Page:Can Germany Invade England?.djvu/138

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CAN GERMANY INVADE ENGLAND?

ing to friend or foe to bring them into safety, whilst those that escaped destruction or disablement would steer for German harbours, not for an English beach, since it is the whole expeditionary force, not a part of it, that must land, if the march on London is not to end before it has begun.[1]

That is what would really happen, but once again, accepting the impossible, we will assume that, one summer's morning, six German flotillas, each carrying an army corps, will be lying at anchor, off the landing-

  1. When, in 1744, Marshal Saxe's Army threatened these shores, Admiral Sir John Norris's plan for frustrating the invasion was as follows: "As I think it [so he wrote to the Admiralty] of the greatest consequence to His Majesty's service to prevent the landing of these troops in any part of the country, I have . . . determined to anchor without the sands of Dunkirk, where we shall be in the fairest way for keeping them in. But if they should unfortunately get out and pass in the night and go northward, I intend to detach a superior force to endeavour to overtake and destroy them, and with the remainder of my squadron either fight the French Fleet now in the Channel, or observe them and cover the country as our circumstances will admit of; or I shall pursue the embarkation [that is, the transports conveying the troops] with all my strength."