Mulberry Harbour

1944

After the Allied forces had been driven out of mainland Europe, an offshore port became an essential provision for its recapture.

A memo from Sir Winston Churchill in May 1942 ordered work to start on the project and Brigadier Bruce White took charge. He and his design team devised a solution within seven days and in August 1943 the Combined Chiefs of Staff authorised the construction of the artificial harbours, code named 'Mulberry'.

The harbour comprised pontoon pierheads with spuds (legs) and an ingenious floating roadway to connect the pierhead to the land, consisting of eighty foot flexible girders designed to carry the largest tanks, mounted on concrete and steel pontoons which were moored to the seabed.

A total of 25,000 men were employed on construction of the harbours which helped land 39,000 vehicles and 220,000 soldiers on the French coast during 1944.

Mulberry Harbour Year: 1944