Operation Sea Lion (German: Unternehmen Seelöwe) was Nazi Germany's plan to invade the United Kingdom during the Second World War following the Fall of France. To have had any chance of success, however, the operation would have required air and naval supremacy over the English Channel - neither of which the Germans ever had at any stage during the Battle of Britain. Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely on 17 September 1940 and never carried out.
Read more about Operation Sea Lion: Background, Navy, Broad Versus Narrow Front, German Coastal Guns, Cancellation, Chances of Success, In Fiction
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