How did D-Day cause a two front war? URGENT (1 Viewer)

[I am the Law]

I know that D-Day somehow caused a two front war but how?? Germany was already occupying France and the Soviets were already making offensives from the East prior to 1944 e.g. Battle of Stalingrad, capture of Kiel etc.

 

[enoilgam]

I know that D-Day somehow caused a two front war but how?? Germany was already occupying France and the Soviets were already making offensives from the East prior to 1944 e.g. Battle of Stalingrad, capture of Kiel etc.

You had the British and Americans coming from Western Europe and the Soviets coming from the East. Prior to that, Germany was only fighting the Soviets on the Eastern Front.

 

[Kittikhun]

Actually, there were three fronts when the Normandy invasion was completed. Against the Germans, the western Allies were already fighting in Italy in what Churchill called the soft underbelly of Germany, I think, (they captured Rome on June 4, 1944), and the Soviets were already fighting on the Eastern Front before D-Day, as you know. Also, on D-Day, the land forces that landed and parachuted into Normandy were American, British, and Canadian. In fact, it was the Canadians who made the greatest inland advance on that day--9.6 km. There were also about 1000 Australians who participated in the D-Day landings, attached to the Royal Navy directing fire onto the Normandy beaches; flying Spitfire and Typhoon fighter planes against German land fortifications and mobiles on the ground; or as amphibious infantry with the British in order to learn amphibious techniques to be brought back home for further amphibious attacks against the Japanese in the South West Pacific.

The establishment of the Western Front helped to shorten the war in Europe. In fact, Hitler put most of his resources into the Battle of the Bulge to try to split and destroy the American and British Armies on the western front and when that failed, well, the war was lost for the Germans. It's also interesting to note that the Battle of the Bulge was the most costly battle ever in American history--20 000 American lives were lost in that battle.

 

[JT145]

D-Day was the beginning of the invasion of France by the Allies (USA, Britain). This created a two-front war as Europe now had a Western Front in France and an Eastern Front in Russia. As mentioned above, the Allies were also fighting in Italy however the conquest of Europe from just that point was unrealistic due to the geography of Europe (high, mountainous Switzerland and Austria).

In order to fight the Allies in the West Germany had to transfer a number of divisions westward. This increased the strain on German supply because of increased output but it also decreased the strength of the Eastern Front which were being pushed back after the Battle of Stalingrad.
Prior to D-Day the Allies were also conducting the Air War over Germany which helped to disrupt German supplies (as well as terrify the civilians, about 1 million were killed because of bombings I think). Stalin had also asked for a Western European theatre as their forces were getting smashed in Russia.

 

[Kittikhun]

True, however a substantial number of German forces were still pinned down in Italy until the end of the war, German forces that could have been deployed elsewhere as well. This is especially true after the Italians decided to overthrow Mussolini in 1943 and surrender to the Allies when the Western Allies started the invasion of Italy. Also, technically, there was already a two front war when the Germans decided to invade Russia as the British and its empire forces were already fighting the Germans in the Balkans, Greece, and North Africa after Mussolini got jealous of Hitler's conquests and decided to invade the Balkans before Barbarossa, where his Italian soldiers performed poorly and thus required German resources that could have been dedicated to the Russian invasion. This also delayed Operation Barbarossa. Perhaps the Germans might have reached Moscow if Mussolini decided to be a bit humble, but most world leaders aren't so...