[knighthawk]

Ping

[Typelouder]

Thank you for the post. I had the opportunity to visit the Normandy beaches in 1987. While in Arromanches, I met a man from Scotland who had returned for the first time since the invasion. His job had been to drive the amphibious "ducks" and unload the materials on the shore. With the remnants of the "phoenix" breakwalls still in the bay, I could picture everything happening as he was describing it.

One fact that still amazes me is the scope of the whole port. With the breakwall (picture giant ice cube trays that could be lined up and then flooded) and then 3 actual piers that were designed to raise and lower with the tide, the entire harbor workings when laid end to end would stretch 7 miles!

The Scot told me they couldn't keep up with the front as it moved to the north.

Another identical port was to be established but a major storm destroyed it before it was completed. Had this port not withstood the storm, our entire landing force would have been destroyed as there would have been no fuel, ammo, food, tanks....

I have to head to a picnic. I'll add more to this thread in the days to come.