34. Eisenhower’s D-Day Gamble
Not invading on June 6th would have required turning thousands of ships back, and disembarking the troops already aboard. That would have increased the odds of the Germans finding out about the aborted attempt. The safer bet would have been to cancel and reset for the following month. However, on the evening of June 4th, Royal Air Force meteorologist James Stagg met Eisenhower, and shared his prediction that there would be a break in the bad weather on the 6th, that would allow the invasion to proceed. The weight of command rested heavily on Eisenhower’s shoulders as he pondered the decision: invade on the 6th, or cancel and wait for the next window in a few weeks?
After consulting with his subordinates, Eisenhower decided to trust in the meteorologists’ judgment, and ordered the invasion to proceed on June 6th. As it turned out, Eisenhower’s weather gamble was correct in more ways than one, as the invasion would have faced a weather disaster if it had been pushed back to the next available date, June 18th to 20th. A major storm struck the Normandy coast from June 19th to 22nd, which would have made landings impossible, or cut off those troops that managed to land from reinforcements and resupply. However, the Allies were still not out of the woods: even with perfect weather, the enterprise could still end in failure.