Adolf Hitler referred to his western defenses as the “Atlantic Wall”(Jennys 1). The British under Prime Minister Winston Churchill, had an invasion plan before the United States got into the war. When the United States entered the war, a plan to attack the German forces from England was talked about again. The Germans knew that they would have to defend their Atlantic Wall, since they knew that an attack would probab

ly come across the English Channel. Even though England was bombed day and night, Germany was unable to defeat them. One major problem in defending the ‘Atlantic Wall” was “no single supreme German commander in the west” was named to command the army (Badsey 25). Instead, Hitler had two commanders in Western Europe, Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Rundstedt and Rommel could not agree on how best to defend an invasion from England. Rommel believed that the strongest German forces should be positioned along the Normandy coastline. While Rundstedt believed that the allies would best be defeated by holding back a large central army in an effective counter attack (Jennys 1). Even though Germany had “61 divisions, of which eleven were armored, to defend France,” neither Rommel nor Rundstedt would succeed in defending the “Atlantic Wall” (Badsey 25)

The battle of Normandy had been a stunning success despite the loss of life and many wounded soldiers. Despite the early and bloody setbacks for allied troops on the beaches of Normandy, Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall” had crumbled. The Germans were only able to keep the allied army’s back for two months. In August the allies were able to break through the German defenses and within nine more months Germany would surrender.

In a November-December 1943 meeting between President Roosevelt and Russian leader Joseph Stalin, it was decided that two large attacks against Germany would take place at the same time. The United States along with England and Canada would attack Germany across the English Channel on the western front. Stalin and his Russian army would invade Germany from the east. These actions would take place together and at the same time. In January 1943, Eisenhower and his staff devised the western attack plan and called it “Operation Overlord.” This invasion would land in Normandy between Caen and the Cotentin Peninsula (Keegan 2).

The Overlord plan called for much consideration and strategic planning. Eisenhower and his planners at SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) picked and early June date for “D-Day.” “D-Day” is a term us

Some topics in this essay:
British American, Germany France, Marshal Gerd, Hampshire Regiment, British Canadian, England Rommel, English Channel, West Omaha, Channel England, Expeditionary Force, air forces, air power, omaha beach, western front, english channel, marshal gerd von, ground troops, attack german, german defenses, german forces, allies planned, gerd von rundstedt, german 352nd infantry,