![]() The invasion was necessary because in 1940 Nazi Germany had occupied most of the continent of Europe. While from 1942 the war against Japan in the Pacific became the focus of Australia’s war, and the three Australian infantry divisions had returned from the Middle East within a year of the outbreak of the Pacific war, substantial Australian forces remained committed to the war against Nazi Germany. The Allies meanwhile adopted elaborate deception plans to conceal the area of the impending invasion.Īustralian airmen, sailors and even soldiers became a part of this massive military operation, the largest mounted by the western Allies in the war, and one of the largest in history (exceeded only by operations on the Russian front). Hitler ordered that an ‘Atlantic Wall’ be constructed along the coasts between Norway and the Pyrenees, certain that an Allied invasion would come, but not exactly where, wasting precious resources and troops. ![]() Few outside a small circle of Allied commanders and planners knew where the blow would fall exactly – and no German had any idea. Through the first half of 1944 expectations rose that the western allies would open a ‘Second Front’ in the war against Nazi Germany. ![]()
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