I never even heard any political controversy concerning the date of the invasion. Under the plans however, they needed a combination of tides and moon to pull it off and if they had missed the June date, they would have had to wait for another month to get the same combination. Keeping the plan and especially the destination secret from the Germans would have been difficult after several 100,000 men were all dressed and ready to go. If the Germans had moved their Armor divisions to Normandy --- well, history would have been different. That is why Eisenhower was anxious to move on June 6. Everything was set and he didn’t want to take the chance of exposing his plan if he had to hold off for another month. The key point is that an invasion of France was never considered to be a big secret. It was always in the cards and everyone knew it. The only question was when and where.
Merry Christmas to you too.
I never even heard any political controversy concerning the date of the [Normandy] invasion. The disinformation campaign knows no bounds.
General Marshall proposed early in 1942 Operation SLEDGEHAMMER to aid the Russians, who were thought to be on the verge of collapse. Under this plan, 3 US and 7 Bristish divisions would land on the Cherbourg peninsula to draw off German troops.
The British were agahst, and would not even consider the plan.
SLEDGEHAMMER was superceded by GYMNAST, later renamed TORCH. FDR definitely wanted US troops in action against the Germans in 1942, and TORCH was the result.
PLanning for the Normandy operation began in earnest in 1942. It was always the main operation, and it was always the "Second Front".
Walt