The Strategic and Operational Debate Over Operation Anvil: the Allied Invasion of Southern France in August, 1944 Page: 29

                                
and Anvil could not occur at the same time. The fear was that doing everything to ensure those
two strong operations might have adverse political consequences. Other operations in other
theaters would be sacrificed, thus altering the strategic situation. Ultimately, Roosevelt summed
up the discussion of the plenary meeting with the following points:
a. Nothing should be done to hinder Overlord.
b. Nothing should be done to hinder Anvil.
c. By hook or by crook we should scrape up sufficient landing craft to operation in the
Eastern Mediterranean if Turkey came into the war.
d. Admiral Mountbatten should be told to go ahead and do his best with what had already
been allocated to him.68
It was settled then. Overlord and Anvil would be the two major operations going forward. A
draft by the Combined Chiefs that same day reiterated this, stating that Overlord and Anvil were
to be "the supreme operations of 1944. They must be carried out during May, 1944. Nothing
must be undertaken...which hazards the success of these two operations."69 Additional meetings
over the next three days made the Allied decisions concrete and binding. Anvil was nearly as
important as Overlord. Later meetings discussed the assembly of resources, especially landing
craft to conduct the two operations. 70
The Combined Chiefs sent Eisenhower a report by the Combined Staff Planners for
amphibious operations against southern France. This was the culmination of the efforts of those
in favor of the operation. It outlined the purpose of Anvil, and the current problems associated
with launching the operation such as a lack of escort based fighter aircraft and a lack of sufficient
escort vessels. The report contained two appendices that determined there would be about thirty-
68 Combined Chiefs of Staff, Sextant and Eureka Conferences, World War II Inter-Allied Conferences,, 389-396.
See Churchill's recollection of the meeting in Closing the Ring, 408-411.
69 Memo from the United States Chiefs of Staff, subject: "Draft Agreement by the Combined Chiefs of Staff," 4 Dec
1943, United States Army, Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Box 306, Record Group (RG) 218, National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, MD.
70 The additional plenary and Combined Chiefs meetings are: "Minutes, 4th Plenary Session, USA and Great Britain,
5 Dec 1943," "Minutes, C.C.S. 135th Meeting, 5 Dec 1943," "Minutes, C.C.S. 136th Meeting, 5 Dec 1943, in
Sextant and Eureka Conferences,397-404, 481-487, 489-495.

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