Heritage

The Mulberry harbour,
the one that held.

Mulberry "B", also known as Port Winston, was one of two artificial harbours towed across the Channel in the days after 6 June 1944. It was the only one to survive the storm.

Two harbours, one storm

Operation Overlord planned two artificial harbours — codenamed Mulberry "A" and Mulberry "B" — to be assembled in ten days off the Normandy invasion beaches. They were intended to substitute for the deep-water ports of Le Havre and Cherbourg, which had not yet been captured. Mulberry "A" stood off Omaha Beach. Mulberry "B" stood off Arromanches.

The storm of 19 June 1944, one of the most violent in the Channel for that season, destroyed Mulberry "A". Mulberry "B", better protected by the natural curve of the Calvados coast and by the line of blockships scuttled offshore as a primary breakwater, held. It then remained the only operational Allied artificial harbour, in continuous use until November 1944.

What passed through Arromanches

Over its operational life, Mulberry "B" handled in the order of 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles and 4 million tonnes of supplies. Exact figures vary by source and by the cutoff date considered, but the order of magnitude is consensus (Institution of Civil Engineers, Imperial War Museum, Wikipedia). This harbour represents the logistical rear of the landings, more than the first wave on the beaches.

What remains today, seen from the sea

Public reference sources (French Ministry of Culture, Chemins de mémoire) record several categories of remains still present at sea or within a few hundred metres of the shore:

  • The Phoenix caissons offshore — reinforced concrete blocks that formed the inner breakwater. More damaged today than the elements close to shore.
  • The Beetles — sixteen floating caissons, still visible from the beach at Arromanches and Saint-Côme-de-Fresné. They served as floats supporting the piers that ran out from the shore.
  • Three sections of floating roadway, anchored at Arromanches.
  • A platform extension visible nearby.

From the beach alone, these elements appear as distant silhouettes. From the water, they regain their scale and the logic of their assembly. That maritime reading is what The D-Day Boat Tours offers.

Going further

The Gold Beach sector, of which Arromanches is part, is the British sector of the D-Day landings, taken by the 50th Infantry Division. See the Gold Beach page.

For a wider look at the area and its history seen from the sea: Arromanches by sea. To learn about the operator: about the company.

Sources: French Ministry of Culture, underwater archaeology of the Normandy landings (archeologie.culture.gouv.fr); Chemins de mémoire (cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr); Wikipedia, Mulberry Harbour.