The Second Front in WWII

Paper Summary:

The paper explains the military and political considerations that recommended the establishment of a second front against Germany in Western Europe in 1942. The paper then discusses, however, the conditions that had to be met before any large-scale invasion of Western Europe could be mounted. The paper therefore shows how despite the protestations to the contrary on the part of both Moscow and Washington, mounting a cross-channel invasion of Nazi-occupied France in 1942 would, as Churchill argued, have proven militarily impossible.

From the Paper:

"Though in late 1941 the Soviet Union had repulsed German efforts to capture Moscow and thus bring the war in the East to a quick conclusion, Soviet prospects for surviving the Nazi onslaught which would resume in the spring of 1942 appeared bleak. It is against this background that Stalin desperately asked Roosevelt and Churchill to establish a second front in Western Europe with a view to diverting German divisions from the eastern front and thus relieving pressure on the hard-pressed Red army (LaFeber, p. 9). Apart from the obvious military rational for such a course, a number of political considerations recommended it."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Grossman, R., class lecture, History 1130 Modern History-1939 to Present, Summer 2009, Langara College.
• Gardner, L. (1989). Soviet-U.S. Relations, 1933-1942. Progress Publishers, Moscow, pp. 104-120.
• LaFeber, W. (2006). America, Russia, and the Cold War 1945-2006. McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 9-32.
• Stoler, M., (1975). The "Second Front" and American Fear of Soviet Expansion, 1941-1943. Military Affairs, 39(3), 136- 141.
• Stoler, M., (1989). Soviet-U.S. Relations, 1933-1942. Progress Publishers, Moscow, pp. 88-103.

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