Cherbourg's unrealized Cotentin redoubt

Cherbourg sat near enough to Britain for limited Hurricane and Spitfire cover while remaining relatively distant from the Luftwaffe's forward bases. Its large port and position on the Cotentin Peninsula offered a more defensible shape than the politically attractive but unprepared Brittany scheme. British planners had already landed the 52nd Lowland Division or directed the 1st Armoured Division toward this area, so the possibility was visible. Saint-Malo lay far to the south, however, and the assigned formations were too widely separated for early-war infantry divisions to support one another effectively. Geography offered a plausible operational option that Allied command arrangements and force distribution failed to exploit.