Chilling German plans to invade Britain via Portsmouth during the Second World War fetch hundreds at auction

A DETAILED wartime invasion plan revealing how Portsmouth would have been in the firing line had Adolf Hitler got his way has sold for £780 at auction.
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The chilling document, compiled in the summer of 1940, went under the hammer in Kent yesterday and contains reconnaissance photographs and maps of Portsmouth and Portchester Castle.

It was part of a pack sent to to German headquarters' in western Europe in August 1940 in readiness for Operation Sea Lion – the would-be German invasion of Britain.

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The images inside, likely taken from tourism postcards, were distributed to give troops the best idea of the landscape they would encounter after landing on these shores had their air force not been rebuffed by the RAF in the Battle of Britain.

Picture: PhilYeomans/BNPSPicture: PhilYeomans/BNPS
Picture: PhilYeomans/BNPS

Matthew Tredwen, a specialist at C&T Auctions in Ashford, oversaw the sale of the pack titled ‘Militargeograogische Angaben uber England'.

This translates to 'military geographic information about England’.

‘This is an interesting folder of booklets and maps given details of strategic areas for the German soldiers to attack and hold during the operation against the British isles in 1940,' Matthew said.

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‘The booklets cover various areas of the UK and have black and white images of strategic landmarks and the coast line.

Pic: PhilYeomans/BNPSPic: PhilYeomans/BNPS
Pic: PhilYeomans/BNPS

‘A lot of the images were from postcards and the British did exactly the same thing with their D-Day preparations.

‘It is chilling to see just how much information the Germans had amassed about Britain, and how well prepared they would have been if the invasion had been launched.’

The pack was sent to German headquarters two months after the evacuation of 330,000 Allied troops at Dunkirk at the height of the Battle of Britain.

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It also contains an alarming aerial Luftwaffe picture of Southsea.

In a chilling preface to Operation Sea Lion, Adolf Hitler wrote: ‘As England, in spite of 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.’

With air losses increasing, he postponed Operation Sea Lion indefinitely on September 17, 1940 and it was never put into action.

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