The Saber and Scroll
demanded an expansion of the assault force from four to five divisions and the frontage for the landing from twenty-five to about forty miles . Eisenhower ’ s Chief of Staff , Major General Walter Bedell Smith , concurred and apprised Eisenhower of the recommendations .
Despite his misgivings , Morgan was now able to operate with some express authority under a command staff that could make decisions . He was told to plan for the expansions under the assumption that the required landing craft would be made available . The additional landing craft needed for Montgomery ’ s expansion included 72 Landing Craft Infantry , Large ( LCI-L ), 47 LSTs , and 144 LCTs . 44
In addition to the five infantry divisions , lift had to be found for the equivalent of four armored brigades , five regiments of self-propelled artillery , shore control groups , air force and naval personnel , and an immediate follow-up force of two-thirds of an infantry division . All these units had to be combat-loaded on landing craft so as to be operational as soon as they arrived on the beach . The rest of the follow-up , one and one-third divisions , would be loaded on transports and not available until D plus 2 . 45
In order to accumulate the necessary craft for OVERLORD , training areas in the US and Britain were scoured , serviceability rates were improved , load capacity calculated and recalculated to improve efficiency , and , most significantly , the competition for resources between OVERLORD and ANVIL came to the forefront .
Montgomery and Smith informed Eisenhower in early January that the only way to procure the necessary craft would be to pull them from ANVIL . Eisenhower was a strong advocate of ANVIL from the start , believing that it would tie down German forces that might otherwise be brought to bear against OVERLORD . He resisted drawing resources from the complementary operation as long as he could .
ANVIL retained the capacity to lift three divisions . British planners , including Morgan , felt that a one division threat would be enough to hold the German units in place while diverting the rest of the landing craft to OVERLORD . The British believed that the ANVIL beaches , 500 miles away , were too distant to have a positive impact on OVER- LORD . Churchill heartily agreed and pushed for the cancellation of ANVIL .
Eisenhower was still determined to salvage ANVIL if he could . At his direction , plans were changed for the loading of landing craft , especially concerning vehicles . The requirement per division for combat-loaded vehicles was cut from over 3,000 to 2,500 , thus freeing up additional craft .
Serviceability requirements also increased across the board . The COSSAC outline for OVERLORD had placed the expected serviceability rate , the rate of craft that were operational at any given time , at eighty-five percent for landing craft and ninety percent for ships . In order to squeeze more lift out of the available assets , the acceptable rates increased in January to ninety percent for LCTs and ninety-five
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