Eisenhower’s Yes: Operation Overlord

General Dwight D. Eisenhower knew he was fast approaching a crucial moment in the Western theater of the Second World War. In the early morning hours of June 5, 1944, Eisenhower was faced with one of the hardest decisions of his life, and one of the hardest questions regarding this War. He had to choose whether to delay the start of the D-Day invasion or give the go-ahead to one of the riskiest operations in the War, Operation Overlord, in spite of not having ideal conditions. This decision rested on Eisenhower alone, and would be the deciding point as to how the war would continue and would be a major step in taking Europe back from the Nazis. While trying to reach this decision, Eisenhower must have been thinking back to how he had gotten here and how the course of the war had unfolded up to this point.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Eisenhower was called back to Washington D.C. and was then put on the War Plans Division alongside his senior officer, General Marshall. In this position, Eisenhower was able to learn about how complicated running a coalition could be, but it helped him learn the ins and outs of such an operation, and that prepared him for what was to come. Eisenhower soon found himself in charge of the European theater operations for the United States, and he had to handle the challenges that came with running a joint force operation in 1942.⁴ Eisenhower was committed to ensuring that there was cooperation between the British and American forces that were under his command. He made sure that if there were any issue within the Allied Forces that it was not seen as a British and American issue but rather as one of different ideas and viewpoints. His prior experience working with various personalities and with coalitions made him well suited to this role.⁵

Eisenhower’s commitment impressed the British commanders as well and many others, including Winston Churchill, most growing to like and admire Eisenhower. Eisenhower’s determination and relationship with the British is what led him to being appointed commander of the Allied forces for Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, in 1942.⁶ One of the reasons that Operation Torch was commenced was Stalin’s insistence that the Allies open up another front to pressure Germany. During Operation Torch, Eisenhower was able to get the combat experience that he needed to assess the state of the U.S. Army. He was also able to get his soldiers some battlefield experience. Operation Torch helped to show Eisenhower where the failings in the Allied Forces were, so he could start adjusting the command structure to ensure that they were ready to keep fighting. Due to these growing pains, Operation Torch started off rough, due to the inexperience of American troops, but it ended successfully. The success of Operation Torch led to the invasion of Sicily and Italy, as the Allies continued their successful push into Axis territory.⁷ During the invasions of Sicily and Italy, Eisenhower was able to find a balance in how his forces would be managed going forward. Eisenhower himself would mainly focus on the political issues of the coalition, dealing with the many different personalities that made up the coalition, in order to hold it together. Other members under him would deal with the details of military operations. These members were mainly the British commanders working with him. This balance was necessary as Ike was lacking battlefield experience when compared to the other commanders, and they lacked Eisenhower’s diplomacy. This balance ensured that the Allied Forces were reaching their maximum potential.⁸ The Allies became emboldened after their victories in Africa, Sicily, and Italy, and were ready to make their largest push yet, Operation Overlord.

On December 6, 1943, Eisenhower was appointed as the Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force and was in charge of overseeing and executing Operation Overlord. Eisenhower immediately started planning for the execution of Overlord. He started to choose the people he wanted to help him execute Overlord. He was unable to get everyone that he wanted, but he ended up with a great team that included a few familiar faces. General Omar Bradley was commanding the U.S. First Army, Patton was in charge of the U.S. Third Army, General Montgomery was the Assault Phase Commander, and Air Marshall Trafford Leigh-Mallory was in charge of the tactical air forces. Eisenhower oversaw this group of commanders, and he did his best to make sure that they were working together smoothly. Eisenhower preferred to empower those below him to make their own decisions and to take initiative, while he worked to make sure that they all worked together and accounted for the big picture.¹⁰ Even though this was Eisenhower’s preferred management style, there were four major decisions that rested almost fully on Eisenhower.

One of the first major decisions that Eisenhower had to make was to choose what bombing plan the Allied force was to use leading up to the commencement of Overlord. There were two main options to choose from. Either the Transportation Plan or the Oil Plan. The Oil Plan was focused on bombing German oil supplies in the hope of depriving them of their gas power and hopefully causing scarcity to be an issue for the Germans. The Transportation Plan was focused on taking out key bridges and communication systems in order to prevent the Germans from being able to efficiently send reinforcements to the invasion site, hopefully causing a delay. Eisenhower decided to go with the Transportation Plan even though many people, including Churchill, were urging him to chose the Oil Plan.¹¹

The second decision that Eisenhower had to make was over the location of the invasion: would it be at Normandy or at the Pas de Calais? There were arguments for both of these sites. The argument made for the Normandy site was made by the British and they wanted a three-pronged landing at Normandy because this is where the German defenses were the weakest. The Americans were arguing for the Pas de Calais and they wanted a five-division landing into the main chunk of the German defenses. Eisenhower chose to compromise and went with the Normandy site but instead of a three-pronged landing, Eisenhower chose to go with the five-division landing so there would be more opportunities for success.¹²

Eisenhower’s handling of this situation is reflective of how he dealt with most conflicts he faced, with a willingness to compromise, and with a tactical view. This led to the third decision that Eisenhower would have to make: whether or not to drop U.S. paratroop units behind enemy lines in order to help capture the beachfronts. Many people argued that dropping paratroopers behind enemy lines would just lead to their deaths. Despite many advisers telling him otherwise, Eisenhower went ahead with the decision to drop paratroopers behind enemy lines. He did not make this decision lightly; he made sure to personally visit the airborne divisions that this order would affect.¹³

The last decision that Eisenhower had to make was to give the ‘go ahead’ order for the invasion on June 6, 1944. It was a hard choice on Eisenhower, as the weather conditions were not ideal. Overlord called for a crossing of the English Channel into Normandy, and in order to do so, the weather had to be perfect or it could disrupt the boat landings as well as the anticipated air support that was crucial to the invasion being successful. The Allies were constantly monitoring the weather, and it seemed like June 5, 1944, would be clear enough for the plan to succeed. As it got closer to the start of June, the weather reports were becoming uncertain about how the conditions would be on June 5, 1944. On June 1 reports started to come in that the weather could be slightly stormy, as there were storms approaching. No decision was yet made, but there was more monitoring of the storms until June 4, when it seemed certain that the weather would be too poor to make the crossing effectively. There was a chance that there might be a brief calm on June 6 where Overlord could be launched. If that option was not taken, the next opportunity would not be until June 19.¹⁴

Eisenhower had to decide if he wanted to hold off on the invasion for two weeks or if he wanted to risk it and launch Overlord on June 6. Both sides had points in their favor. Overlord was an all or nothing assault for the Allies. If it failed, the casualty count would be huge and there would be nothing to show for it. There was no Plan B, and such a failure would have crippled the American and British war effort. With this in mind, it would be incredibly risky to launch Overlord when the weather was uncertain and it alone might cause the failure. On the other hand, it had been a huge struggle to plan the logistics for the invasion and keep it secret from the Germans. If Eisenhower was to delay the invasion, there would be a risk that the Germans might catch wind of the invasion plans and the Allies would lose the element of surprise. It would also risk bringing down the morale of the troops if the invasion was further delayed. All of this weighed heavily in Eisenhower’s mind as he tried to decide on his plan of action. He knew that picking the wrong choice would be disastrous. Eisenhower looked to his advisers for advice, but they were also split on how to proceed; the final call was his. After many hours thinking about the decision, Eisenhower sat down and wrote a press release accepting full responsibility for any failure that might occur. He believed, as the man in charge of the operation, the only fault would be his, as he was the one to make the call. He knew that this release would effectively be his resignation if things went poorly. He then returned and gave the ‘go ahead’ order for Operation Overlord to commence.¹⁵

Operation Overlord was launched on June 6, 1944, a day now commonly referred to as D-Day. There were over 7,000 ships and landing crafts used in the invasion and it ended with 850,279 men landing and taking the Normandy beaches over the next few days. The landing on the five beachheads was successful, and after a lot of fighting, the Allied forces were able to successfully start their push into German-controlled France.¹⁶ While the initial invasion was successful, there were still some setbacks, but this marked an amazing victory for the Allies and would be crucial in the push back against German forces. The Allies eventually went on to win the war, with Germany surrendering on May 7, 1945, and thus marking victory in Europe.¹⁷ Eisenhower’s amazing leadership qualities, especially his ability to deal with many different personalities, is what enabled Operation Overlord to go off successfully. Eisenhower would continue to be a great leader for the Allied Forces in Europe and would eventually get himself elected President of the United States. The great relationships that Eisenhower forged with the leaders of this period allowed Eisenhower to become a great president.