Operation Sealion Map & OOB errors

[vakarr]

Hi, the map for Operation Sealion has some interesting errors, were these features deliberately leftout?

1. The port of Newhaven (between Brighton and Eastbourne) had a greater capacity than Folkestone in 1940 and was the largest port within the initial invasion area. The Dieppe raid was launched from there. It has been left off the map completely, so there seems little reason for the Germans to land there and make the (probably suicidal) attacks on nearby Cuxhaven and Rottingdean that were planned.

2. The Royal Military Canal (RMC) isn't there at all, and the entire area behind Dungeness is a marsh. Actually the triangle that points into the sea at Dungeness should be like a desert aas far as the cost road (it is classed as Britain's only desert). It's disappointing not to see the RMC there as it is hotly favoured by Sealion detractors as a serious threat to any German invasion. Allthough it was a Napoleonic war installation, it was fortified with pillboxes in WW2. The Schwerpunkt of the invasion was supposed to land at Dungeness and it is thought it would have met with a lot of problems crossing the marsh and the RMC, which were backed by high ground to the north and north-east.

3. OOB - I can't find any Australian troops. The Ninth Australian Divsion was formed in October 1940 as a two brigade division, out of troops then existing in England. Perhaps they have been left out as they were located in south-west England, off the map maybe. However they figure prominently in the famous Sandhurst Sealion wargame so (even if that is an error), it would be nice to see them included, say as a single brigade.

4. There were only four Valentine tanks in the home forces in September 1940. There were more Matilda 1s in use - 27 IIRC - so they should be used, not Valentines. There were 100 Guy Armoured Cars (which were properly armed and referred to as "wheeled tanks") so it seems strange that the Morris CS9 armoured car seems to be the only Brtish armoured car in the game. It seems that 99 were built, out of which 38 were sent to France with the BEF, all of which were lost. 30 were sent to North Africa, leaving only 31 in England
David Newbold, “British Planning And Preparations To Resist Invasion On Land, September 1939 - September 1940”, PhD thesis, (King’s College, University of London, 1988), h-t-t-p: //ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.241932 , 437

5. The British plan was for many bridges to be blown or blocked when the invasion immanent warning was given (leading to the death of one man during the "Cromwell" scare), so quite a few bridges should be broken on the Sealion map near the invasion area.

6. The capture of Dover was very important to the Germans and the British, it should be worth a victory point. Also, the Downs (off Deal) would have made a useful harbour to the Germans and Deal should be a port. Deal was at one time the busiest port in England, although it never had a harbour wharf.

7. The Germans should have two Army HQs and an Army Group HQ, I suppose these were left out to prevent insuperable supply problems?

8. XIV Corps didn't exist but its component divisions did. They were part of XLI and XV Corps.
9. Home Guard units should not be activated until German units are nearby and in particular it should not be possible to move them from one side of England to another before they have been attacked