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Mulberry Harbour
If the raid on Dieppe in August 1942 served no other useful purpose, it demonstrated that the Germans were not going to give up a port to the coming invasion. The Allies would have to bring a port of their own if they were to be able to keep the invasion armies supplied. In a feat of foresight, Winston Churchill had sent a memo to Lord Louis Mountbatten, then Chief of Combined Operations, in May 1942 ordering work on such a harbour. In the note he famously stated, “They must float up and down with the tide. The anchor problem must be mastered.... Let me have the best solution worked out. Don’t argue the matter. The difficulties will argue for themselves.”
The Mulberry Harbour must stand as one of the most astounding feats of engineering of the Second World War. The plan to bring across the channel two ports, each the size of Dover, and set them up on an enemy coast was breathtaking and audacious. The harbour on the American Omaha beach was destroyed by a freak storm only days after it was built. However, the other - at Arromanches survived the storm and was operating far longer than it had been designed to do, into September 1944. Over half a million tons of stores were landed using the British Mulberry and at times it was the only lifeline able to operate at all. Even today, a number of components of the breakwater and beetles survive on the beach at Arromanches, an ongoing reminder of the achievement.
The Mulberry Harbour must stand as one of the most astounding feats of engineering of the Second World War. The plan to bring across the channel two ports, each the size of Dover, and set them up on an enemy coast was breathtaking and audacious. The harbour on the American Omaha beach was destroyed by a freak storm only days after it was built. However, the other - at Arromanches survived the storm and was operating far longer than it had been designed to do, into September 1944. Over half a million tons of stores were landed using the British Mulberry and at times it was the only lifeline able to operate at all. Even today, a number of components of the breakwater and beetles survive on the beach at Arromanches, an ongoing reminder of the achievement.
Updated 21st February 2012
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