Editing Operation Sea Lion (section)

==== Directive No. 16: Operation Sea Lion ====
On 16 July 1940 Hitler issued [[Führer Directive]] No. 16, setting in motion preparations for a landing in Britain. He prefaced the order by stating: "As England, despite her hopeless military situation, still shows no signs of willingness to come to terms, I have decided to prepare, and if necessary to carry out, a landing operation against her. This operation aimed to eliminate the English Motherland as a base from which the war against Germany can be continued, and, if necessary, to occupy the country completely." The code name for the invasion was ''Seelöwe'', "Sea Lion".<ref name="Führer Directive 16">{{cite web
| title       = Directive No. 16 – On preparations for a landing operation against England
| place       = Führer Headquarters
| date        = 16 July 1940
| url         = http://www.alternatewars.com/WW2/WW2_Documents/Fuhrer_Directives/FD_16.htm
| access-date  = 11 February 2016
| url-status     = live
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303194212/http://www.alternatewars.com/WW2/WW2_Documents/Fuhrer_Directives/FD_16.htm
| archive-date = 3 March 2016
}}</ref><ref name=Cox159>Cox, p. 159</ref>

Hitler's directive set four conditions for the invasion to occur:<ref name=Cox160>Cox, p. 160</ref>
* The RAF was to be "beaten down in its morale and in fact, that it can no longer display any appreciable aggressive force in opposition to the German crossing".
* The English Channel was to be swept of British mines at the crossing points, and the [[Strait of Dover]] must be blocked at both ends by German mines.
* The coastal zone between occupied France and England must be dominated by heavy artillery.
* The [[Royal Navy]] must be sufficiently engaged in the [[North Sea]] and the [[Mediterranean]] so that it could not intervene in the crossing. British home squadrons must be damaged or destroyed by air and torpedo attacks.

This ultimately placed responsibility for Sea Lion{{'}}s success squarely on the shoulders of Raeder and Göring, neither of whom had the slightest enthusiasm for the venture and, in fact, did little to hide their opposition to it.<ref name=Cox157>Cox, p. 157</ref> Nor did Directive 16 provide for a combined operational headquarters, similar to the Allies' creation of the [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force]] (SHAEF) for the later Normandy landings, under which all three service branches (Army, Navy, and Air Force) could work together to plan, co-ordinate, and execute such a complex undertaking.<ref name=Cox161>Cox, p. 161</ref>

The invasion was to be on a broad front, from around [[Ramsgate]] to beyond the [[Isle of Wight]].
Preparations, including overcoming the RAF, were to be in place by mid August.<ref name="Führer Directive 16" />{{sfn | Bungay | 2000 | pp=110–11}}