Mulberries and Gooseberries

Courtesy of US National Archives

There’s a long-standing tradition amongst Britons abroad – we are renowned for bringing with us the commodities we can’t do without but won’t have readily available. These days this might amount to a jar of Marmite, or a box of PG Tips. In 1944, the necessary commodity we took with us to France was an entire harbour. Two, in fact.

As soon as the Allies had decided to invade Normandy they were aware that they had a problem. The operation’s first two weeks alone would see some six hundred thousand troops and around ninety thousand vehicles land upon French shores, but every major port was heavily defended by German troops. It soon became apparent that the only way to accommodate so large an invasion would be to bring the ports we needed with us.

With codenames likely to get your stomach rumbling, the Allies started by sending ‘Corn Cobs’ to meet the troops landing on Normandy shores. These were block ships – large, mainly concrete boats that had been built with the sole purpose of being sunk (or ‘scuttled’).  The effect of this mass sinking was to create a number of five artificial bays, sheltered from the choppy waters of the Channel.

And it was in these bays, codenamed ‘Gooseberries’, that two ‘Mulberry’ harbours were built. Incredible structures – pontoons, piers and bridges – were dragged slowly across from England and constructed off the shores of Omaha and Gold Beaches. Within days of the D-Day invasion, fully constructed ports allowed hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers access to Normandy. Though one of the two ports would be destroyed in a storm two weeks later, Mulberry B lasted for months beyond its original intended period of usage. The audacious floating ports were the gateway to France for over two and a half million men.