Hopefully some of you can help me with this. I am trying to find some books (or even articles or websites) that address the feasibility of the Allies opening a second front in Europe prior to 1944 for an essay I am writing. I'm looking for anything from information on the strategic conferences between the Allies before 1944 to statistics on the numbers of soldiers and landingcraft, etc. available. Normally, I would be able to find what I need by myself, but in this case, a simple search at the library doesn't quite cut it. I know from what you have said about it that An Army at Dawn would be a good one, so I have ordered it already. Thanks a lot.

Nic

Do a search for ' First Moscow Conference'

In august of 1942, Stalin, Churchill and Harriman went into great detail on this very subject. Stalin of course demanded the UK and US open the front at that time.
Churchill and Harriman tried to explain why it was not possible.

A transcript of this conference would be just what you need.

Steven Ambrose's The Victors. Really cant describe it to you other than the fact that it is about what was going through the mind of Ike and his boys when the decision came to go to Europe and after.

You could try Geoffrey Perrett's "There's A War To Be Won." It's a pretty comprehensive chronicle of the U.S. from the inter-war years through the war itself. It covers almost all aspects of the U.S.'s war experience from the frontlines to the homefront to the political arena.

Nic--I would recommend that you use the US Army Green Books (readily available in any library). Specifically the one entitled "Cross Channel Attack." While this deals with the Normandy invasion it has a great introductory chapter on events that preceeded the invasion. Always bring the reader back to Dieppe. They spoke of invasions (Bolero, Roundup), but Dieppe put feet on the ground with disasterous results. Led the Allies to construct the Mulberry system rather than seize a port among other valuable things. There is much to be synthesized to get that into a paper. I'd highlight the conferences held (Arcadia to Tehran) because the political will drives the military instrument. Great follow-up paper might address the invasion of southern France and the effect of the Anzio invasion on shipping assets. At any rate, lots of stuff to put into a paper.
Good luck
DJ