the comeback of german militarism

[AtW]

I think that that the morale of the BEF was not high.

Morale was definately bad - they experienced blitzkrieg first hand, and after positional fights of WW I it was certainly shocking.

Germans did not expect such success too however - they did not even have prepared plan of assault on Britain in case they win so conclusively on the continent, and after that it was too late really - I am inclined to think that Stalin would have certainly attacked Germany and whole Europe in 1942, if not in mid 1941.

[mcquiggd]

Bearing in mind that the Royal Navy would, based on past history, have probably attempted even suicidal attacks against minefields, aircraft etc just to get into the thin corridor that was the proposed supply chain for 'Sea Lion', and once there, would have wreaked havoc, I don't really think the Germans would have been able to win. Look at the efforts to save Malta and North Africa - Operation Pedastal, for instance, to keep Malta as a base. Imagine the effort that would have been expended to protect Britain itself.

http://www.usmm.org/malta.html

No chance for the Germans - unless, the resources built up for Barbarossa had been diverted west. The two operations were laregly planned simultaneously, and we did not face the 'full might' of the German military potential during that time. But, the casualties suffered by the German armed forces - of all arms - would have been too heavy to bear when one considers their ultimate strategic goal, and the inevitable confrontation with Russia.

[AtW]

I assume U-boats would not be effective in the English channel due to very low depth of it? I'd agree that in case of landing British navy would do everything to take the channel and prevent transports from ferrying over troops.

But then again you need air superiority before attempting landing and even though war in the air started pretty quickly after Dunkirk it was not successful: no wonder as Luftwaffe really only had tactical capability as opposed to heavy B-17 stategic bombers that later pounded them.

[TheMonkey]

By the way, for a light hearted view of wartime technology - take a peek at this (book):

http://www.somethingawful.com/booklist/

Apparently it is described as ideal for:

* People who like tanks
* People who like airplanes
* People who like Hitler
* No, not that sort of people who like Hitler
* Single moms
* Single dads
* Single Hitlers

...

Nevertheless, it looks amusing and I'm going to bed - that's 6 cans of Strongbow tonight - stagger, burp etc.

[BoredBloke]

"Operation Sea Lion required achieving air superiority, in which case Stukas would have provided good enough cover, not sure British Navy could have possible being defeated, but if Luftwaffe achieved air superiority then I suppose they could have kept Navy away from transports."

Have you seen what they were going to use to transport their troops? On the Hitler channel a while back they were talking to German soldiers (like they do every week!) and looked at how they intended to move the troops to the UK. They were proposing to use heavy barges, many without power and which were to be pushed by other barges. They were painfully slow and unstable, especially in the sea where the waves live! Even the German soldiers said it would have been suicide. They would have had to land these slow flat bottomed barges onto fortified coastlines where they would be sitting ducks. Air cover or not, they would have not made it.

The proposed German invasion was totally different to the D-Day landings becuase
1 - They landed fast
2 - They tricked the Germans into thinking they were landing somewhere else
3 - They brought with them means of supplying the troops fast - the floating docks
4 - They had total air cover - but even with this there were still heavy troop losses.

[sappatz]

invasion

speaking of the german planned invasion :

- The RAF was apparently very successful at destroying the invasion barges in northern France (all resources were diverted towards that goal)

- Also, the british fortifications and defense (general ironside was in charge of home defense at the time) were quite elaborated with large hidden bunkers, pipelines with flaming oil along the British southern coast

[AtW]

Chances of Sea Lion were severly cut when BEF managed to get evacuated, although it lost all heavy weapons - after that it was certainly a big gamble, though it really had to be taken.

RAF has certainly done an excellent job - when I re-play Panzer General 2 I do not attack RAF fighters before hitting them with Flak guns first

[Lucifer Box]

RAF has certainly done an excellent job - when I re-play Panzer General 2 I do not attack RAF fighters before hitting them with Flak guns first

Amateurs' game. Real men play Steel Panthers: World at War.

[AtW]

Ah, it is also done by SSI - pity that company gone into the sunset

They sure made mistake in name though - it should be Panzers (tanks) rather than Panthers (cats or Pz V Panthers).

Looks like it's free - http://www.gamershell.com/news/30309.html

Graphics looks dated, is it well balanced?

[Lucifer Box]

Ah, it is also done by SSI - pity that company gone into the sunset

They sure made mistake in name though - it should be Panzers (tanks) rather than Panthers (cats or Pz V Panthers).

Looks like it's free - http://www.gamershell.com/news/30309.html

Graphics looks dated, is it well balanced?

It is the best tactical level WWII (strictly 1935 - 1955 odd) game bar none. It is called Steel Panthers for reasons lost in the mists of time. It is actively supported by Matrix Games who acquired the SSI portfolio and, yes, it is free.

Graphics are good enough (after all, it's the gameplay that counts) and the balance is spot on, much more so than in Panzer General 2.

For the strategic view, real men play Hearts of Iron 2