“Well, Ike, you are going to command Overlord.”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 7th, 1943
By the end of 1943, it was assumed that Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall would command Operation Overlord. Roosevelt struggled with the idea of Marshall leading this invasion of France, as he greatly trusted the presence of this iconic military officer in Washington D.C. Knowing the historical significance of this position, Roosevelt did not want to diminish the World War II legacy of Marshall. The President repeatedly stated that he would have a “difficult time sleeping” if Marshall was out of the nation. Roosevelt acknowledged that few people recall the “Army Chief of Staff during the Civil War,” (General Henry Halleck), as most people identify the efforts of the victorious field General Ulysses S. Grant.
When asked about his preference in leadership positions, Marshall told Roosevelt he would obey any order that was given to him. During the Tehran Conference, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin questioned the timing and leadership of when the second front would occur in France. At this moment, Roosevelt informed Marshall that Eisenhower would be appointed the overall Allied commander to run the final phase of the war. One of our most capable generals ever to lead, Marshall was a stern figure, who would not have co-existed well with Montgomery and De Gaulle. Marshall was concerned that Eisenhower was too willing to give into the demands of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his military.
By May 1944, Eisenhower feared that the strategic window to attack Normandy became narrow due to the poor weather conditions. If the Allies were unable to attack, it was estimated that they would not be able to hit Normandy until July. Eisenhower and his subordinate commanders feared that the Germans were bound to discover the true nature of the attack at Normandy. As he smoked five packs a cigarette a day, Eisenhower was informed by his Chief Meteorologist Scottish Group Captain J.M. Stagg on June 4th of three day opening to conduct this historic operation. The weather arrived from the West as Stagg’s reports from Ireland saw a brief deterioration of these conditions. If Eisenhower did not wait until June 6th, it was possible that thousands of Allied soldiers who carried heavy gear might have drowned in the high waves and tides. On June 5th, Eisenhower held a second meeting to gain the final views of his staff, who overwhelmingly believed that the order should be given to attack Normandy.
It was vital for Eisenhower to give the order for the 6,483 Allied naval ships, barges, ferries, and landing craft to move across the channel. Thousands of paratroopers loaded onto the military planes with all of their weapons and equipment, as they prepared to jump behind the Normandy lines to prevent German reinforcements from reaching the beaches. Eisenhower feared the massive fortifications of the German Wehrmact’s “Atlantic Wall” construction that began in 1942. Armed with soldiers, mines, heavy guns, and defensive barriers, this structure stretched 2,000 miles from Spain to Norway. There were 1.2 million tons of steel and 17 million cubic meters of concrete that were poured, at today’s cost $206 Billion dollars.
During the June 5th meeting, for five minutes, Eisenhower said nothing and he carefully weighed the risks of this plan. The Supreme Commander understood that if this invasion failed against Normandy, it would jeopardize this second front in France to defeat the Germans. His Chief of Staff General Walter “Beetle” Smith observed, “I never realized before the loneliness and isolation of a commander at a time when such a momentous decision has to be taken, with the full knowledge that failure or success rests on his judgment alone.”
One of the finest card players in the army, Eisenhower took a huge gamble, but he felt confident the order must be given to invade Normandy. As the Allied war machine maneuvered to carry out this assault, Eisenhower wrote a letter taking full responsibility for making this decision, if this operation failed. With Allied ships and planes heading towards Normandy, Field Marshal Erwin J. Rommel never believed that Eisenhower would risk this assault through the poor weather, and he traveled back to Germany to celebrate his wife’s birthday. The Germans were deceived by this attack, as they believed that Calais was always the true target. Once Hitler was finally awoken to brief him, he refused to allow Panzer Tanks from Calais to support his troops in Normandy. This mistake allowed Allied soldiers the ability to establish a beachhead to bring in reinforcements, supply, and armor. Later, when asked about the foundations of the D-Day assault order, Eisenhower grinned and stated that “we had better meteorologists than the Germans.”