Osprey Publishing is well known for its softbound, mid-length book (80 to 100 pages) covering a specific topic. This book stands on its own category, with over 300 pages and hardbound. It speaks quality all around, down to its dust cover.

And the quality does not stop at the book binding, this is a carefully and thoughtfully researched book on a military operation that never was: Sea Lion, the invasion of Great Britain.

While the Battle of Britain has been covered in multiple books and encyclopedias, the number of books on the Operation Sea Lion is limited, in comparison. If you only want to read one book on this topic this is the one.

This book covers the strategic situation in May of 1940, how the Wehrmacht attempted to improvise an invasion force, the needed support from the Kriegsmarine (which was never fully onboard with the invasion plan) and Luftwaffe (which acted as a tactical/terror force rather than strategical), an evaluation of what could have happened and how the UK prepared for a second attempt for Sea Lion in May of 1941.

Not only that but also it describes some hidden benefits of Sea Lion, mainly about how this operation forced the German Army to develop amphibious capabilities that were useful in other theaters, like the Baltic Sea and the Aegean Sea.

This book is not light reading. It is full of details and information. However it is written in a way that it is hard to put it down.

Highly recommended to history aficionados.

I would like to thank Osprey Publishing and IPMS/USA for the review sample.