If Germany had, instead of bombing England, focused entirely on prolonged attacking of shipping.

[RandomPoster]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

 

[harmonica]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

....the Luftwaffe did--especially in the North Sea and Mediterranean
1. they would've had to attack the shipping away from England meaning farther out to sea = now you are getting into fuel problems
AND, compass problems---navigating over ocean is not easy.....
2. attacking shipping takes much, much more skill than attacking airfields/cities--they were lucky to hit cities!!!!!
3. as with ALL these ''IF'' scenarios, it is much, much more complicated than what you post.....the Brits would react to it-[ adjust ] -just like they did to the V1s

 

[Bleipriester]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

The US military had a defense of the hemisphere plan that evolved as ww2 approached ...and then broke out ..

with a plan to retake The UK

interesting stuff

 

[harmonica]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

no, they would not have

 

[Bleipriester]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

no, they would not have

Yes, of course.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

As it was, the Brits just moved the Air Fields out of the range of the Luftwaffe but close enough for defense. The Luftwaffe could not HIT those airfields. And the P-40s from America were on the way that had the range to hit France from the protracted Air Fields. The best thing the Luftwaffe could have done was to not attack at all. They had Greater Europe and had the power to hold it. Think of all those losses. Had they still had those birds and resources, maybe Operation Barbarossa would have been better. And maybe the US would have stayed out of it openly. The Brits would have NEVER done the B-17 and B-24 daylight bombings. Only an American wold be that insane. So that is mistake #2, declaring war on the US. Germany could have had greater Europe all the way to the Urals. But no.......

 

[Bleipriester]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

As it was, the Brits just moved the Air Fields out of the range of the Luftwaffe but close enough for defense. The Luftwaffe could not HIT those airfields. And the P-40s from America were on the way that had the range to hit France from the protracted Air Fields. The best thing the Luftwaffe could have done was to not attack at all. They had Greater Europe and had the power to hold it. Think of all those losses. Had they still had those birds and resources, maybe Operation Barbarossa would have been better. And maybe the US would have stayed out of it openly. The Brits would have NEVER done the B-17 and B-24 daylight bombings. Only an American wold be that insane. So that is mistake #2, declaring war on the US. Germany could have had greater Europe all the way to the Urals. But no.......

The problem here is that the Brits declared war on Germany. Hitler was a big admirer of the Empire ("brought civilization to the world") and never would have attacked them for hegemony.
Almost all souhtern airfields were destroyed when the Luftwaffe began targeting London. Six weeks are enough to recover them. A planned invasion of the island was cancelled.
As for the war against the US, this sounds lunatic indeed but there are several factors that speak for it:

- US was already hunting German ships
- It would become impossible to keep the naval blockade up without targeting American forces
- The Japanese operations and strength promised to keep the Americans very busy
- Quick and absolute victory over France, the back then military No 1.

 

[Manonthestreet]

If you are going to start a world war best to have a better naval strategy than ones that lost the last one. Lone raiders and wolfpacks not suited to offensive global ops.

 

[harmonica]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

no, they would not have

Yes, of course.

sure, sure----OK....whatever you say..the Germans would've won
...now you can go back to playing your Axis and Allies and board games where the Germans win

 

[Daryl Hunt]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

As it was, the Brits just moved the Air Fields out of the range of the Luftwaffe but close enough for defense. The Luftwaffe could not HIT those airfields. And the P-40s from America were on the way that had the range to hit France from the protracted Air Fields. The best thing the Luftwaffe could have done was to not attack at all. They had Greater Europe and had the power to hold it. Think of all those losses. Had they still had those birds and resources, maybe Operation Barbarossa would have been better. And maybe the US would have stayed out of it openly. The Brits would have NEVER done the B-17 and B-24 daylight bombings. Only an American wold be that insane. So that is mistake #2, declaring war on the US. Germany could have had greater Europe all the way to the Urals. But no.......

The problem here is that the Brits declared war on Germany. Hitler was a big admirer of the Empire ("brought civilization to the world") and never would have attacked them for hegemony.
Almost all souhtern airfields were destroyed when the Luftwaffe began targeting London. Six weeks are enough to recover them. A planned invasion of the island was cancelled.
As for the war against the US, this sounds lunatic indeed but there are several factors that speak for it:

- US was already hunting German ships
- It would become impossible to keep the naval blockade up without targeting American forces
- The Japanese operations and strength promised to keep the Americans very busy
- Quick and absolute victory over France, the back then military No 1.

By late 1940, France was already defeated. Germany had control over the greater European Continent. Had Germany decided to sue for peace with Britain in early 1941 and given concessions Germany might not have had the extreme shortages of resources it had later on. Hitler just got more than a little insane and a whole bunch greedy. He had already won but wanted more.

 

[Bleipriester]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

As it was, the Brits just moved the Air Fields out of the range of the Luftwaffe but close enough for defense. The Luftwaffe could not HIT those airfields. And the P-40s from America were on the way that had the range to hit France from the protracted Air Fields. The best thing the Luftwaffe could have done was to not attack at all. They had Greater Europe and had the power to hold it. Think of all those losses. Had they still had those birds and resources, maybe Operation Barbarossa would have been better. And maybe the US would have stayed out of it openly. The Brits would have NEVER done the B-17 and B-24 daylight bombings. Only an American wold be that insane. So that is mistake #2, declaring war on the US. Germany could have had greater Europe all the way to the Urals. But no.......

The problem here is that the Brits declared war on Germany. Hitler was a big admirer of the Empire ("brought civilization to the world") and never would have attacked them for hegemony.
Almost all souhtern airfields were destroyed when the Luftwaffe began targeting London. Six weeks are enough to recover them. A planned invasion of the island was cancelled.
As for the war against the US, this sounds lunatic indeed but there are several factors that speak for it:

- US was already hunting German ships
- It would become impossible to keep the naval blockade up without targeting American forces
- The Japanese operations and strength promised to keep the Americans very busy
- Quick and absolute victory over France, the back then military No 1.

By late 1940, France was already defeated. Germany had control over the greater European Continent. Had Germany decided to sue for peace with Britain in early 1941 and given concessions Germany might not have had the extreme shortages of resources it had later on. Hitler just got more than a little insane and a whole bunch greedy. He had already won but wanted more.

Yes, France was defeated early. This is why the Germans could assume that nobody could endanger them.
As for Britain, maybe you are familiar with Hess´ fate.

 

[Agit8r]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

As it was, the Brits just moved the Air Fields out of the range of the Luftwaffe but close enough for defense. The Luftwaffe could not HIT those airfields. And the P-40s from America were on the way that had the range to hit France from the protracted Air Fields. The best thing the Luftwaffe could have done was to not attack at all. They had Greater Europe and had the power to hold it. Think of all those losses. Had they still had those birds and resources, maybe Operation Barbarossa would have been better. And maybe the US would have stayed out of it openly. The Brits would have NEVER done the B-17 and B-24 daylight bombings. Only an American wold be that insane. So that is mistake #2, declaring war on the US. Germany could have had greater Europe all the way to the Urals. But no.......

The problem here is that the Brits declared war on Germany. Hitler was a big admirer of the Empire ("brought civilization to the world") and never would have attacked them for hegemony.
Almost all souhtern airfields were destroyed when the Luftwaffe began targeting London. Six weeks are enough to recover them. A planned invasion of the island was cancelled.
As for the war against the US, this sounds lunatic indeed but there are several factors that speak for it:

- US was already hunting German ships
- It would become impossible to keep the naval blockade up without targeting American forces
- The Japanese operations and strength promised to keep the Americans very busy
- Quick and absolute victory over France, the back then military No 1.

By late 1940, France was already defeated. Germany had control over the greater European Continent. Had Germany decided to sue for peace with Britain in early 1941 and given concessions Germany might not have had the extreme shortages of resources it had later on. Hitler just got more than a little insane and a whole bunch greedy. He had already won but wanted more.

Yes, France was defeated early. This is why the Germans could assume that nobody could endanger them.
As for Britain, maybe you are familiar with Hess´ fate.

Actually France wasn't defeated. They just had elected conservative politicians, who were sympathetic to the Nazis.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

As it was, the Brits just moved the Air Fields out of the range of the Luftwaffe but close enough for defense. The Luftwaffe could not HIT those airfields. And the P-40s from America were on the way that had the range to hit France from the protracted Air Fields. The best thing the Luftwaffe could have done was to not attack at all. They had Greater Europe and had the power to hold it. Think of all those losses. Had they still had those birds and resources, maybe Operation Barbarossa would have been better. And maybe the US would have stayed out of it openly. The Brits would have NEVER done the B-17 and B-24 daylight bombings. Only an American wold be that insane. So that is mistake #2, declaring war on the US. Germany could have had greater Europe all the way to the Urals. But no.......

The problem here is that the Brits declared war on Germany. Hitler was a big admirer of the Empire ("brought civilization to the world") and never would have attacked them for hegemony.
Almost all souhtern airfields were destroyed when the Luftwaffe began targeting London. Six weeks are enough to recover them. A planned invasion of the island was cancelled.
As for the war against the US, this sounds lunatic indeed but there are several factors that speak for it:

- US was already hunting German ships
- It would become impossible to keep the naval blockade up without targeting American forces
- The Japanese operations and strength promised to keep the Americans very busy
- Quick and absolute victory over France, the back then military No 1.

By late 1940, France was already defeated. Germany had control over the greater European Continent. Had Germany decided to sue for peace with Britain in early 1941 and given concessions Germany might not have had the extreme shortages of resources it had later on. Hitler just got more than a little insane and a whole bunch greedy. He had already won but wanted more.

Yes, France was defeated early. This is why the Germans could assume that nobody could endanger them.
As for Britain, maybe you are familiar with Hess´ fate.

And was almost all the other Countries in Europe Proper. Only a nutcase would have pressed any further. There was nothing Britain could have done about it without the direct support of the US. Had Germany just stopped there, today, Germany would be where the EU is today. Of course, Fascism would have failed sooner or later being replaced by the old Social Democratic Government it once had. Germany would have ended up closer to the United States. And if Hitler waited a bit longer, Operation Barborosa would have been a wild success. But Hitler got greedy, way too greedy and it's not the first time in history a powerful country failed because of greed. In the end, the world ended up the better of it.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

As it was, the Brits just moved the Air Fields out of the range of the Luftwaffe but close enough for defense. The Luftwaffe could not HIT those airfields. And the P-40s from America were on the way that had the range to hit France from the protracted Air Fields. The best thing the Luftwaffe could have done was to not attack at all. They had Greater Europe and had the power to hold it. Think of all those losses. Had they still had those birds and resources, maybe Operation Barbarossa would have been better. And maybe the US would have stayed out of it openly. The Brits would have NEVER done the B-17 and B-24 daylight bombings. Only an American wold be that insane. So that is mistake #2, declaring war on the US. Germany could have had greater Europe all the way to the Urals. But no.......

The problem here is that the Brits declared war on Germany. Hitler was a big admirer of the Empire ("brought civilization to the world") and never would have attacked them for hegemony.
Almost all souhtern airfields were destroyed when the Luftwaffe began targeting London. Six weeks are enough to recover them. A planned invasion of the island was cancelled.
As for the war against the US, this sounds lunatic indeed but there are several factors that speak for it:

- US was already hunting German ships
- It would become impossible to keep the naval blockade up without targeting American forces
- The Japanese operations and strength promised to keep the Americans very busy
- Quick and absolute victory over France, the back then military No 1.

By late 1940, France was already defeated. Germany had control over the greater European Continent. Had Germany decided to sue for peace with Britain in early 1941 and given concessions Germany might not have had the extreme shortages of resources it had later on. Hitler just got more than a little insane and a whole bunch greedy. He had already won but wanted more.

Yes, France was defeated early. This is why the Germans could assume that nobody could endanger them.
As for Britain, maybe you are familiar with Hess´ fate.

Actually France wasn't defeated. They just had elected conservative politicians, who were sympathetic to the Nazis.

When you have Nazi Tanks standing in your Town Squares and SS all over the place, Trust me, you are defeated. You can call it anything you want to but that's defeated.

 

[Bleipriester]

Had the Luftwaffe continued their campaign against airfields instead concentrating on London for six weeks after the first bomb attack on Berlin, Britain would have lost.

As it was, the Brits just moved the Air Fields out of the range of the Luftwaffe but close enough for defense. The Luftwaffe could not HIT those airfields. And the P-40s from America were on the way that had the range to hit France from the protracted Air Fields. The best thing the Luftwaffe could have done was to not attack at all. They had Greater Europe and had the power to hold it. Think of all those losses. Had they still had those birds and resources, maybe Operation Barbarossa would have been better. And maybe the US would have stayed out of it openly. The Brits would have NEVER done the B-17 and B-24 daylight bombings. Only an American wold be that insane. So that is mistake #2, declaring war on the US. Germany could have had greater Europe all the way to the Urals. But no.......

The problem here is that the Brits declared war on Germany. Hitler was a big admirer of the Empire ("brought civilization to the world") and never would have attacked them for hegemony.
Almost all souhtern airfields were destroyed when the Luftwaffe began targeting London. Six weeks are enough to recover them. A planned invasion of the island was cancelled.
As for the war against the US, this sounds lunatic indeed but there are several factors that speak for it:

- US was already hunting German ships
- It would become impossible to keep the naval blockade up without targeting American forces
- The Japanese operations and strength promised to keep the Americans very busy
- Quick and absolute victory over France, the back then military No 1.

By late 1940, France was already defeated. Germany had control over the greater European Continent. Had Germany decided to sue for peace with Britain in early 1941 and given concessions Germany might not have had the extreme shortages of resources it had later on. Hitler just got more than a little insane and a whole bunch greedy. He had already won but wanted more.

Yes, France was defeated early. This is why the Germans could assume that nobody could endanger them.
As for Britain, maybe you are familiar with Hess´ fate.

And was almost all the other Countries in Europe Proper. Only a nutcase would have pressed any further. There was nothing Britain could have done about it without the direct support of the US. Had Germany just stopped there, today, Germany would be where the EU is today. Of course, Fascism would have failed sooner or later being replaced by the old Social Democratic Government it once had. Germany would have ended up closer to the United States. And if Hitler waited a bit longer, Operation Barborosa would have been a wild success. But Hitler got greedy, way too greedy and it's not the first time in history a powerful country failed because of greed. In the end, the world ended up the better of it.

It was not possible. Fact is that Hitler wasn´t the only Hitler. We tell history from the version of the victorious powers, just for fact´s sake. The Wehrmacht overran Stalins preparations of an invasion, this why there was a huge initial success against an enemy far superior in numbers. The same applies for Churchill who had a problem with Germany, later with the USSR. So if Hitler wanted this or that, doesn´t matter.
Fact is that Hitler neither sought for war with France or the British Empire. His Lebensraum plans were limited to the east, where Germany hat lost territory after WW1. Also Spain, Portugal, Italy and Romania were not occupied but allies.
France was also not totally occupied. The Germans took the north (not for taking it over, but military reasons) but left the south to a French administration, the Vichy government.
So that doesn´t make Hitler a saint, simply one player in the game of reckless dictators.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

As it was, the Brits just moved the Air Fields out of the range of the Luftwaffe but close enough for defense. The Luftwaffe could not HIT those airfields. And the P-40s from America were on the way that had the range to hit France from the protracted Air Fields. The best thing the Luftwaffe could have done was to not attack at all. They had Greater Europe and had the power to hold it. Think of all those losses. Had they still had those birds and resources, maybe Operation Barbarossa would have been better. And maybe the US would have stayed out of it openly. The Brits would have NEVER done the B-17 and B-24 daylight bombings. Only an American wold be that insane. So that is mistake #2, declaring war on the US. Germany could have had greater Europe all the way to the Urals. But no.......

The problem here is that the Brits declared war on Germany. Hitler was a big admirer of the Empire ("brought civilization to the world") and never would have attacked them for hegemony.
Almost all souhtern airfields were destroyed when the Luftwaffe began targeting London. Six weeks are enough to recover them. A planned invasion of the island was cancelled.
As for the war against the US, this sounds lunatic indeed but there are several factors that speak for it:

- US was already hunting German ships
- It would become impossible to keep the naval blockade up without targeting American forces
- The Japanese operations and strength promised to keep the Americans very busy
- Quick and absolute victory over France, the back then military No 1.

By late 1940, France was already defeated. Germany had control over the greater European Continent. Had Germany decided to sue for peace with Britain in early 1941 and given concessions Germany might not have had the extreme shortages of resources it had later on. Hitler just got more than a little insane and a whole bunch greedy. He had already won but wanted more.

Yes, France was defeated early. This is why the Germans could assume that nobody could endanger them.
As for Britain, maybe you are familiar with Hess´ fate.

And was almost all the other Countries in Europe Proper. Only a nutcase would have pressed any further. There was nothing Britain could have done about it without the direct support of the US. Had Germany just stopped there, today, Germany would be where the EU is today. Of course, Fascism would have failed sooner or later being replaced by the old Social Democratic Government it once had. Germany would have ended up closer to the United States. And if Hitler waited a bit longer, Operation Barborosa would have been a wild success. But Hitler got greedy, way too greedy and it's not the first time in history a powerful country failed because of greed. In the end, the world ended up the better of it.

It was not possible. Fact is that Hitler wasn´t the only Hitler. We tell history from the version of the victorious powers, just for fact´s sake. The Wehrmacht overran Stalins preparations of an invasion, this why there was a huge initial success against an enemy far superior in numbers. The same applies for Churchill who had a problem with Germany, later with the USSR. So if Hitler wanted this or that, doesn´t matter.
Fact is that Hitler neither sought for war with France or the British Empire. His Lebensraum plans were limited to the east, where Germany hat lost territory after WW1. Also Spain, Portugal, Italy and Romania were not occupied but allies.
France was also not totally occupied. The Germans took the north (not for taking it over, but military reasons) but left the south to a French administration, the Vichy government.
So that doesn´t make Hitler a saint, simply one player in the game of reckless dictators.

Yes, Hey YOU Vichys, do it this way or we will be right over. Sounds and smells like defeat to me.

 

[Bleipriester]

The problem here is that the Brits declared war on Germany. Hitler was a big admirer of the Empire ("brought civilization to the world") and never would have attacked them for hegemony.
Almost all souhtern airfields were destroyed when the Luftwaffe began targeting London. Six weeks are enough to recover them. A planned invasion of the island was cancelled.
As for the war against the US, this sounds lunatic indeed but there are several factors that speak for it:

- US was already hunting German ships
- It would become impossible to keep the naval blockade up without targeting American forces
- The Japanese operations and strength promised to keep the Americans very busy
- Quick and absolute victory over France, the back then military No 1.

By late 1940, France was already defeated. Germany had control over the greater European Continent. Had Germany decided to sue for peace with Britain in early 1941 and given concessions Germany might not have had the extreme shortages of resources it had later on. Hitler just got more than a little insane and a whole bunch greedy. He had already won but wanted more.

Yes, France was defeated early. This is why the Germans could assume that nobody could endanger them.
As for Britain, maybe you are familiar with Hess´ fate.

And was almost all the other Countries in Europe Proper. Only a nutcase would have pressed any further. There was nothing Britain could have done about it without the direct support of the US. Had Germany just stopped there, today, Germany would be where the EU is today. Of course, Fascism would have failed sooner or later being replaced by the old Social Democratic Government it once had. Germany would have ended up closer to the United States. And if Hitler waited a bit longer, Operation Barborosa would have been a wild success. But Hitler got greedy, way too greedy and it's not the first time in history a powerful country failed because of greed. In the end, the world ended up the better of it.

It was not possible. Fact is that Hitler wasn´t the only Hitler. We tell history from the version of the victorious powers, just for fact´s sake. The Wehrmacht overran Stalins preparations of an invasion, this why there was a huge initial success against an enemy far superior in numbers. The same applies for Churchill who had a problem with Germany, later with the USSR. So if Hitler wanted this or that, doesn´t matter.
Fact is that Hitler neither sought for war with France or the British Empire. His Lebensraum plans were limited to the east, where Germany hat lost territory after WW1. Also Spain, Portugal, Italy and Romania were not occupied but allies.
France was also not totally occupied. The Germans took the north (not for taking it over, but military reasons) but left the south to a French administration, the Vichy government.
So that doesn´t make Hitler a saint, simply one player in the game of reckless dictators.

Yes, Hey YOU Vichys, do it this way or we will be right over. Sounds and smells like defeat to me.

Nobody claims German won.

 

[Muhammed]

No battle over British airfields or bombing England itself, except maybe occasional attacks against shipping ports. That would be as far as they venture into England. Crank out the U-Boats and send submarines and the entire luftwaffe after commercial shipping. Could the Luftwaffe have added anything to the U-boat campaign by serving as visibility, attacking submarine destroyers to aid U-Boat escape, and bombing commercial shipping itself?

Who would win that long, protracted starve them of resources campaign if Germany did not invaded Russia?

....the Luftwaffe did--especially in the North Sea and Mediterranean
1. they would've had to attack the shipping away from England meaning farther out to sea = now you are getting into fuel problems
AND, compass problems---navigating over ocean is not easy.....
2. attacking shipping takes much, much more skill than attacking airfields/cities--they were lucky to hit cities!!!!!
3. as with ALL these ''IF'' scenarios, it is much, much more complicated than what you post.....the Brits would react to it-[ adjust ] -just like they did to the V1s

Actually the Luftwaffe was good at hitting cities until the Brits adapted to the raids. One way was that they realized that the Germans were locating their cities at night because they were on fire. So they started fires away from the cities. Decoy cities.

 

[Daryl Hunt]

By late 1940, France was already defeated. Germany had control over the greater European Continent. Had Germany decided to sue for peace with Britain in early 1941 and given concessions Germany might not have had the extreme shortages of resources it had later on. Hitler just got more than a little insane and a whole bunch greedy. He had already won but wanted more.

Yes, France was defeated early. This is why the Germans could assume that nobody could endanger them.
As for Britain, maybe you are familiar with Hess´ fate.

And was almost all the other Countries in Europe Proper. Only a nutcase would have pressed any further. There was nothing Britain could have done about it without the direct support of the US. Had Germany just stopped there, today, Germany would be where the EU is today. Of course, Fascism would have failed sooner or later being replaced by the old Social Democratic Government it once had. Germany would have ended up closer to the United States. And if Hitler waited a bit longer, Operation Barborosa would have been a wild success. But Hitler got greedy, way too greedy and it's not the first time in history a powerful country failed because of greed. In the end, the world ended up the better of it.

It was not possible. Fact is that Hitler wasn´t the only Hitler. We tell history from the version of the victorious powers, just for fact´s sake. The Wehrmacht overran Stalins preparations of an invasion, this why there was a huge initial success against an enemy far superior in numbers. The same applies for Churchill who had a problem with Germany, later with the USSR. So if Hitler wanted this or that, doesn´t matter.
Fact is that Hitler neither sought for war with France or the British Empire. His Lebensraum plans were limited to the east, where Germany hat lost territory after WW1. Also Spain, Portugal, Italy and Romania were not occupied but allies.
France was also not totally occupied. The Germans took the north (not for taking it over, but military reasons) but left the south to a French administration, the Vichy government.
So that doesn´t make Hitler a saint, simply one player in the game of reckless dictators.

Yes, Hey YOU Vichys, do it this way or we will be right over. Sounds and smells like defeat to me.

Nobody claims German won.

I used your What If. What If, Germany didn't bomb London and sued for peace instead stopping with what they had already taken? Exactly what would Britain had been able to do about it? The Germans had control of the Oil, mines, etc., natural resources and the industrial manufacturing. What they didn't directly control, they had treaties and agreements with those that did. The US would have had no reason, after a while, to keep resupplying Britain if Britain were no longer being bombed or at war. And I can say this, Germany at the time, was probably more popular than the USSR so forget the help to the USSR since they would be on their own. The only thing bombing London did was to give the British the resolve to continue with the war.