'US Supply Depot in England Prepare for Invasion. An American officer giving the once over to a newly arrived tank from the US', 1944 (c)

Photograph, World War Two, North West Europe (1944-1945), 1944 (c).

Despite the achievements of the Red Army in the East, the Allies were agreed that the establishment of a Second Front in North-West Europe was essential for the defeat of Germany. Russian calls for a Second Front had begun with the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, but it was not until the United States entered the war, bringing its huge reserves of manpower and resources, that such an operation could occur. By 1944 enough troops, tanks and guns were gathered in Britain for D-Day, the Allied invasion of Normandy.

One of 37 British official photographs.