In May 1940 Nazi Germany was master of continental Europe, the only European power still standing was Great Britain - and the all-conquering German armed forces stood poised to cross the Channel. Following the destruction of the RAF fighter forces, the sweeping of the Channel of mines, and the wearing down of the Royal Naval defenders, two German army groups were set to storm the beaches of southern England. Despite near-constant British fears from August to October, the invasion never took place after first being postponed to spring 1941 before finally being abandoned entirely. Robert Forcyzk, author of Where the Iron Crosses Grow, looks beyond the traditional British account of Operation Sea Lion, complete with plucky Home Guards and courageous Spitfire pilots, at the real scale of German ambition, plans and capabilities. He examines, in depth, how Operation Sea Lion fitted in with German air-sea actions around the British Isles as he shows exactly what stopped Hitler from invading Britain.

Author Biography

Robert Forczyk has a PhD in International Relations and National Security from the University of Maryland and is a specialist in European and Asian military history. He retired as a lieutenant colonel from the US Army Reserves having served 20 years as an armour officer in the US 2nd and 4th Infantry Divisions and as an intelligence officer in the 29th Infantry Division (Light). He is the author of 26 other books, ranging from warfare in the French Revolutionary period to the Second World War. He regularly uses the captured German records at the National Archives and Research Administration (NARA) in Maryland to seek new insights into German operations in the Second World War, including Operation Sea Lion.