← Back to the front page

40 Fascinating But Lesser Known Facts About WWII

Khalid Elhassan January 5, 2019 25 min

World War II - European theatre of World War II — Raising the Red Banner over the Reichstag. Anarkismo

35. Logistics Doomed Sea Lion to Failure Before It Began

The confidence of Churchill and British higher ups boiled down to one word: logistics. The Germans simply lacked the landing craft and shipping capacity to transport and supply an invasion force big and powerful enough to secure a beachhead, then go on to subdue Britain. The main reason why the D-Day landings took place in 1944, instead of in 1943 as American commanders had wanted, was the lack of sufficient landing craft in 1943. That problem was even worse for the Germans in 1940 – 1941.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.