"Steven Vincent" wrote in message
...

If Hitler had understood that Britain would not Sue for peace in time
for him to make an assault on the SU as he was already planning then
there was only one option that actually could have done the job.

How about a German Invasion of Eire ? With enough strength maintained
in the French CHannel ports the RN would not have been able to maintain
a close blockade of the Irish ports or the Brittany coast anymore than
it was able to stop reinforcements to Norway. An Air landing / covert
sea operation into the SW or Eire would have been able to establish a
strong air head at least. If Germany can push the British out of
Ireland then they can enforce a close blockade of the rest of the UK and
starve Britain into submission. Meanwhile Britain can't afford to
direct a lot of resources away from the SE to Eire because of the
presence of significant German forces building there.

Note that the Iris Forces at that time would have been totally
ineffective while anti- british feelings would probably mean that
Britain would have had to carry out a counter invasion against an at
least partially hostile population - not a nice thought.

WOuld an unprovoked German invasion of Eire trigger a response from the
US strong enough and quick enough to make a difference ? Given the US
Isolationism and concerns in the Far East I doubt it. Once the UK has
surrendered Germany can withdraw from Eire in response to US political
pressure and both the US and Germany would have understood that.


Trouble is that the UK maintained considerable forces in Ulster
and the Germans would have to move a considerable force
in to Ireland to hold the country.

By July 1940 British forces tasked with 'assisting' the Irish Army
in the event of invasion included

53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division
601st Infantry Division
148 Infantry Brigade
plus several locally raised regiments such as the
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Royal Irish Rangers,
The Royal Irish Fusiliers, The Royal Ulster Rifles etc

The RAF maintained half a dozen fighter squadrons
in the province and a similar number of coastal command
units

Coastal command were flying recon patrols over the Bay of
Biscay and western approaches it seems probable
that an invasion force large enough to be useful would be
intercepted.


End result would probably be a United Ireland which quiet a few of the
US Irish lobby would be strongly in favour of :-

So can Germany get a large enough force into Southern Eire quickly
enough while maintaining the Barge threat to the SW at a high enough
level that the UK can't commit enough forces to prevent the occupation
of Eire ?


No. Germany was scraping the bottom of the barrel to
get enough transports to cross the English Channel, moving a
substantial force across the Bay of Biscay was just
not feasible.

Sea lion as the fake in the same way that the Allies convinced Hitler
that the invasion of Europe would occur in the Pas du Calais :-


Which wont work unless the threat is credible. The real worry came
from the possibility that the Irish might choose to become
allied with Germany and invite them in. This was one of the
scenarios that gave British planners sleepless nights

Keith

Keith