In March 1942, in a letter to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff pressed for an invasion of mainland Europe via the English Channel 'as soon as possible'. As a result, Sledgehammer was never carried out, and instead the British proposal for an invasion of French North Africa took place in November 1942 under the code name Operation Torch.Īfter the United States entered World War II in December 1941, the U.S. 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. Allied forces were to seize the French Atlantic ports of either Brest or Cherbourg and areas of the Cotentin Peninsula during the early autumn of 1942, and amass troops for a breakout in the spring of 1943. It was to be executed in 1942 and acted as a contingency alternative to Operation Roundup, the original Allied plan for the invasion of Europe in 1943. Operation Sledgehammer was an Allied plan for a cross- 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 Second Front. For the 2007 Operation that was part of Operation Marne Torch, see Operation Sledgehammer (2007).

For the 2012 Somali National Army and AMISOM offensive, see Battle of Kismayo (2012).

This article is about a World War II military operation.

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