May 1944
Preparing Overlord
On May 8, General Dwight D. Eisenhower determines the 5th of June 1944 to be the definitive date for Operation Overlord, the allied invasion of France. After over a year of planning and preparations, the Allies were about to deliver the decisive blow to the German 3rd Reich.
Plannings for the Invasion had begun much earlier. On the Casablance Conference in 1943, Churchill and Eisenhower reached agreement on the necessity to open a front in Northwestern Europe. In March 1943, General Frederick Morgan was made Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC). His task was to plan the invasion.
A Crucial point in the invasion plans were the supply routes. Once the invasion force had landed, everything they needed would have to be shipped in from Britain. Therefore, the focus was laid on the French coastline. Here, three locations seemed attractive: the Calais area offered the shortest supply routes, but was heavily fortified; the beaches of the Bretagne were suitable for a naval landing, but weather conditions were unpredictable and possibly too harsh. Detailed research work of the COSSAC-Staff revealed, that the Normandy beaches offered the best conditions for the assault. The Cotentin Peninsula would offer shelter from the harsh atlantic weather and the area was in range for the allied planes to deliver airborne support.
But still the Western Allies were reluctant to take the risk of the invasion. The British and Canadians still remembered failed attack on Dieppe and the Americans also had to allocate resources to the Pacific theatre. Additionally, allied troops were already deployed in Italy, making slow but constant progress northwards. Moreover, Germany became under increasing pressure on the eastern front.
Stalin suspected the Western Allies to bide their time and watch Russia and Germany weakening themselves in a war of attrition. On the Teheran Conference (November 28 - December 1 1943) he strongly demanded that the western allies would deliver the promised relief by opening a second front. Churchill and Roosevelt agreed and determined May 1944 to be the date of the Invasion. The Russians would themselves launch a large offensive in the east, putting pressure on the German army from two sides.
At the end of 1943 it was clear that the COSSAC plans were to be put into action.
In 1944, the British Island looked like a huge army camp. Until June more than 2 million men from various countries (mostly the US) would be employed in the preparations for the invasion. Complete villages were evacuated to make room for the soldiers. US Troops had already spent months of preparation and training in Britain, taking part in the two major exercises in April (Tiger) and May (Fabius). The presence of the G.I.s was not always to the delight of their hosts - hence the then famous British saying about their American guests: "Overpaid, oversexed and over here."