D-Day > Theater of Operations
If the Allies retained it necessary to make the offensive more powerful, why did
they choose to conduct an amphibious operation through the English Channel?
Were there no other options available?
And why were those particular shores chosen? What were the strategic and
tactical motivations?
Theater of Operations
vast region, geographically distinct, in the environment of which military
operations interact, even if they are not necessarily connected to each
other....It would also be called "area of the operations”
The decision regarding the invasion ripened during the conferences at Quebec
between Churchill and Eisenhower and at Teheran between Churchill, Eisenhower
and Stalin.
The choice of the theater of operations was made with the fundamental objective
constructing a bridgehead that would satisfy several important conditions:
1. Proximity to more secure and easy bases of departure
2. Proximity to the final objectives, the Ruhr (the industrial heart of
Germany) and Berlin
3. Possibility of locating a plausible the line of attack toward the objectives
before the landing
4. Cover or total air superiority of the zone of landing and operation.
With these conditions satisfied, once the success of the operation itself had
been reached, the opening of a new war front was foreseen, immediately averting
the possibility of being pushed back to the bases of departure.
The alternatives that the Allies evaluated were numerous:
An offensive in Italy could have been potentiated, but after
the promising beginning in Sicily in July of 1943 the advance revealed itself
as difficult and costly. The battle of Montecassino caused an upsetting number
of victims for the Allies, certainly more than what they were prepared to
endure. Reaching the heart of the Reich through the Alps or taking advantage of
the way east toward Vienna, to enter then in Germany, was unthinkable and
impassable. In mountainous territory defensive forces have an enormous
advantage and with little effort they can contain a far larger force.
An invasion in the Balkans would have opened a new front
threatening the south of Germany or the eastern front where the main part of
the Axis forces were concentrated to unite themselves with the Soviet forces or
to block them. This option, however, did not meet the wishes of Stalin, who had
interpreted it as an attempt to block the "liberation" of eastern Europe by the
Red Army.
An invasion in the south of France or along the Atlantic
coast of France would have opened a second front in Europe, but
too distant from the objectives. A crossing of the English Channel
would have brought the Allied forces closer to Berlin than how far away the
eastern front was from the capital of the Reich. And along the road to Berlin
was situated the industrial heart of Germany.
In the following pages the motivations that induced the Allies to choose
Normandy are explained and how the Allies
succeeded in deceiving the
Nazi High Command is analyzed. Continue with:
D-Day > Theater of Operations
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