In July 1940 Britain faced the very real possibility of being invaded by Germany. Hitler’s war machine had subjugated the Continent in six weeks and ‘Engeland’ was next on the list.

The German Navy had been working on the logistics for a seaborne invasion of England since the autumn of 1939, just in case it was sprung on them at short notice some-time in the future. In July 1940 the operation was given the code-name ‘Seelöwe’ (Sealion) which was to be mounted from French, Belgian and Dutch ports on the Channel coast. However, arguments between the German Army, Navy and Air Force took weeks to resolve, yet in the end it was the failure of Hermann Göring’s Luftwaffe to achieve air supremacy over the Royal Air Force that prevented the invasion becoming a reality.

In this book we recount the story right from the beginning, covering all the significant events in the months from August 1939, through the build-up in the summer months, to October 1940 when Hitler accepted that orders must be given to postpone ‘Seelöwe’.