Product Description

What stopped Hitler in 1940 - why did he not attempt to invade Britain? In this fresh look, Derek Robinson argues that the Battle of Britain alone could not have been why Operation Sealion, the planned German invasion, was scrapped. The real reason was a force that both Churchill and Hitler failed to acknowledge: the Royal Navy. Whilst never downplaying the skill and courage of the pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain, Robinson challenges a verdict that has been in place for 50 years, and makes us question our acceptance of the old story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #201820 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

The Leicester Mercury, November 8, 2005
"A challenging, provoking revisionist history"

Scottish Legion News, November/December 2005
"The author is in possession of countless eye-opening background facts...He writes like a dream, too"

About the Author
David Robinson is best known for his novels about the Royal Flying Corps and the RAF, but 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 Goshawk Squadron, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.)

Customer Reviews

Mything the Point
The attempt to dispel the `myth of the few' represents a good read, and a good example of not letting contradictory evidence get in the way of a good story.

I do not doubt that should an Invasion have taken place the Royal Navy would have steamed into action and caused alarm and a degree of carnage to the German Invasion fleet.

However the impact of the Luftwaffe on an attempt by the navy to intervene is hardly dealt with.
The evidence which suggests the problems a naval intervention would have faced is hardly touched upon

The Navy had felt the force of the Luftwaffe in the Norwegian campaign, and naval action had been limited by the threat from the skies.

The Royal Navy destroyer force had suffered at the hands of the Luftwaffe during the Dunkirk operation.

Following the fall of the Northern Coast of France many naval assets had been withdrawn from the vicinity of the channel due to the threat of German air power.

The channel was virtually closed to Allied shipping in the prelude to the Battle of Britain, because of German air power

And Finally Force Z. The battleship 'Prince of Wales' * The battle cruiser 'Repulse' were destroyed by Japanese Air Power off Malaya in 1941 when they attempted to intervene in an invasion while lacking air cover.

Key points
Although I enjoyed the read and Derek Robinson seems to be well versed in the RAF's role and performance in the Battle of Britain, I finished the book feeling a bit flat.
I felt that the book was too lightweight and lacked depth.
An example of this is that the author fails to address the major question that comes up time and again when the possibility of Invasion in 1940 is mulled over.

That question is that, bearing in mind that he is of the opinion that the RAF's victory, although heroic, is overstated in the history books, what would have happened if Britain had lost the air battle?
Also, what were the RAF's plans if they had lost local air superiority over the South East of England at this critical time which is a key to understanding the british planning.

He also fails to emphysise that the main role of fighter command in the
event of sealion being launched would be to support the Royal Navy and NOT to attack the invasion force directly as he implies which raises the question of how the Navy would have faired without air cover which again is not really covered.

These key emmisions mean that an opportunity to realy nail this subject from an 'Air war' prostective has, in my humble opinion, been missed.

"Never in the field of human conflict"? - not quite
The prevailing view of history, largely based on propaganda from the Churchill government of the time, is that plucky little Britain was only saved from the clutches of Naziism by the valiant, outnumbered, RAF (with assorted other nationalities thrown in).

Rubbish.

Derek Robinson's revisionist history of the invasion scare opens up other areas of investigation, such as the power of the Royal Navy - dwarfing any possible German attack - and the ineptitude of the German running of the war in 1940. While never denigrating the memory of the RAF pilots, he shows very well that had the RAF been wiped from the air in the South East of England in 1940, any invasion fleet would have either been utterly annihilated in the channel or would have landed so few troops that the British Army, despite its desparate shortages, would have been able to contain and destroy them at leisure.

Telling people that there was no threat would not have galvanised the country, so it's entirely understandable that the story of "The Few" became the accepted view for many years.

Robinson is not the first to come up with this alternative point of view, but possibly more well known than others. He also goes slightly overboard with the sarcasm at times for my liking - it is a non-fiction book after all - but is worth 4 stars as an eye opener; an informative and entertaining read.