Operation Roundup (1942): Difference between revisions

The plan, for an invasion in the spring of 1943, drawn up by [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower]], reflected American enthusiasm for an early entry into Europe.<ref name = "este">Carlo d'Este, ''Decision in Normandy'', Penguin, 2004, pp. 24-35.</ref> Senior British commanders and politicians were reluctant to commit themselves to the invasion plan; mindful of the painful losses during the [[Battle of the Somme]] (where, on the [[first day on the Somme|first day of the battle]], the [[British Army]] lost almost 60,000 men) and the [[Battle of Passchendaele]] in the [[World War I|First World War]], they preferred to avoid a direct assault on a powerful enemy. [[Winston Churchill]], the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]], preferred a strategy of attacking [[Wehrmacht|German forces]] in the Mediterranean instead (which he referred to as the "soft underbelly"), while other [[British Armed Forces|British military]] leaders hoped to defer an invasion until the Germans had been worn down by fighting on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] against the [[Red Army|Russian Army]].<ref name="morison">[[Samuel Eliot Morison]], ''The Invasion of France and Germany'', ISBN 0-316-58311-1, pp 7-17</ref> Churchill's plan would allow relatively inexperienced [[United States Armed Forces|American forces]] to gain experience in a less risky [[Theater (warfare)|theatre of war]] while gradually building up overwhelming force before engaging Germany head on.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Husen|first1=editor, David T. Zabecki ; assistant editors, Carl O. Schuster, Paul J. Rose, William H. Van|title=World War II in Europe : an encyclopedia|date=1999|publisher=Garland Pub.|isbn=9780824070298|page=1270|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gYDN-UfehEEC&pg=PA1270&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiNp_GU4vXLAhUBWxQKHd9CDkQQ6AEIPTAG#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Mackenzie|first1=S.P.|title=The Second World War in Europe: Second Edition|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1317864719|page=54-55|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GsUFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA55&&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwicw4jk4PXLAhVBlhQKHepMDJUQ6AEINzAF#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>

Given shortages of merchant shipping, [[landing craft]], and other resources, the Roundup plan was considered to be unrealistic; it called for a force consisting of 48 [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] [[Division (military)|divisions]] and 5,800 aircraft, with a landing on broad [[beachhead]]s between the [[France|French]] ports of [[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]] and [[Le Havre]].<ref name="morison"/> By comparison, the eventual [[Normandy landings]], which occurred over a year later in June 1944, featured only 39 Allied divisions.