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I really don't have a "dog in this fight" so to speak, since I don't do much Axis modeling. But we should all keep in mind that the Germans were planning an Invasion, and gathering the materials to do so. And, some of those materials were used in an "invasion" of sorts elswhere -- in the Mediterranean during the movement of the Afrika Korps to Libya, where the Royal Navy was unable to effectively intervene (at first). So in reality, although it wasn't a truly amphibious operation, the Germans (along with their Italian allies) were able to move troops and equipment ashore effectively, across distances greater than the Channel.
VR, Russ

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Um, the German and Italian transport efforts were decimated by minuscule RAF and RN forces from Malta. It is one of the defining facts of that whole campaign.
The extremely unlikely fact of a German invasion of Britain with the Royal Navy largely intact does not invalidate the study of what a section of that landing might have looked like. At least to me. They certainly planned enough and practiced enough that it can be surmised.

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I really don't have a "dog in this fight" so to speak, since I don't do much Axis modeling. But we should all keep in mind that the Germans were planning an Invasion, and gathering the materials to do so. And, some of those materials were used in an "invasion" of sorts elswhere -- in the Mediterranean during the movement of the Afrika Korps to Libya, where the Royal Navy was unable to effectively intervene (at first). So in reality, although it wasn't a truly amphibious operation, the Germans (along with their Italian allies) were able to move troops and equipment ashore effectively, across distances greater than the Channel.
VR, Russ

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Um, the German and Italian transport efforts were decimated by minuscule RAF and RN forces from Malta. It is one of the defining facts of that whole campaign.
The extremely unlikely fact of a German invasion of Britain with the Royal Navy largely intact does not invalidate the study of what a section of that landing might have looked like. At least to me. They certainly planned enough and practiced enough that it can be surmised.

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And yet despite the existence of Malta (which was nearly brought to its knees by the Axis air forces), the Axis moved several Divisions worth of equipment and personnel to N. Africa-- and they didn't go by land (although a lot went by air too). All this despite the Allied air and sea efforts to keep them out. I only used this as an example to show they were in fact capable of moving by sea. And had it not been for a change of leadership on the Commonwealth side, they might have reached the canal too. So folks who don't think they had the capability to move by sea should really look closely at the historical record-- they moved a great deal at sea. In reality, given the context of the times, they were just as good at moving forces at sea as most of the other European countries of the era (the exception being the UK, who'd been moving troops by sea for hundreds of years). But it wasnt until the US entered the conflict in late 1941 that true "amphibious" warfare became a mater of course. As Eisenhower has said, it was the 2 1/2 ton truck, the Jeep, and the landing craft that truly won the war for the Allies.
VR, Russ

What if stuff. have to love it. The restriction on the invasion was air superiority. With out it, it was not going to work. (Hittler knew this)
With it... well now things are quite different. The British proved very nicely what capatal ships can do with out air cover in the Pacific. How well do you think all those british ships would have faired in the tight channel with german aircraft above them? Sure they may break up an invasion and sink a few transports, but at what cost to them? Not to mention those pesky U boats lurking around. Could the Royal Navy stop an invasion.. maybe. Could the Germans force the Royal Navy to turn tail and hide as they tired and land troops on England... Maybe. The one sure thing is the British Home Guard would not be able to hold those troops anywhere for very long at all. Remember they left all thier heavy weapons at Dunkirk awhile before. Hard to stop an armored attack with a rifle.

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What if stuff. have to love it. The restriction on the invasion was air superiority. With out it, it was not going to work. (Hittler knew this)
With it... well now things are quite different. The British proved very nicely what capatal ships can do with out air cover in the Pacific. How well do you think all those british ships would have faired in the tight channel with german aircraft above them? Sure they may break up an invasion and sink a few transports, but at what cost to them? Not to mention those pesky U boats lurking around. Could the Royal Navy stop an invasion.. maybe. Could the Germans force the Royal Navy to turn tail and hide as they tired and land troops on England... Maybe. The one sure thing is the British Home Guard would not be able to hold those troops anywhere for very long at all. Remember they left all thier heavy weapons at Dunkirk awhile before. Hard to stop an armored attack with a rifle.

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I'll second this post.

The first phase of battle of Britain was pretty much a war of attrition between the two air forces, and while the Luftwaffe had high losses, the RAF was hard-pressed as well. It isn't far-fetched at all that Germany could have forced the RAF to weaken their presence in the south, and so was the Birtish perception back then as well. Maybe not enough for the Germans to achieve air superiority, but possibly enough of a relief for an amphibious assault?

I don't know why this topic is being discussed so virulently, it is as close to reality a what-if scenario can ever get. I mean, the operation was in the books, troops and transports were being assembled and specific dates for the invasion debated. According to Wikipedia, by September 19 1940 a landing fleet of
- 168 freighters,
- 1975 barges,
- 100 coasters,
- 420 tugs and
- 1600 motor boats
had been assembled in the ports chosen as starting point. The armies to be embarked on that fleet were already/ still standing in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

On a more technical note with regards to amphibious equipment, you might want to consider the Pz.III version modified as a diving tank. Here's a link to a build of the Dragon model (of course Dragon ):
https://www.panzer-bau.de/fahrzeugmodelle-1-35/kettenfahrzeuge-edw/tauchpanzer-iii/
And here the diorama:
https://www.panzer-bau.de/dioramen-1-35/fahrzeugdioramen-edw-1-35/baubericht-diorama-tauchpanzer-iii/
There are other actual pictures of such a tank around, e.g. here:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101II-MW-5674-33%2C_Kanalküste%2C_Verladen_von_Tauchpanzer_III.jpg
They were supposed to be dropped off barges closer to the coast, a bit like the Allied deep wading tanks on D-Day. 168 tanks of different marks were modified that way, 80 of which were later succesfully used to cross the river Bug on the first day of operatio Barbarossa.

Cheers!

Edits: typos and such...

... And, some of those materials were used in an "invasion" of sorts elsewhere -- in the Mediterranean during the movement of the Afrika Korps to Libya, where the Royal Navy was unable to effectively intervene (at first). So in reality, although it wasn't a truly amphibious operation, the Germans (along with their Italian allies) were able to move troops and equipment ashore effectively, across distances greater than the Channel.

The extremely unlikely fact of a German invasion of Britain with the Royal Navy largely intact does not invalidate the study of what a section of that landing might have looked like. At least to me. They certainly planned enough and practiced enough that it can be surmised.

I have enjoyed all of the comments from the other Armorama readers! All of them were dead on right in the data. Just remember the entire Home Fleet would be on the way including all of their minesweepers. The Germans had few capital ships and maybe they would not want to loose them in the Channel. Please do not let me keep you from doing the diorama. I just wanted to point out the problems of Operation Sea Lion.

You could always scratchbuild one of the barges the Nazis were assembling for the invasion....

I'm just skeptical of the notion of Germany having anything approaching transports from which to launch anything much at all.

As has been posted before, the fleet the Germans calculated they would need had been fully assembled (and more) by September 19,1940. They were massively relying on civilian vessels, a bit like operation dynamo just a few months earlier.

Just getting back to the equipment issue, I always imagined that amongst the Tauchpanzers, Landwasserschleppers, Sturmboote etc, there might be a few of these on the beaches:

https://www.elitemodell.de/elite/wehrmacht/3587/

about which I could find very little; I knew nothing about this vehicle until I visited the Elite Modellbau site.

While not perhaps as diverse as subsequent Allied specialised armour, the mix above and including this vehicle, is not uninteresting from not least, a What-If point of view.

Brian

Reading all the remarks about the quality and amount of German sea transport, another very important factor for a successful invasion is air supremacy.
In Dutch and Belgian harbours in 1940 there was still quite some capacity available, being commercial ships which could be confiscated.
However, to create a beach head, air mobile units were an absolute must to secure the beach heads.
And here things have gone terribly wrong in spring 1940: the losses in air transport capacity during the invasion of the Lowlands (Belgium and The Netherlands) have been that high that on short term not sufficient transport planes were available.

Just getting back to the equipment issue, I always imagined that amongst the Tauchpanzers, Landwasserschleppers, Sturmboote etc, there might be a few of these on the beaches:

https://www.elitemodell.de/elite/wehrmacht/3587/

about which I could find very little; I knew nothing about this vehicle until I visited the Elite Modellbau site.

While not perhaps as diverse as subsequent Allied specialised armour, the mix above and including this vehicle, is not uninteresting from not least, a What-If point of view.

Brian

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Just getting back to the equipment issue, I always imagined that amongst the Tauchpanzers, Landwasserschleppers, Sturmboote etc, there might be a few of these on the beaches:

https://www.elitemodell.de/elite/wehrmacht/3587/

about which I could find very little; I knew nothing about this vehicle until I visited the Elite Modellbau site.

While not perhaps as diverse as subsequent Allied specialised armour, the mix above and including this vehicle, is not uninteresting from not least, a What-If point of view.

Brian

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Two chassis for an 8x8 configuration of Einheitsdiesel were built, at least one, maybe both, were turned into amphibians.


https://www.trucksplanet.com/catalog/model.php?id=669

The project was not continued, maybe because the payload was only 4 tons.

/ Robin