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{{Short description|Planned World War II military operation}}
{{About|a World War II military operation|the 2012 Somali National Army and AMISOM offensive|Battle of Kismayo (2012)|the 2007 Operation that was part of Operation Marne Torch|Operation Sledgehammer (2007)}}
'''Operation Sledgehammer''' was an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] plan for a cross-[[English Channel|Channel]] invasion of Europe during [[World War II]], as the first step in helping to reduce pressure on the Soviet [[Red Army]] by establishing a [[Western Front (World War II)|Second Front]]. It was to be executed in 1942 and acted as a contingency alternative to [[Operation Roundup (1942)|Operation Roundup]], the original Allied plan for the invasion of Europe in 1943. Allied forces were to seize the French Atlantic ports of either [[Brest, France|Brest]] or [[Cherbourg-Octeville|Cherbourg]] and areas of the [[Cotentin Peninsula]] during the early autumn of 1942, and amass troops for a breakout in the spring of 1943.
The operation was eagerly pressed for by both the United States military and the Soviet Union, but rejected by the British, who concluded a landing in France was premature, and hence impractical.
==History==
=== Background ===
After the United States entered World War II in December 1941, the U.S. [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] pressed for an invasion of [[mainland Europe]] via the English Channel "as soon as possible". In March 1942, in a letter to British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]], U.S. President [[Franklin Roosevelt]] wrote:
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===Operation Sledgehammer plan===
Sledgehammer was a plan to capture the French seaports of either Brest or Cherbourg during the early autumn of 1942 if Germany or the Soviet Union was at the brink of collapse.<ref>{{cite book|url= http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/sp1943-44/introduction.htm |title=Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare 1943–1944|chapter= Introduction: The Basis of Strategy|publisher=Center of Military History United States Army|date=1990|access-date=April 9, 2016 |last= Matloff |first= Maurice}}</ref> Sledgehammer was to be carried out mainly by British troops as the Americans could only supply two or three trained divisions in time.<ref>{{Cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hF8SDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT223|title=The Marshall Story: A Biography of General George C. Marshall|last= Payne |first=Robert|date=2017-02-07|publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing |isbn=978-1-
However, the elements required for such an operation were lacking: air superiority, amphibious warfare equipment, sufficient forces and adequate supply. In spite of this, the Joint Chiefs of Staff considered Sledgehammer to be feasible.
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{{Further|List of Allied World War II conferences}}
British officials pressed for action in North Africa, which would allow relatively-inexperienced American forces to gain experience in a less risky theatre and the gradual buildup of overwhelming force before Germany was engaged head on.<ref name="Husen1999">{{cite book|editor-first1=David T. |editor-last1=Zabecki |others=Assistant editors: Carl O. Schuster, Paul J. Rose, William H. Van Husen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYDN-UfehEEC&pg=PA1270|title=World War II in Europe : an encyclopedia|date=1999|publisher=Garland Pub.|isbn=9780824070298|page=1270}}</ref><ref name=
Senior U.S. commanders expressed strong opposition to the landings and after the western Allied [[Combined Chiefs of Staff]] (CCS) met in London on 30 July, General Marshall and Admiral [[Ernest King]] declined to approve the plan. Marshall and other U.S. generals continued to advocate Operation Sledgehammer, which the British rejected.<ref name="Husen1999"/><ref name="Mackenzie2014"/> After Prime Minister Churchill pressed for a landing in French North Africa in 1942, Marshall suggested instead to President Roosevelt that the U.S. abandon the [[Germany first]] strategy and take the offensive in the Pacific. Roosevelt said it would do nothing to help Russia.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ward|first1=Geoffrey C.|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=V73CAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA402|title=The Roosevelts: An Intimate History|last2=Burns|first2=Ken|date=2014|publisher=Knopf Doubleday |isbn=978-0-38535306-9|page =402|chapter= The Common Cause: 1939–1944}}</ref> With Marshall unable to persuade the British to change their minds,<ref name= ":0" /> President Roosevelt gave a direct order that Torch was to have precedence over other operations and was to take place at the earliest possible date, one of only two direct orders he gave to military commanders during the war.{{Reference needed |date=June 2024}} Torch met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa and the American objective to engage in the fight against Nazi Germany on a limited scale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=
In the interim, a large-scale Canadian-led [[Dieppe Raid |raid on the French coast]] was planned to take some of the pressure off the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Normandy Landings, Operations Overlord and Neptune|url= http://www.naval-history.net/WW2CampaignsNormandy.htm |access-date= 2020-11-27|website= Naval History}}</ref>
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* [[Operation Bolero]]
==
{{Reflist|30em}}
==References==
* {{cite book |last=Matloff |first=Maurice |title=Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943–1944 |series=[[United States Army in World War II]] – The War Department |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Office of the Chief of Military History |year=1959 |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/001/1-4/CMH_Pub_1-4.pdf |access-date=1 June 2017 |oclc=670082949 }}
* {{cite book |last=Stoler |first=Mark A. |title=The Politics of the Second Front: American Military Planning and Diplomacy in Coalition Warfare, 1941-1943 |series =Contributions in Military History |id=No. 12 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Connecticut |year=1977 |isbn=0-8371-9438-5 |oclc=3003289 }}
* {{cite book |last=Stoler |first=Mark A. |title=Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliance, and US Strategy in World War II |publisher=UNC Press Books |location= Chapel Hill, North Carolina |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8078-5507-2 |oclc=315731885 }}
* {{cite thesis |last=Strange |first=Joseph L. |title=Cross-Channel Attack, 1942: The British Rejection of Operation Sledgehammer and the Cherbourg Alternative |publisher=University of Maryland |degree=PhD |year=1984 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303317233 |access-date=8 June 2024 |id={{ProQuest|303317233}} |via=ProQuest }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sledgehammer, Operation}}
[[Category:Battles and operations of World War II]]
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