On May 19, 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt plotted the cross-Channel
landing that would become D-Day—May 1, 1944.

That date will prove a bit premature, as bad weather becomes
a factor.

Addressing a joint session of Congress, Churchill warned that
the real danger at present was the “dragging-out of the war at
enormous expense” because of the risk that the Allies would
become “tired or bored or split”—and play into the hands of
Germany and Japan.

He pushed for an early and massive attack on the “underbelly
of the Axis.”

To “speed” things up, the British prime minister and President
Roosevelt set a date for a cross-Channel invasion of Normandy,
in northern France, for May 1, 1944, regardless of the problems presented by the invasion of Italy, which was underway.

It would be carried out by 29 divisions, including a Free French
division, if possible.

The D-Day invasion ended up taking place on June 6, 1944.