Arromances beach Normandy, France showing remains of WWII D-Day Mulberry Harbours
This is the beach at the town of Aromanches-les-Bains in Normandy, France. Still visible are the remains of the Mulberry harbours that the British built to facilitate the unloading of materiel during the Normandy Landings of 1944. The 80th anniversary is June 6th, 2024. The artificial harbour was intended to serve temporarily until a deep-water French port could be captured. First conceived by Winston Churchill during the First World War, the idea was shelved until the Second World War when he was then Britain’s Prime Minister. The concept involved sinking old ships and ships containing huge single concrete blocks to form outer breakwaters and then sinking further concrete blocks to form a causeway onto which ships could unload tanks, trucks and other war materiel. Two Mulberry harbours were built: one for the British-Canadian landing at codenamed Gold Beach and the other for the Americans at codenamed Omaha Beach. All the elements were built in England and Scotland and then towed across the sea to Normandy. The installation of the Mulberry harbours coincided with the worst storm to hit Normandy in 40 years - on a scale with the one that destroyed the Spanish Armada of 1588 that then foiled an invasion of the British Isles. To protect their artificial harbour, as the storm gathered force, the British reinforced the anchor points. But the Americans did not and their harbour did not survive the storm. The British Mulberry harbour was used for 10 months after D-Day, instead of the three months projected. Over million men, 500,000 vehicles and four million tons of supplies were landed before it was decommissioned. During its use it was known as Port Winston in honour of Winston Churchill.
Size: 7160px × 3982px
Location: Arromanches Normandy, France
Photo credit: © Frank Nowikowski / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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