The Longest Day
...an invasion of France would be a success or failure. The Germans were on a roll with a chain of victories stretching through the first three years. They accomplished a devastating blow to Poland[i], forcing the French to surrender. Attempts at taking England were promising until the British Royal Air Force stopped them in the Battle of Britain. Following the horrors of the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor[ii], Hitler declared war on America and pushed Italy to follow suit.
The United States and the British argued over whether to invade Europe at the earliest point possible[iii] or to wait. Britain’s argument said that the chance of not securing a stronghold at a beachhead could hold them back as much as two years. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met in Teheran[iv] in November of 1943. At this time they agreed on the basic details. The plan included the landing of allied troops on different beaches, and also the battles that would follow, on the mission for Berlin. The shortest route in would be from Dover to Pas De Calais, however that is what the Germans expected and it would be heavily guarded. The decision to do in at Normandy was based upon a larger channel for bigger ships and an alleged weaker enemy.
The final revision of the invasion dubbed “Operation Overlord” was held in May 1944. The plan had taken nearly two years to materialize. Attending the review was everybody that had a role in the plan. Winston Churchill, General Dwight Eisenhower and General Bernard Montgomery were a few among the party. Many of the British Commanders were also in attendance.
The plan was complicated, precise and heavily relied on the element of surprise. Timing and coordination were of great importance, a failure at one of the hundred points could send the whole balanced plan in to chaos. The first assault wave would have six divisions, close to 80,000...
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