Comments by "doveton sturdee" (@dovetonsturdee7033) on "Should Hitler have waited?" video.

But also an understanding of how to design them, and the poor old Graf Zeppelin wasn't it, and suitable aircraft to operate from them.
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The problem was that, if Hitler did that, then he wouldn't have been Hitler. The two single consistent themes of the nazi party throughout were Eastward expansion and the destruction of the Soviet Union.
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'Perhaps Germany was not completely ready.' Actually, in terms of an invasion of Britain, they were not, and never could be, even remotely ready.
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What 'build up on the Maginot line?' The best French units, and the fully mechanised BEF, were positioned north of the Maginot Line, in order to move up to the River Dyle, or at least to the Escaut, in support of the Belgian army. This was actually what they did, in accordance with Gamelin's plan.
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Except that France & Britain declared war over Poland. If Hitler was to achieve his ultimate ambition, the destruction of the Soviet Union, then he simply could not afford to have France & Britain active in the west.
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Well, Dr. Cooper, PhD, I would have thought that someone as academic as yourself would have known the Soviet-German pact didn't influence Churchill to prepare for war. He had not held any government position since 1929, and only became a member of Chamberlain's cabinet when Britain was already at war.
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The Channel defences made it a death trap for WW2 submersibles. The Kriegsmarine tried to send three, U12, U16, & U40, through in October, 1939. They are still there.
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Without a navy, a successful invasion of Britain was never remotely possible. Hitler took a huge gamble that Britain would come to terms after the collapse of France. Of course, it failed.
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You should look up how many destroyers and convoy escorts the British had commissioned or were in the process of commissioning, between 1937 & 1939. Convoys were instituted from the start of the war. What actually caught the British out was the collapse of France, as French naval support in the Med. had been part of British pre-war naval planning assumptions.
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But so would the British & French, who were also rearming.
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But so would the British & French.
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How was he to do that? How would you suggest his forces could have crossed a stretch of water defended by the largest navy in the world, when he didn't have a navy of his own?
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Churchill had been brought back into government as First Lord, and was in fact extremely popular in the country as one of the few politicians who had warned of German military expansion in the 1930s. Chamberlain was, in May, 1940 terminally ill with cancer. He actually died in early November, 1940.
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@donfarquhar6328 Churchill was a divisive figure within the Tory Party, certainly, but in June, 1939, George VI told Mackenzie King that he 'would never wish to appoint Churchill to any office unless it were absolutely necessary in time of war”.' I.e., precisely the circumstances which applied when he came to office. The vote of No Confidence actually came in May, 1940, and not, as you apparently think, immediately after war was declared. In any case, I did say 'in the country' which involves rather more people than the monarch and the grandees of the Tory Party. Eden was far from heir apparent in 1939. Firstly, he was only just past 40 years old, and had very little ministerial experience, and secondly he, like MacMillian, was a strong supporter of Churchill. He was over ten years younger than either Halifax or Attlee, by the way. He was, certainly, seen as a 'coming man' but certainly not as a national leader in time of war. He was, however, definitely seen as Churchill's successor ten years later. Of course he was voted out of office in 1945, when the general perception within the British population was of a desire for change, as expressed by the Labour party's brilliant manifesto slogan of 'Cheer Churchill - Vote Labour.' Incidentally, if he was so unpopular, how was it that he regained the Premiership in October, 1951? Who would have succeeded Chamberlain later in 1940, assuming that an uncertain peace was still being maintained, is not clear, but Eden was not in the front rank of candidates. Moreover, the appeasement period had already ended ; both Britain & France were rearming, and Churchill's star was on the ascendant, as his concerns about nazi Germany had been proved justified.
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Yes they did. The British began as early as 1934. The Hurricane fighter went into production in 1936, the Spitfire in 1938. The King George V battleships, Illustrious class cruisers, and new destroyers were laid down from 1936 -7, and modern tanks appeared from 1937-8.
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@Ranger1812 True enough, but any military response could only have come from France, as Britain was a sea power with a tiny army. If France chose not to act, there was nothing Britain could do.
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