After Churchill pressed for a landing in North Africa in 1942, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall suggested instead to Roosevelt that the U.S. abandon the [[Europe first|Germany-first]] strategy and take the offensive in the Pacific. Roosevelt "disapproved of" the proposal saying it would do nothing to help Russia.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ward|first1=Geoffrey C.|last2=Burns|first2=Ken|title=The Roosevelts: An Intimate History|date=2014|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=0385353065|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V73CAwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=SA6-PA69-IA6#v=onepage&q&f=false|chapter=The Common Cause: 1939-1944}}</ref> With Roosevelt's support, and Marshall unable to persuade the British to change their minds, in July 1942 [[Operation Torch]], the invasion of French North Africa, was scheduled for later that year.<ref>{{cite book|title=Routledge Handbook of US Military and Diplomatic History|date=2013|publisher=Taylor and Francis|location=Hoboken|isbn=9781135071028|page=135|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VRiYAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA135&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwip0Jbc4vXLAhXIuBoKHXC4DYgQ6AEIQzAH#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>