Under Adolf Hitler the German empire extended from Russia to the west, to France on the east. Germany controlled much of Europe except for Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, and Sweden (Keegan 1). Hitler's army's gained control of much of Europe during the years of 1939 through 1941. It was not until December 11th 1941 that Hitler declared war on the United States. Soon afterward, Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed supreme commander in charge of planning the invasion of Europe. American invasion planners were in favor of an attack across the English Channel that would defeat the German army in the west and later, push into the German capital of Berlin. The allied plan would be a land attack, supported by air power and navy. The attack, if successful, would mark the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany.
Adolf Hitler referred to his western defenses as the "Atlantic Wall"(Jennys 1). The British under Prime Minister Winston Churchill, had an invasion plan before the United States got into the war. When the United States entered the war, a plan to attack the German forces from England was talked about again. The Germans knew that they would have to defend their Atlantic Wall, since they knew that an attack would probably come across the English Channel. Even though England was bombed day and night, Germany was unable to defeat them. One major problem in defending the "Atlantic Wall" was "no single supreme German commander in the west" was named to command the army (Badsey 25). Instead, Hitler had two commanders in Western Europe, Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt and Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Rundstedt and Rommel could not agree on how best to defend an invasion from England. Rommel believed that the strongest German forces should be positioned along the Normandy coastline. While Rundstedt believed that the allies would best be defeated by holding back a large central army in an effective counter attack (Jennys 1).
