..which problem is the RAF going to be screaming down the phone about?
You mean politely and calmly enquiring which targets the army would most like them to bomb?
No, as in "have the reaction forces (
Milforce) moved out in our direction on their sweep yet? Have they even left Tunbridge Wells to
get into position? Or do we start ploughing up a perfectly good runway
now?"
Which leads on to
From 45 Div. defence scheme
'(b) as regards action from the air - to defeat
any enemy air borne tps and parachutists
landing in the Div. area.
If the scale of these landings is so great as to
make it impossible to defeat the enemy unaided, the task
of the Division is to restrict his movements and limit his
activities until reinforcements can arrive to complete
his defeat.'
'In order to prevent small dets scattered throughout
the area from being quickly overrun by greatly superior
numbers of the enemy which may be dropped or landed from the
air, such strength as is available inland is to be concentrated
as far as possible to hold either nodal 'towns' or "fortresses"
or certain natural Stop Lines.'
Down at the unit level, each particular formation had its OWN orders - 7th Brigade for instance were not to leave the Chatham/Maidstone area but react to airborne atttacks
there (if they happened) Units with specific orders/objectives to hold weren't to go wandering over the landscape in reaction to panicked phonecalls from farmers -it was
Milforce/5th Brigade that specifically were to sweep east to clear the hinterland behind Folkestone and Dover of parachutists...
The order from GHQ Home Forces ran as follows: ‘Emergency Move. NZ Force and 8 R Tanks under command General Freyberg will move to area EAST of TUNBRIDGE WELLS to be selected by Commander 12 Corps. On arrival this area FORCE will come under command of 12 Corps and will be held in reserve for counter offensive role.’ For further information the General went to GHQ Home Forces, where he learnt what the commander had not been willing to say over the telephone—that after the heavy bombardment of Dover from Gris Nez, Mr Churchill had ordered that if an invasion took place and Dover was captured it must be retaken at all costs. To take part in this all-important counter-attack the New Zealand brigades were being transferred to the outskirts of the Dover-Folkestone area. The signals strength for this role was increased by 100 British signallers who had served in France or Norway, 8 Royal Tank Regiment came under command and, after 12 September, 157 Anti-Aircraft Battery.
The brigades left Aldershot late on 5 September, stopping and starting all through the night, listening to the drone of aircraft on their way to bomb London and eventually settling down under cover in the woods before first light. East of Maidstone there was 5 Brigade, north of the Maidstone-Charing road was 7 Brigade, now commanded by Brigadier Falconer, and at Charing there was Milforce, an armoured group, commanded by Brigadier Miles and formally constituted the following morning.
On T-Tag, they would have to
reach their start line for the sweep...then move off. If you remember when discussed before this would take them several hours at best (though faster than the FJ could turn-round in France to drop their Second Wave
) to cross-country to Lympne, THEN several more (NOT taking into account opposition) to reach the outskirts of Dover - that's IF they don't meet concentrated resistance by any of the FJ battalions. If this happens, that that actual contact slows up their sweep, the more time they take...and the more chance they eventually run into the
amphibious assault coming the other way from the coast.
The reason they were identified as a reaction force was because at dawn everyone else might be a bit preoccupied by what's sweeping (okay chugging slowly) towards the beaches to be able to detach forces and send them rearwards...
Nearest about 9 crow miles from Aycliffe by my reckoning, further to the Langdon battery which is the east side of Dover. Not that it matters.
Apparently from a selection of distance calculators 9 miles by road - but 7 in a straight line...plus or minus misdrops on the day. But their instructions
weren't to come to the rescue of the Dover assault.
If the gliders are coming in at dawn the defenders can blooming well see them.
There isn't actually
that much light AT dawn....as some time after when the sun is fully risen. Yes they MIGHT be backlit...but who says they'll be coming straight out of the dawn over the Channel? They'll approach their run-in from whatever direction the
wind and LZ dictate, not the sun.
If you remember the various threads touching on KM mining operations, they knew where the war channels were well enough to try and lay mines in them by destroyer, submarine AND aircraft through late 1939 well into 1940
There's a difference between laying a few mines in a channel to get an occasional merchant and laying enough to block the RN from coming through.
It still doesn't solve the problem that the Germans didn't have enough mines to do what their plan called for.
If you have to block a few square miles in total with random pattern rather than an anti-submarine pattern, yes there's a difference - it's a lot easier. The Germans weren't interested in laying out a nice grid pattern at various depths to block the Channel
for transiting uboats - which is what the BRITISH did, same as in WWI...they want to block it from surface traffic. Plus they don't have to actually use a huge number - the point however is the
BRITISH have to sweep their route of approach
daily and certainly before any surface units attempt to run the blockade, given that the LW can drop mines by night into channels (small "c") that have already been cleared.
Again if they do so then the British can sweep a hole through their own mine fields which being known should be much easier to do
...which is where the LW come in; minesweepers sailing in nice straight lines???
(P.S. having charts of the minefields wasn't fullproof; yes, after the war the British did "clear" their mine barriers...but not completely/perfectly. As a kid, fishingboats catching stray floaters wasn't uncommon 20-30 years later...)
So much for your them having warning about ground fog. If the invasion is dependent on this what happens if there is fog or even low clouds?
There won't be low clouds, or at least enough as to be a problem. If there was - no invasion, for no air support. Remember Goering's demand?
Twenty years ago we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs....
Lord, please keep Kevin Bacon alive...
They just need to clear where they want....and plug gaps between sections of the British barrages and the various banks and shallows where they want to re-orient them. Nor do they need to be in any way as thick or evenly spread as an anti-submarine barrage - they want to stop surface ships 
With those drops immediately threatening Hawkinge and later Lympne, which operation is the defenders going to react to?