![]() ![]() In 1943, this battle is won by the Allied forces. An intense anti-submarine battle starts in the Atlantic between the allied surface vessels and the German submarines. Late 1942, the first transport ships leave the United States and reach the United Kingdom. The American and Canadian troops first train on their own soil, but it is already necessary to transfer their armies accroos the Atlantic toward England, which becomes the starting point of the attack in Europe. Initially, within the framework of the preparation of the invasion, the allied armies must be equipped and trained in order to carry out various and precise missions. To carry out the preparation of the European invasion, it is necessary for the Allies to gather their troops in Great-Britain in preparation for a greater scale operation in France, which is by then called “Round-up”. Thus, the soldiers can train on the other side of the Channel and they can even test the resistance of the tanks on this particular type of sand. The composition of the Norman beaches is relatively close to those that can be find along Western England. The Norman coast is mostly composed of sandy beaches. Why did the Allies choose Normandy? The Britanny coasts are too far away from England, the grounds in Holland are flooded and do not allow the installation of a solid beachhead, the currents of the Belgian coasts are very strong and thus dangerous, and the Germans await the Allies in the Pas-de-Calais area. The strategy is presented in August 1943 at the Quebec conference: Normandy is the starting point of the allied invasion in Western Europe. The opinions are very divided within the allied officers. The COSSAC must first of all define the invasion location in Western Europe. The purposes of the COSSAC are as follows: to choose the exact place of the landing, to collect as much information as possible from the previous combined operations (operations in North Africa: “Sledghammer” and “Torch”, and in Northern France : “Jubilee”), and to deal with the troops transport issues. It is the “Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander”, led by Frederick Morgan. ![]() The combined operations bureau is led by the “COSSAC”. The combined operations during amphibious operations refer to a new military concept for the leading nations which discover its importance during World War II. To set up the operation which aims at opening a new front in Western Europe, the Allies create a new command composed of several combined operations. General presentation of the preparations for the Normandy landings COSSAC ![]()
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