The Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the Operations in Southern France
Abstract
The decision to launch an amphibious operation against the shores of Southern France in conjunction with a major invasion effort in Northern France in 1944, and the early planning for such an operation in the Mediterranean Theatre, ante-date my assumption of command in that Theater. The Combined Chiefs of Staff had decided on a diversionary attack on Southern France as early as the Quadrant Conference in Quebec the preceding August, but the decision for a major assault was taken by the Combined Chiefs of Staff at the Sextant Conference held in Cairo late in November 1943, which I attended in my capacity as Commander-in-Chief Middle East. The decision was subsequently embodied in agreements with Soviet Russia reached at the Teheran Conference, where Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt conferred with Marshal Stalin. These agreement reached in Teheran, I cannot agree without Stalin's approval to any use of force or equipment elsewhere that might delay or hazard the success of either of these two complementary operations which were to create the "Second Front" in Europe. In fact, the Combined Chiefs of Staff decided to postpone amphibious operations tentatively scheduled for 1944 in the bay of Bengal until 1945, in order to divert the necessary landing craft to support the European operations. In their final report, they described the two assaults on France as the "Supreme Operations" of 1944.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1944
- Accession Number
- ADA637882