As far back as the summer of 1940, when the fleet of little ships brought back the battered British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk, it was appreciated that a direct offensive from Britain must be the ultimate goal for those who planned the course of military operations against Germany.
The German invasion of the USSR, which diverted a major part of the German Army from the West, and the entry of the U.S. into the war in 1941, enabled the military experts to view the problem in a new light, and early in the following year a three-Services planning staff was busily engaged in exploratory work, designed to lead eventually to the reopening of a Western Front.
The operations at St Nazaire in March 1942, the Dieppe raid in August of the same year, and other smaller raids on the enemy coast of France provided invaluable lessons in tactics and inter-Service co-operation. Mass information was gathered about the German defences, and a close study made of the topography and lines of communication further inland.
It became increasingly clear that to seize and supply a firm bridge-head in Europe, an immense number of special landing craft and other weapons and equipment, including a great force of troop-carrying aircraft, would be required. It was evident, too that the substantial assault forces needed must be organised and trained to a degree to which no army had ever been trained before.
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