Hitler planned to halt invasion at Northampton

Adolf Hitler was plotting to make Northampton his northernmost outpost in an invasion of Britain, according to secret war documents unearthed by Oxford University academics.

The Nazi leader hatched a plan to land his forces on the south coast in 1940.

They were then expected to take all the major towns and cities in their path, as far north as Northampton.

Once they had conquered the town, Hitler expected the rest of the demoralised nation would crumble and quickly succumb to German occupation.

The details of Hitler's doomed masterplan, known as Unternehmen Seelowe – which translates as Operation Sealion– are revealed in a book published this week by Oxford's Bodleian Library .