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By: HISTORY.com Editors

1943

FDR and Winston Churchill plan D-Day

HISTORY.com Editors

Published: November 05, 2009Last Updated: May 20, 2026

On May 19, 1943, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt plan 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.”

And so, 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.

History Shorts: The Night Before D-Day

Under the cover of darkness, the Allies pulled off an operation in the hours before D-Day that may have changed the tide of the battle before it had begun.

1:03m watch

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Citation Information

Article Title: FDR and Winston Churchill plan D-Day
Author: HISTORY.com Editors
Website Name: History
URL: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-19/churchill-and-fdr-plot-d-day

Date Accessed: October 21, 2026
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: May 20, 2026
Original Published Date: November 05, 2009