Invasion, 1940: The Truth About the Battle of Britain and What Stopped Hitler - Hardcover

Robinson, Derek

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786716185 ISBN 13: 9780786716180

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2005

Synopsis

The Battle of Britain could not stop Operation Sealion, the planned German invasion. The historians got it wrong. This is a big claim to make, yet the reasoning behind it is remarkably straightforward. In Invasion 1940, author Derek Robinson asks why historians have dovetailed the Battle of Britain with Operation Sealion. Military experts say the Battle prevented an invasion, but they don't exactly explain how. Why is it taken for granted that an air battle could halt an assault from the sea? The skill and courage of the RAF pilots isn't in question, but did the Luftwaffe's failure to destroy them, plus bad weather, really persuade Hitler to cancel Sealion? That's what Hitler said, and Churchill claimed a great victory for 'The Few'. The Battle of Britain ended; Sealion died. One followed the other, so the first must have caused the second. But Derek Robinson challenges that assumption and reaches a startling conclusion. The real obstacle to invasion was a force that both Churchill and Hitler failed to acknowledge. In this fascinating reexamination, Robinson doesn't seek to downplay the heroism and achievements of the RAF; rather, he wants the true picture of that brilliant moment in history—Invasion, 1940— to emerge.

About this title

About the Author:

David Robinson is best known for his novels about the Royal Flying Corps and the RAF, he read history at Cambridge and each of his works of fiction is written around a rigorously researched skeleton of fact. Reviewers have remarked on the 'authenticity' and 'unsparing accuracy' which provide 'a solid documentary underpinning' (of Squadron, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.) All of Robinson's novels contain a streak of black humour and a certain debunking of the myths of war, while seeking to convey the extraordinary courage and endurance of air crews. These elements are strong in Piece of Cake, the story of a Hurricane squadron in the Battle of Britain.

From Booklist:

Robinson's thesis is that the RAF didn't save Britain from invasion by defeating the Luftwaffe. The battle was at best a draw, and it was the advancing season and Hitler's eyes turning toward Russia that did the job. Robinson also seriously questions whether the Luftwaffe could ever have suppressed the Royal Navy sufficiently to prevent it from making effective night attacks on any invasion fleet and leaving the Germans to totter ashore in no fit state to deal with even a battered British army. Some may object that he overlooks the effect of German air superiority on the Battle of the Atlantic in British waters, yet he points out that Hitler and Goring^B were totally blind in the area of naval strategy and might not have been able to do anything with such superiority even had they gained it. A solid, well-informed, gentlemanly piece of myth busting and a useful, provocative addition to Battle of Britain literature by the author of one of the outstanding novels on the subject, Piece of Cake (1984). Roland Green
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About this edition

• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0786716185
• ISBN 13: 9780786716180
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320