day in 1943. that would have meant that the western allies could have reached berlin well before the red army. this line of reasoning is absolute rubbish for the following reasons. we did not have sufficient landing craft in 1943. the shortage of landing craft was the main reason why the invasion was delayed from may to june 1944. the luftwaffe was not effectively destroyed until the spring of 1944. the u-boat s menace to reinforcements crossing the atlantic had not been eliminated in the spring of 1943. the u.s. army needed the harsh lessons of fighting in the mediterranean during 1943 to sort itself out. only during the battle for normandy did develop into the very effective fighting force which achieved a great break out in central france in late july 1944. churchill delayed the invasion of northern europe for the wrong reasons. he wanted to attack an advance northeast into central europe to prevent the red army s occupation. this is militarily unsound, i will certainly ad