Description:

Croyton Castle, near Sevenscore between Richborough and Manston, England: The initial phase of Operation Sealion was a great success for the German invaders. Following the airborne and amphibious landings on July 14th, four divisions had been pushed into an expanding bridgehead radiating from the beaches between Folkestone and Rottingdean.

By the morning of the 17th, savage counterattacks by the British 1st Armoured Division had been beaten back and most of the 9th Panzer Division's tanks, whose mobile punch was critical to General Vietinghoff's XIII Corps' breakout, were ashore.

However, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to bring reinforcements across from France as more and more of the captured port facilities and airfields were needed to supply the formations already ashore.

To help remedy the situation, the II/33 Panzer Battalion and the 1st/16 Luftlanding Battalion were ordered to seize the aerodrome at Manston and the rail and road junctions near Minster from elements of the British 198th Infantry Brigade. Once captured, air transports would immediately begin landing the 35th Infantry Division, which (it was hoped) would quickly overrun the surrounding ports and more than double the german logistical capacity.

Sources:

• [1] Kenneth Macksey 'Invasion - The Alternate History of the German Invasion of Britain, July 1940' 

• [2] Richard Cox 'Sealion'

• [3] Westfront ´Operation Sealion` scenario `Manston Sideshow` by D.Bevard