The Home Guard as a brake on Sea Lion

Could the Home Guard withstand the firepower of regular German troops?

Its useful role would have been costly delaying actions and local ambushes while regular forces moved up, rather than a prolonged battle on equal terms.

The Home Guard's proposed contribution depended on delaying German troops long enough for regular British formations to arrive. Lightly equipped defenders could use familiar corners, roads, and bottlenecks to ambush an advancing force, even if they could not win a sustained exchange against its full firepower. The cost to the defenders could be severe. A later explanation stresses moving between positions and hiding rather than remaining exposed after firing. Such resistance would interfere with the speed that a landing force needed to expand its foothold. The argument describes a possible delaying role, since the Home Guard never fought the invasion for which it prepared.