D-Day Mulberry harbours captured in rare archive footage

The harbours were a system of floating docks and pontoons that allowed Allied troops, supplies and vehicles to travel directly from transport ships to the beaches of Normandy, avoiding the use of amphibious landing craft. They were designed and constructed at yards and docks across the country in secrecy by around 200,000 British engineers in the seven months leading up to D-Day. Upon completion of construction, they were assembled at Selsey in Sussex and towed across the channel to Normandy in sections.

Although two of the Mulberry harbours were built, one of them was destroyed in a storm just a few days into operation. The second, however, remained in service for 10 months, allowing 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles and four million tonnes of supplies to land in northern France. Without this harbour, the logistical effort to supply the frontlines across Europe would have looked very different, and it remains one of the most pivotal engineering achievements of the war effort.