Editing Operation Sea Lion (section)

=== Other equipment to be used for the first time ===

Operation Sea Lion would have been the first ever amphibious invasion by a mechanised army, and the largest amphibious invasion since [[Gallipoli campaign|Gallipoli]]. The Germans had to invent and improvise much of equipment to be used, also proposing to use some new weapons and use upgrades of their existing equipment for the first time. These included:

# New [[antitank gun]]s and [[Armor-piercing ammunition|ammunition]]. The standard German antitank gun, the 37&nbsp;mm [[Pak 36]], was capable of penetrating the armour of all 1940 British tanks except the [[Matilda II tank|Matilda]] and [[Valentine tank|Valentine]]. Armour-piercing ballistic capped (tungsten-cored) ammunition (Pzgr. 40) for 37&nbsp;mm Pak 36 had become available in time for the invasion.<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.littlewars.se/sealion/germanweapons.html
| title       = German Weapons – Operation Sealion (Seelöwe) – The German Invasion of Britain 1940
| website     = littlewars.se
| access-date  = 28 April 2018
| url-status     = live
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20180428145550/http://www.littlewars.se/sealion/germanweapons.html
| archive-date = 28 April 2018
}}</ref>{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}{{original research inline|date=May 2013}}{{unreliable source?|date=October 2014}} The 37&nbsp;mm Pzgr.40 would still have had trouble penetrating the Matilda II's armour<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://mr-home.staff.shef.ac.uk/hobbies/ww2pen3.pdf
| title       = Ww2pen3.doc
| access-date  = 10 May 2013
| url-status     = live
| archive-url  = http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20170216085132/http://mr-home.staff.shef.ac.uk/hobbies/ww2pen3.pdf
| archive-date = 16 February 2017
}}</ref> so the first echelon units replaced theirs with French or Czechoslovak 47&nbsp;mm guns (which weren't much better).<ref name=Schenk183>Schenk p. 183</ref> The [[Pak 36]] began to be replaced by the 50&nbsp;mm [[Pak 38]] in mid-1940. The [[Pak 38]], which could penetrate a Matilda's armour, would probably have seen action first with Sea Lion as it would have been issued initially to the ''[[Waffen-SS]]'' and the ''Heer'''s elite units, and all those units were in the Sea Lion force.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}} These included the ''[[SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler]]'' regiment, the ''Großdeutschland'' regiment, 2 mountain, 2 ''Jäger'', 2 ''Fallschirmjäger'', 4 panzer, and 2 motorised divisions. In addition, the 7th Infantry division was considered one of the best in the ''Heer'', and the 35th almost as good.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}
# Captured French armoured tractors.<ref>p. 183 Schenk</ref> The use of these tractors by the first wave units was intended to reduce their dependence upon horses and probably would have reduced the problems of getting supplies off the beaches. In addition to their proposed use on the beaches, the Germans later used them as tractors for antitank guns and munitions carriers, as self-propelled guns, and as armoured personnel carriers. There were two main types. The [[Renault UE Chenillette]] (German name: ''Infanterie Schlepper UE 630 (f)'') was a light tracked armoured carrier and prime mover produced by France between 1932 and 1940. Five to six thousand were built, and about 3,000 were captured and overhauled by the Germans.<ref>[[Anthony Tucker-Jones]], ''Hitler's Great Panzer Heist'', Pen & Sword Books, 2007, pp. 59, 155</ref> They had a storage compartment that could carry 350&nbsp;kg, pull a trailer weighing 775&nbsp;kg for a total of about 1000&nbsp;kg, and could climb a 50% slope. The armour was 5–9&nbsp;mm, enough to stop shell fragments and bullets. There was also the [[Lorraine 37L]], which was larger, of which 360 fell into German hands. In that vehicle a load of 810 kilograms could be carried, plus a 690&nbsp;kg trailer pulled for a total of 1.5 tonnes. The use of such captured equipment meant that the first wave divisions were largely motorised,<ref name=Schenk183 /> with the first wave using 9.3% (4,200) of the 45,000 horses normally required.<ref>Peter Fleming says on page 229 that the number of horses was reduced to 4,200 for the first wave (466 per division) and 7,000 for the second wave.</ref>
# 48× [[Stug III]] Ausf B Assault Guns – 7.5&nbsp;cm StuK 37 L/24, 50&nbsp;mm armour and improved suspension. Some were to be landed with the first wave.<ref>p. 185 Schenk</ref>
# [[Panzer III]] F/G upgraded with more armour on the mantlet and progressively from 3.7&nbsp;cm KwK 36 L/46.5 to 5&nbsp;cm KwK 38 L/42.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}
# 72 ''[[Nebelwerfer]]'', to be landed with the second and third waves.<ref name="p. 184 Schenk">p. 184 Schenk</ref>
# 36× ''[[Flammpanzer II]]'' [[flamethrower tank]]s, 20 to land with the first wave.<ref name="p. 184 Schenk" />
# 4 or more [[7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40|75 mm ''Leichtgeschütz'' 40]] recoilless guns, for use by paratroopers. The LG 40 could be split into four parts with each part being dropped on a single parachute.<ref>"M M Evans, Invasion!: Operation Sea Lion, 1940, p. 181; "German Airborne Troops" by Roger Edwards (1974) p. 32"</ref>