HIST 388 Lecture 16: Hist 388 16
Document Summary
Churchill and the chiefs of staff sought to weaken germany through a strategic air offensive and attacks elsewhere to disperse german forces before a land attack; American leaders didn"t want to wait to see if the ussr would collapse or not; General marshall (us chief of general staff of the army) was convinced that the only way forward was an immediate land attack through the shortest route. Stalin was pleased with the decision of torch and offered a simultaneous offensive on the eastern front (june 22nd 1944) which destroyed in the military sense army group. On april 1st 1944 immediate preparations began for the normandy invasion . American"s would attack the utah and omaha beaches, while the british and. Canadians took gold, juno (where the canadians were concentrated) and sword. The bombing campaign in france was effective; the german army command couldn"t do much about it (loss of communications) because the bombing didn"t suggest a pattern/region for the proposed landings.
