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Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library. Via Atkinson (2007)
TRIDENT was the third major wartime diplomatic
conferences between Roosevelt
and Churchill,
following the Casablanca conference (SYMBOL)
of
14-24
January
1943. TRIDENT was held in Washington on 12-27 May 1943. Opening on the
same day that the Axis
forces in North Africa surrendered,
the
conference was primarily concerned with the thorny issues of
future Mediterranean strategy and the northwestern Europe invasion, but
the conference also approved an increase in the tempo of operations in
the Pacific. It was probably the most rancorous of the major wartime
diplomatic conferences.
The British planners
under Brooke were convinced
that any attempt to land in northwest France
in 1943 would run a grave risk of catastrophe. The fundamental problem
was that the Germans had excellent
communications across western Europe and could concentrate troops
against a landing faster than the Allies could hope to reinforce
their beachhead. The American
planners under Marshall
were convinced that only a landing in northern France could be decisive
and that no resources should be wasted elsewhere. Ultimately, the
resolution of this dilemma would come through the massive application
of air power,
which shattered the French rail network and decisively hindered the
German ability to concentrate, and deception,
which
kept the Germans guessing where the main landings would come even
after the Normandy invasion. However, in retrospect, these
preconditions for a successful invasion could not have been satisfied
in 1943. Furthermore, Hitler's insistence on no retreat meant that the
operations in the Mediterranean in 1943 did far more damage to the
German Army than they had any right to.
The discussion on Pacific strategy got off to a bad start when it
became clear that Wavell
and Stilwell strongly
disagreed with each other and with the U.S. Army's chief logistics officer, Brehon
Sommervell. Stilwell pushed for ANAKIM, an amphibious assault on Burma intended to clear the way for
supplies to reach China along the Burma Road. The British, who would
have to supply almost all the forces for the assault, were
unenthusiastic. They were even less enthusiastic over a proposal to
attack Burma from Assam, with its
miserable communications and infrastructure. The proposal for a land
offensive was dropped in favor of an air campaign against Burma and air transport of supplies
to China. Approval was also given to King's plans for a Central
Pacific offensive, with the Gilberts
and Marshalls as the
initial targets. This came at the expense of fewer resources for the Southwest Pacific.
References
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