222: The Battle About Britain Pt. 6 - Wait, This is Going to be Complicated

History of the Second World War

Wesley Livesay

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.5 • 626 Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode delves into the high-stakes planning behind Operation Sea Lion, exploring how German military strategists grappled with the immense challenges of invading Britain in 1940. As the Luftwaffe battled for air superiority, the planners faced a critical dilemma: balancing the necessity of an invasion with the uncertain feasibility of achieving the required dominance over the Royal Air Force. Tensions mounted between the German Army and Navy staffs, who had to navigate logistical, tactical, and strategic uncertainties within a tight window of just a few months. With the fate of the invasion hinging on a single, precarious condition—air superiority—the episode reveals the complexity and risks of one of WWII’s most pivotal decisions. Contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to advertise on History of the Second World War. History of the Second World War is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:09.4	Hello, this is Matt from the Explorers podcast.
0:12.6	I want to invite you to join me on the voyages and journeys of the most famous explorers in the history of the world.
0:18.3	These are the thrilling and captivating stories of Vigllan, Shackleton, Lewis, and Clark,
0:23.0	and so many other famous, and not so famous, adventures from throughout history.
0:27.4	Go to Explorerspodcast.com or just look us up on your podcast app.
0:31.6	That's the Explorers Podcast. Hello everyone and welcome to History of the Second World War, episode 222, The Battle About Britain Part 6.
0:51.2	Wait, this is going to be complicated.
0:53.8	This week, a big thank you goes out to
0:55.5	Ken, Andrew, Katie, and OofTacular for supporting the podcast by becoming members. Members get access
1:01.8	to ad-free versions of all of the podcast episodes, plus special member-only episodes released
1:06.7	roughly once a month. Head on over to History of the Second World War.com slash members to find out more. On July 2nd, 1940, the commander-in-chief of the German
1:17.2	armed forces, field-martial William Keitel, would issue a Supreme Command Directive,
1:22.8	titled Prosecution of the War Against England. With part of the introduction, stating, quote,
1:28.1	invasion of England is quite possible under certain circumstances, of which the most important
1:32.9	is the gaining of air superiority. For the present, therefore, the time at which it will take
1:37.6	place remains an open question. For the planning staffs that would actually be called upon
1:42.9	to plan the invasion,
1:48.3	those of the German army and navy, they would just have to assume that the air campaign would be successful, and then they could put their plans into place. This episode will look at
1:52.9	the actions of those planning staffs, as they tried to wrestle with the problem of reconciling
1:57.6	what was necessary for a successful invasion and what was actually possible.
2:03.0	All of those problems had to be solved between roughly the middle of July and the middle of August
	...

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