It is all laid out in Liddell Hart’s book “The German Generals speak”, 1948. Very illuminating section of the book, one ignored by almost every historian as it does not validate the “Battle of Britain” narrative which most of us grew up with.
The fact was Hitler did not want to fight England. By not inflicting a humiliating defeat, he thought he was paving a way for a peace treaty. He made such an offer, both in speech and by two separate intermediaries in the summer of 1940. At least that is what the officers who were there at the time were told was the reason for the halt order and allowing the UK to withdraw their men.
Looked at in that light a lot of the German decisions in the July to October 1940 time frame make a lot more sense.
Yes, the Germans basically told Britain they could keep their Empire, they merely wanted an Empire of their own. In Hitler’s mind he couldn’t understand why Britain wouldn’t agree with that deal, especially since the Brits certainly didn’t have much love for the Soviets.
But once somebody turned Hitler down, he didn’t forgive. And he let the biggest Brit-hater, von Ribbentrop, have his ear.
Although Hitler distanced himself from Rudolf Hesse and his peace trip via Messerschmidt to Great Britain , I believe has was probably asked by Hitler to give the ultimate sacrifice for his fuhrer, and did so willingly. By then Churchill was not going to permit any negotiations and demanded unconditional surrender.