The Mulberry Harbours of Normandy

When the sea goes out in Arromanches-les-Bains, a small village on the coast of Normandy in northwestern France, the large concrete pontoons that lie half submerged in the salty waters expose themselves in their entirety. These concrete structures played a significant role in the history of Europe, facilitating the landing of thousands of Allied troops and their equipment on the beaches of Normandy during Operation Overlord. Mulberry harbour ruins in Arromanches-les-Bains, Normandy, France. Photo: Shandarov Arkadii/Shutterstock.com The Allied invasion of Normandy was a massive and daring operation that required the movement of over a million troops and tens of thousands of metric tons of military equipment, including weapons, ammunition, vehicles, tanks, as well as food, clothing and other supplies. Offloading that much equipment from ships onto the beaches required a harbour, but Hitler had already secured all important harbours along the Atlantic coast, building a wall of coastal fortresses stretching from Scandinavia to Spain. This wall of defense proved impossible to penetrate, as the failed invasion attempt at Dieppe on August 1942 showed. Following the failed raid, Vice-Admiral John Hughes-Hallett suggested that if a working port could not be captured on the French coast, then one should be taken across the Channel. The idea of a temporary, floating harbour—called Mulberries—gained immediate support from Churchill. Churchill himself had floated such an idea back in 1915, but the concept was never explored. On 30 May 1942, Churchill issued a brief and brutally straight to the point memo, describing the requirements for the Mulberry harbour system. The memo read: Piers for use on beaches: 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.