# German WWII plan to invade Britain revealed in MI5 file



## jasion (Aug 26, 2010)

*German WWII plan to invade Britain revealed in MI5 file*

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11082316

German shock troops would have landed at Dover, dressed in British uniforms, if the Luftwaffe had won the Battle of Britain, newly-released files suggest.

Details of the plan to invade Britain emerge from a post-war debrief of a German soldier and are in an MI5 file made public at the National Archives.

Cpl Werner Janowski was interrogated about his wartime work for the German Intelligence Service, the Abwehr.

The plan was abandoned because invading troops would have faced RAF attack.

Dover was to be the focal point of the invasion, but troops would have landed elsewhere along the south coast, as well as in Scotland and the south of Ireland.

Dr Ed Hampshire, principal records specialist at the National Archives, said: "The idea of shock troops wearing enemy uniforms, as they had in the Low Countries, is fascinating. It's really The Eagle Has Landed stuff."

"It gives an indication of what might have happened if the Battle of Britain had gone the other way," he said.

After the shock troops had captured the docks at Dover, the plan was for the main contingent of German troops to be brought over in barges and disembark at the docks.

Cpl Janowski described how his unit trained extensively in invasion techniques on the beaches of France during September and early October 1940.

But at the end of October some units were transferred elsewhere and they realised the invasion - Operation Sea Lion - had been called off.

Hitler cancelled the invasion because Hermann Goering's Luftwaffe had been unable to destroy the RAF and without air superiority the German troops would have been too vulnerable.

Cpl Janowski said the RAF destroyed most of the invasion barges at Dunkirk in bombing raids in December 1940.
Strategy detail

The plan involved a huge aerial bombardment of the Dover area prior to the shock troops' landing, he explained.

Cpl Janowski then went into great detail about the route they would have taken to try to and secure the town: "Having effected a landing they would proceed along the cliffs to a point outside Dover where there were steps leading down to the beach and from this point they were to continue along the beach.

"They would regain the cliff head by means of some steps near Dover station and then pass alongside the railway station and take possession of three docks on which were gun emplacements.

"They would then signal to Luftwaffe that the docks were in their possession."

By the time Cpl Janowski was being interrogated, the war was already over and MI5's focus was on another enemy - the Soviet Union.

Cpl Janowski had been employed later in the war by the Jahnke Buro, a section of the Abwehr which it was feared had been infiltrated by Soviet agents.

MI5 feared some German agents, like Janowski's superior Wilhelm Hollmann, might go to work for the KGB.

Cool files. Realy this looks lik in this book and movie. Any chance for digital version fo this files? If someone have link plz send me message:)


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## AWP (Aug 26, 2010)

The German "plans" to invade England were kind of stillborn. I know that some people take issue with Hart's _The German Generals Talk_, but the book made a few interesting points: the "barges" mentioned above were but a fraction of the overall number planned for the invasion; many were still plying their trade on inland water routes and never mobilized and those interviewed claim that Hitler had no intention of invading England. On one hand I find that hard to believe, but on another....Hitler was insane and he clearly had England on the ropes and let her go to focus on the Soviets. He was also one of those guys who latched onto an idea and didn't let it go. One would think if he were serious about invading England that the Germans would put more effort into it.

After Dunkirk the English were destitute in equipment and while it wouldn't be a sure thing that represented the best time to go after the islands. I wonder of the planning for the invasion was done by the German military and Hitler let them talk about it to mollify the high command; he already had his eye on Stalin and wasn't going to allow anything to detract from that. After the war the survivors can say, "Hitler made me do it." because who'll be around to change the story?


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## Chopstick (Aug 26, 2010)

You knew this was coming.  See it before its gone!


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## SpitfireV (Aug 26, 2010)

Freefalling said:


> The German "plans" to invade England were kind of stillborn. I know that some people take issue with Hart's _The German Generals Talk_, but the book made a few interesting points: the "barges" mentioned above were but a fraction of the overall number planned for the invasion; many were still plying their trade on inland water routes and never mobilized and those interviewed claim that Hitler had no intention of invading England. On one hand I find that hard to believe, but on another....Hitler was insane and he clearly had England on the ropes and let her go to focus on the Soviets. He was also one of those guys who latched onto an idea and didn't let it go. One would think if he were serious about invading England that the Germans would put more effort into it.
> 
> After Dunkirk the English were destitute in equipment and while it wouldn't be a sure thing that represented the best time to go after the islands. I wonder of the planning for the invasion was done by the German military and Hitler let them talk about it to mollify the high command; he already had his eye on Stalin and wasn't going to allow anything to detract from that. After the war the survivors can say, "Hitler made me do it." because who'll be around to change the story?


 
I don't entirely agree. While Hitler would have had one eye on Stalin at the time the main focus was surely the UK. Hitler would have preferred peace with the British though, he'd said that himself. Could have had that too if they hadn't switched their bombing campaign from the RAF airfields to London and the civilians. If they'd got this, who knows? Perhaps they would have launched an invasion, or attempted to.


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## AWP (Aug 26, 2010)

SpitfireV said:


> I don't entirely agree. While Hitler would have had one eye on Stalin at the time the main focus was surely the UK. Hitler would have preferred peace with the British though, he'd said that himself. Could have had that too if they hadn't switched their bombing campaign from the RAF airfields to London and the civilians. If they'd got this, who knows? Perhaps they would have launched an invasion, or attempted to.



You think Churchill and Hitler would have found peace if the Nazis kept bombing airfields instead of cities?


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## SpitfireV (Aug 26, 2010)

Yes. At least initially. Churchill was a wily sort and I doubt he would have stood for it for too long. 

Bomb the RAF= no air cover= free to bomb the factories. Combine that with the German navy enforcing a blockade of the Isles and they would have little choice but to capitulate.


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