The English Channel.
Dunkirk .
The English channel.
The English Channel, which separates England from France.
During World War II, the route chosen by the Allies to cross into France and begin liberating the mainland of Europe was the beach-dominated coast of Normandy, France. With this "D-Day" invasion of Normandy achieving success, the Allies then moved deeper into France (thence the rest of Europe) through both central and northern lines-of-advance in France.
The Allies had to cross the English Channel to arrive on the coast of France.
The previous landing was at Dieppe approximately 2 years before. This was a disaster for the Allies due to poor planning and no beach reconnaissance.
The Allies crossed the English Channel to carry out the D-Day invasion
To fool the Germans that the Allies intended to invade France at Dunkirk, rather than at Normandy.
The Raid on Dieppe was launched by the Allies to find out what was needed to make a full-scale allied invasion across the English channel a success. However, because the Canadian army failed so badly, the allies could not test what they wanted to test.
12th Fleet
12th Fleet