Sealion by Richard Cox
Published by Futura on 1974
Genres: Type I - Hard
Pages: 188
Format: Paperback

Premise - Point of Divergence (POD)

Hitler invades England Sep 22 1940

The Story

The German paratroops jumped at dawn as they had done in Holland, in Belgium, in Norway. But this time there were more of them ... the time was six o'clock on the morning of September 22, 1940 ... by breakfast time close on 90,000 troops were successfully ashore on the beaches between Folkestone and Seaford.

Operation Sealion: the German invasions of England. Minutely planned. What would have happened if the invasion had gone ahead as planned?

Hitler had intended to capture the whole of Southern England within only ten days. Sealion is a vivid, authentic documentary novel based on a War Game organised by the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, umpired by six top British and German officers in an effort to determine whether Hitler would have succeeded.

The Review

This is a professionally written book by a former Defence correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and it shows. It is also a book that I have reread on at least three occasions. Its research is exemplary, and the style is free flowing and easy to read. Don’t expect much in the way of characterisation though, it isn’t that sort of book. It will grab your attention though, and keep you interested until the end.