Video: 'News Briefs (1942)'

(Thursday, June 25, 1942; during World War II) — U.S. Army Major General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a 51-year-old veteran of armored warfare, assumed command today of the newly created European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA), a Theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the European theatre of World War II, headquartered in London.

The announcement of his new post was made without elaboration, but among informed observers, there was a unanimous feeling that the new office and its incumbent foreshadowed definite plans for the opening of a second front, based upon the British Isles when circumstances and accumulation of men and arms give promise of success in this venture.

Video: 'General Eisenhower's new appointment (1942)'

It was understood on usually reliable authority that General Eisenhower, who arrived in London shortly before the announcement of his new command, left the United States after British Prime Minister Winston Churchill reached an agreement with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the feasibility of planning for a second front despite current setbacks in Libya and Egypt.

The second front, it is known, found a receptive response from Roosevelt and was particularly urged by Maxim Litvinoff, Soviet Ambassador, as the surest means of relieving German pressure on the Soviet armies.