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HITLER’S GAMBLES
In his article on invasion scares (MHM December 2023/January 2024), David Porter asks whether hindsight has distorted our view of Operation Sea Lion, the proposed Nazi attack on Britain. Most orthodox historians tend to consider it as impractical. But I agree that Germany’s invasion plans are dismissed too easily.
Certainly, it is possible to argue that the German armed forces were not designed with amphibious landings in mind. The army/navy had no landing craft; the Luftwaffe was a tactical air force intended to support army operations, not conduct an independent strategic campaign; and the Kriegsmarine was relatively small compared to the Royal Navy. Furthermore, Germany was not yet on a total war footing and was employing its Blitzkrieg doctrine. It took the Allies a year to prepare for Operation Overlord, after all.
However, Hitler was a gambler. He gambled that Britain and France would do nothing if he invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland. He gambled on the invasion plan for France, which succeeded despite the French army (which was lauded by Churchill) possessing more tanks than Germany. It is conceivable that an attack on Britain could have succeeded.
The threat of invasion was all too real at the time. Ultimately, Hitler gambled on the success of Operation Barbarossa, the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, as a way of knocking Britain out of the war by removing her last potential ally on the Continent, rather than on Sea Lion
Simon Davidson, London
POIGNANT FILM
Thanks to Taylor Downing for his review of The Great Escaper (MHM December 2023/January 2024), which I saw recently and very much enjoyed. It was especially poignant given that it was the last film to star the late Glenda Jackson, and probably Michael Caine’s final big-screen appearance as well.
However, if we are being grammatically correct, should the film not have been called The Great Escapee? I admit this is not quite as memorable.
Stuart Green, via email
SIMPLY NELSON
As a retired Medical Services Officer, I have recently become fascinated by military history and your magazine gives me a lot of enjoyment. For instance, I was fascinated by your article on Admiral Nelson (MHM August/September 2023) and his ‘other great victory’ at Aboukir Bay in August 1798.
However, I noticed that nowhere in the magazine was his first name mentioned. Not by the editor or by the author of the article, who wrote an otherwise very informative piece.
Even on the back-cover advertisement for toy soldiers, along with figurines of ‘Prime Minister Winston Churchill’ and ‘Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery’, the victor of Trafalgar is referred to simply as ‘Admiral Nelson’. I wonder why this is the case?
Daniel J Biron Major, US Army (ret’d)
BOMBS AWAY
Taylor Downing’s review of the new film The Great Escaper (MHM December 2023/January 2024) caught my eye. There is a small problem with it, though.
In one sentence, Downing writes that, on the main character Bernie’s trip to the Continent, he is befriended by another veteran, Arthur, ‘an ex-RAF Halifax bomber’. As far as I’m concerned, there’s never been a human being who looked like a four-engine aircraft!
Perhaps it should say ‘an ex-RAF pilot’, ‘navigator’, ‘bomb aimer’ or ‘gunner’? Otherwise, the issue is very good indeed. Keep up the good work.
Andrew Height, via email
EL BODÓN
I enjoyed the most interesting coverage of the deception tactics employed during the Desert War of 1942 in one of your recent issues (MHM October/November 2023). Also of interest was the article by Graham Goodlad on the Peninsular War and the exploits of Wellington.
I would emphasise, however, the importance of the Battle of El Bodón, fought on 25 September 1811, which received little mention. It was a major battle in its own right, fought just outside Ciudad Rodrigo, although it shouldn’t be confused with the capture of that city early the following year.
An ancestor of mine, Charles King of the 16th Light Dragoons, lost his arm at El Bodón, but survived to fight again at Waterloo and retire as a colonel.
Michael Barnstony, Chester
Please note: letters may be edited for length; views expressed here are those of our readers, and do not necessarily reflect those of the magazine.
