The Mulberry Harbours That Ensured the Success of D-Day

A remarkable feat of engineering.

Two years before D-Day in 1942, the Allied troops mounted a raid on the French port of Dieppe. The attack ended in complete disaster, but out of the ashes came a daring idea of invading Normandy using the Mulberry Harbour. The country needed to devise a way to land troops without enemy fire. The solution was a structure of engineering genius.

If you stroll along Littlestone beach in the South of England, you will see a strange platform floating at sea. This is known as the Mulberry Harbour. The harbours were taken to the French coast as a temporary dock for Allied troops. There are several sections that you can observe along the south coast. These sections broke loose on their journey to France and have remained there ever since.

Background

Six thousand men tried to land in Dieppe to capture the port. When the raid occurred on 19th August 1942, nothing went to plan. The first bombardment softened the German defences, but the tanks were stranded in the shingle. The loss of life was catastrophic; any further attempt to seize a port would be met with the same death toll.