Invasion of Britain still possible

5th February 1941: German troops concentartions are carefully monitored, along with rumours from occupied Europe

A flame barrage demonstration on the sea at Studland Bay, Dorset, 1 February 1941.

Closer view of a flame barrage demonstration on the sea at Studland Bay, Dorset, 1 February 1941

The threatened invasion of Britain, which had been at a pitch the previous summer, had never completely gone away. The winter months - and rough seas - meant that a Channel crossing was unlikely to be attempted. Most people believed that the Germans were very likely to attempt something in the Spring. There was still the possibility that they might try a surprise attack in the winter to get a foothold in Ireland or Scotland.

Belgian troops on an exercise on the coast of Wales, February 1941.

A Belgian soldier with a gas mask and a ‘Tommy gun’. General Alan Brooke, in charge of Home Defence, later revealed that he intended to use gas in measures to repel an invasion.

The weekly report to the Cabinet¹ considered the prospects for German activity, based on German troop concentration. No mention was made in these reports of the separate Enigma signals intercept intelligence, which was kept to a very restricted circulation. Indications from these pointed very strongly to a German intervention in the Balkans and probably Greece, an issue that was now exercising Churchill.