d day

Meanwhile, Royal Air Force fighter pilots in their spitfires and hurricanes, lashed back at the great German air force. And British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the British people looked forward to the day when England would attack. Then Hitler postponed his English invasion plans. it was, from his point of view, one if his greatest errors. He made another bad mistake in June 1941 by declaring war on Russia, until then his ally. His Italian and Japanese partners also made mistakes. They both attempted more than they had the strength to handle. Italy pushed the war into North Africa. Japan brought the United states into the conflict, on December 7th of that same year, by attacking Hawaii (Pearl Harbor) the Philippines and other American possessions in the Pacific. American military strategists, like the British, began to plan for the day when the Allies would invade Europe to destroy the powerful German army. In August 1942, when the United States was just beginning to turn its peacetime strength into military power, the British and Canadians actually made a small amphibious test raid across the Channel. it was aimed at the small French port of Dieppe. The raid was a disaster. nearly half the 6,100 British and Canadian soldiers who took part in it were killed or captured. Yet, despite its frightful cost, the Dieppe raid taught the Allies a valuable lesson. This was that the built-up seaports, like Dieppe, were too well fortified to be attacked successfully, and that the great assault should aim for open beaches. But a large invasion, depending on great quantities of ammunition, gasoline, food and countless other supplies, would need a port or excellent unloading facilities in France. So the raid inspired an idea that worked: the Allies would bring the port with them. On D-day they towed from England all parts of the temporary ports which they put together off the flat Normandy beaches.