Adolf Hitler was talked out of a plot to invade the Isle of Wight during WW2 – a move which could have crippled Britain
If successful, the operation would have provided his forces with a launch pad to bombard Britain
THE OUTCOME of World War II was drastically altered after Adolf Hitler was talked out of a plot to invade the Isle of Wight, a historian claims.
Analysis of German military records reveal that Hitler was the first to suggest the plan, which could have provided his forces with a launch pad to bombard Britain.
Military historian Dr Robert Forczyk believes the British would have struggled to defend the island and would not have had the resources available to take it back.
This would have given the Germans a base just four miles from shore as well as access to vital civilian airfields, giving a greater possibility of success for their plan to invade the mainland, known as Operation Sea Lion.
Hitler was talked out of the plan to invade the mainland by his naval commanders, who feared the might of British submarines and overestimated the number of British soldiers.
However, a smaller invasion of the Isle of Wight following the Luftwaffe’s defeat in the Battle of Britain was not ruled out.
And in Dr Forczyk’s new book, We March Against England, he claims this could have been a successful “tactical surprise”.
He said: “Holding the Isle of Wight offered considerable advantages that could have increased the feasibility of Operation Sea Lion.
“First, German artillery deployed on the north side of the Isle of Wight could shell the mainland across the Solent and force the Royal Navy to withdraw its cruiser-destroyer forces from the naval base at Portsmouth.
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“Second, capture of the island would provide the Luftwaffe with four civilian airfields that were much closer to England, thereby alleviating the problems caused by the limited range of the Bf-109 fighter and providing an emergency landing site for damaged aircraft.”
And Dr Forczyk said it was Hitler who personally suggested the Isle of Wight as a target.
He said: “Throughout the planning process we know Hitler kept bringing up the idea and it was incorporated into the Fuhrer Directive No. 16.
“He later said it was a mistake to let his Navy talk him out of the plan.”
Dr Forczyk said the Germans could have had up to 4,000 troops on the island within two days and it is likely, with military commitments elsewhere, that recapturing it would not have been a priority for the British.
He added: “If the operation failed, it could be described as only a raid, not an invasion. If the coup de main succeeded, it would have both propaganda and tactical value for continuing the battle against Britain in 1941.”
Field Marshall Alan Brooke, he said, expressed concerns about the possibility of the Germans invading in his diary and doubts over the capability of his forces to resist.
He added: “In London, Brooke would likely regard the Isle of Wight landing as a diversion and be opposed to committing too many forces onto the island.
“Over the course of several weeks, the British would retreat into the western end of the island while the Germans would content themselves with capturing the port of Cowes in the north.
“In time, the Germans might take the rest of the Isle of Wight by the end of 1940 or simply hold the eastern end of the island as a bargaining chip.
“In any event, the prevailing military factors suggest that the Germans had the capability to seize at least the eastern half of the Isle of Wight in 1940 and there was very little that the British could do to stop this.”