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Operation Sledgehammer was a World War II Allied plan for a cross-Channel invasion of Europe, as the first step in helping to reduce pressure on the Soviet Red Army by establishing a Second Front. Essentially, Allied forces were to seize the French ports of either Brest or Cherbourg during the early autumn of 1942 along with areas of the Cotentin Peninsula, and then amass troops for a breakout in the spring of 1943, and as such, was a contingency alternative to Operation Roundup, the original Allied plan for the invasion of Europe in 1943. The operation was eagerly pressed for by both the United States military and the Soviet Union, but it was never actually carried out as it was finally realized that it was wholly impractical at that period in time, an assessment which was indicated by the Dieppe Raid of August 1942. ==History== After the United States entered World War II, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff pressed for an invasion of mainland Europe via the English Channel "as soon as possible", i.e. the early part of 1942. The British were, however, reluctant, as it was felt that other places had a higher priority, the time was not right and insufficient men and landing craft were available. The U.S. tended to regard this reluctance as an example of British caution but since at the time they lacked the resources to carry out such an operation themselves, the result was stalemate, along with increased pressure on the British, which began in March 1942 with a letter from President Roosevelt to Winston Churchill: On 8 April, General George Marshall and Harry Hopkins arrived in Britain to press the case for two possible American plans for a landing in Occupied France: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Sledgehammer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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