Invasions_by_Germany Invasions_of_England Western_European_theatre_of_World_War_II