The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

Britain would not now roll over. And that meant he had to attack her,
swiftly and decisively, once and for all.
Dreams of future projects had to remain just that for the time being.
Hitler still did not know what to do about Britain, so he told Goebbels he
was going to leave Berlin and head to his favourite place in the world – the
Obersalzburg, above the town of Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps,
where he had built his house, the Berghof. There he would see his
commanders, hear their views on matters and mull things over. He left
Berlin on 10 July.
Grossadmiral Raeder, C-in-C of the Kriegsmarine, visited him on 11
July, discussing with him the results of their preliminary investigations into
an invasion of Britain. Raeder felt it should be attempted only as a last
resort. However, he also believed Britain could be forced to sue for peace
by a blockade and heavy air attacks, particularly on her ports, which would
make a forced invasion unnecessary. High amongst his concerns was
whether it would be possible to clear a large enough area of mines, and
pointed out that this cleared stretch of the Channel would also need its own
flanking minefields. Collecting the necessary transport vessels would also
be no easy matter and would take time. Having listened carefully, Hitler
agreed that invasion should be the last resort, Raeder suggested. He also
accepted that air superiority was essential.
The next day, however, came Jodl’s latest appreciation, which was
approved by Keitel and was decidedly more bullish. Yes, the Royal Navy
had command of the sea, but that could be locally resolved by command of
the air at the necessary crossing point of the Channel. He accepted that most
of Britain’s army would be in the south-east of England so suggested
treating an invasion as a river crossing in force, with a large number of
troops on a broad crossing front. The first wave of landings had to be very
strong, which meant making the narrow sea lane in the Dover Straits
completely secure. Jodl had called the landing Operation LION.
Next in the stream of commanders trooping up to the Berghof were von
Brauchitsch and Halder, who were to attend a joint meeting with Jodl,
Keitel and Raeder. Leaving Fontainebleau in France at 8 a.m. on the 13th,
they landed in Salzburg just over two hours later, then drove to the Berghof,
arriving around 11 a.m. An hour later, Halder gave his briefing, outlining
what they knew of Britain’s defences, his own plans for organizing an
invasion force, and suggesting, as had Jodl, that they treat it as a ‘river