Did Hitler ever plan an amphibious attack on Britain?

Answer 1

Yes the Battle of Britain was the first part of his planed invasion of the United Kingdom. His navy was not going to travel across the English Channel without having control of the skies. Germany plan know as Sea lion will first take the RAF out of the sky and then the Navy will transport the Army to England. The only reason the Invasion never happen was that the Luftwaffe failed to take the skies and Goring could never keep to ONE TARGET.

Answer 2

Although Operation Sealion was planned by Hitler there is debate about how serious he was about invading Britain, as it is clear after the French defeat he had already decided to invade the USSR. After the fall of France Hitler fully expected Britian to come to terms, and was surprised and frustrated that Britain refused to surrender. He asked about the possiblity of invading Britain and was told that air superoity was essential due to the strength of the Royal Navy, which led to the Battle of Britain. Even if the Luftwaffe was succesful there are doubts about the crafts that were going to be used for the invasion could cope with the currents presented by the Channel as the craft intended to be used were not designed for use on the sea and only had a maximum speed of five knots. The Kriegsmarine(German Navy) were extremley sceptical about any success of an invasion and they felt the landing craft would be sitting ducks for the Royal Navy, as they could still suffer massive losses and prevent any landings taking place. Although fully planned the German Staff felt that Hitler's plan to invade Britain was half-hearted, and he had convinced himself that Britain was already defeated and he started to look East and began to plan his invasion of the Soviet Union. With the defeat of the Luftwaffe though any realistic plans of invading Britian were prevented. He kept Operation Sealion active though, just to keep the British on their toes, but by the time America had joined the war, he had decided not to invade.

Answer 3

Yes. It was known as Operation Sealion. It called for the amphibious assault (like D-Day) on the southern coasts of Britian. Massive numbers of German soldiers and tanks would have landed on the beach to fight and take London.

But the whole operation failed because one of the prerequisite's for the invasion was the destruction of the British Royal Air Force. Afterall, you don't want enemy planes bombing your soldiers as they land on the beach, right? lol!

But the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) FAILED to break the back of the RAF. And so, Hitler gave up on invading Britain and instead invaded the Soviet Union in the massive Operation Barbarossa.

If you want more information just visit the sites below:
Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sealion
Great map of invasion plans:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Operazione-leone-marino.PNG

Hope that helped!

Answer 4

Nicnac is correct.

Its prelude was the massive air attack that the Britains successfully fought off, and without air superiority, Hitler gave up on the idea and switched to rocket bombing the British instead.

Answer 5

Operation Sea Lion:

Following swift victory in the Battle of France, Germany believed the war in the west was won. However, the United Kingdom refused peace talks. As a result, more direct measures to break British resistance were considered.

Großadmiral Erich Raeder of the Kriegsmarine oversaw numerous studies for a German naval assault across the English Channel. The earliest of these, made around November 1939, identified the conditions for invasion:

The Royal Navy must be eliminated or unable to intervene.
Royal Air Force air strength must be eliminated.
Coastal defences must be destroyed.
British submarine action against landing forces must be prevented.
The Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) originally planned an invasion on a vast scale, extending along most of the English Channel, from Dorset to Kent. Final plans were more modest, calling for nine divisions to land by sea with around 67,000 men in the first echelon and an airborne division to support them.[1] The chosen invasion sites ran from Rottingdean in the west to Hythe in the east.

The battle plan called for German forces to be launched from Cherbourg to Lyme Regis, Le Havre to Ventnor and Brighton, Boulogne to Eastbourne, Calais to Folkestone, and Dunkirk and Ostend to Ramsgate. German paratroopers would land near Brighton and Dover. Once the coastline was secured, they would push north, taking Gloucester and encircling London.[2] German forces would secure England up to the 52nd parallel, anticipating that the rest of the United Kingdom would then surrender.

Hitler's initial warning order of 16 July 1940 reflected the most current thinking, and set out the revised minimum pre-conditions. He prefaced his order by stating:

"I have decided to prepare a landing operation against England, and if necessary to carry it out".[3]
Hitler's conditions for invasion were:

The RAF was to be "beaten down in its morale and in fact, that it can no longer display any appreciable aggressive force in opposition to the German crossing".
The English Channel was to be swept of British mines at the crossing points and the Straits of Dover must be blocked at both ends by German mines.
The coastal zone between occupied France and England must be dominated by heavy artillery.
The Royal Navy must be sufficiently engaged in the North Sea and the Mediterranean so that it could not intervene in the crossing. English home squadrons must be damaged or destroyed by air and torpedo attacks.
This placed responsibility for Sealion's success on the shoulders of OKM Großadmiral Erich Raeder and Oberkommando der Luftwaffe (OKL) Reichsmarschall Herman Göring. The plan was put on hold when Goring convinced Hitler the Luftwaffe could defeat Britian via bombing.

Answer 6

Yes. Operation Sealion was quite extensive to the tune of requisitioning thousands of civilian vessels to ferry assault troops to the beaches while bombers carried out missions further inland.

Answer 7

Yes. It was called off when Goering bragged he could bomb them into submission and end the war. I think the opperation was call "Sea Lion"

Answer 8

Yes he thought he would conquer the world

Answer 9

it was Operation Sealion

Answer 10

of course he did. he just didn't have the chance to carry it out.he had plans to conquer the world.