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The Nazi Scheme to Bombard New York City With Rockets and Other Unfinished Military Plans

Khalid Elhassan January 16, 2020 32 min

South Vietnam - United States — American troops in South Vietnam. USA Today

31. Controlling the English Channel

Inspecting the troops of the Army of England in 1804. Wikimedia

Across the narrow waters separating it from its target, Napoleon drilled, trained, and the Army of England to a fine edge. In the meantime, his admirals tried to figure out how to seize temporary control over the English Channel to secure a safe crossing. The Franco-Spanish navy was divided into two main contingents, penned in and blockaded by two powerful Royal Navy fleets in Toulon and Brest. A third British fleet guarded the English Channel.

The Royal Navy’s confidence was such that the First Lord of the Admiralty commented in response to invasion fears that: “I do not say they cannot come – I say they cannot come by sea“. Napoleon’s admirals had to break out of their blockade in Toulon and Brest, and combine the newly freed fleets. Then they had to defeat the British Channel fleet, or at least keep it away from a stretch of the English Channel long enough for the invasion force to cross the waters to England.

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.