What’s more, if Hitler had listened to his Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, matters might have been worse for the Allies landing at Normandy. Meanwhile, the rest of the French coastline-including the northern beaches of Normandy-was less fiercely defended. The top candidate for an Allied invasion was believed to be the French port city of Calais, where the Germans installed three massive gun batteries. But without the money and manpower to install a continuous line of defense, the Nazis focused on established ports. In 1942 Germany began construction on the Atlantic Wall, a 2,400-mile network of bunkers, pillboxes, mines and landing obstacles up and down the French coastline. But thanks in large part to a brilliant Allied deception campaign and Hitler’s fanatical grip on Nazi military decisions, the D-Day invasion of Jbecame precisely the turning point that the Germans most feared. Hitler thought he was ready–but Nazi defenses were focused in the wrong place.Īdolf Hitler arriving at the Berlin Sportpalast, being greeted by Nazi salutes, circa 1940.Īs early as 1942, Adolf Hitler knew that a large-scale Allied invasion of France could turn the tide of the war in Europe. The move worked, the bombing plan went ahead and, historians argue, Eisenhower showed the depth of his dedication to making D-Day a successful operation and defeating the Nazis. Facing this opposition, Eisenhower threatened to step down from his position. Harris saw the plan as a waste of resources, while Churchill was concerned about collateral damage to France-an important ally. But others, including Churchill and Arthur “Bomber” Harris, head of the Royal Air Force’s strategic bomber command, didn’t see it that way. Eisenhower wanted to divert Allied strategic bombers that had been hammering German industrial plants to instead begin bombing critical French infrastructure.įor Eisenhower, the switch in bombing seemed like a no-brainer. Eisenhower and English Prime Minister Winston Churchill were at odds over a controversial plan. Just a few months before the D-Day invasion, Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D.
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