Description:World's greatest fleet would cross 100 miles of sea for the Normandy landings. But the supply of the invading army could only be guaranteed if a port was captured in the first few days. Germans realised this and fortified French ports by sea and land. "'Hold the ports', they said 'and we hold Europe.'" Germans believed changeable Channel weather would isolate the Allies before they could capture a harbour. In 1942 Churchill conceives the plan, agreed on at the Quebec Conference, to build harbour units to be set down on the Normandy beaches. Mulberry sections built and towed to secret assembly points. Testing of sand from Arromanches beach. Block ships sunk as a preliminary breakwater. Work of RE on shore. Placing of pier sections. Concrete breakwaters sunk. Floating breakwaters laid further out to sea as a deepwater anchorage. Mulberry harbour was an experiment - no precedent for such an engineering feat. Unloading begins, Pierheads laid. Ships begin to unload directly into lorries. Storm - although damaged the harbour continues to operate. "We had beaten the weather and Hitler had lost yet another ally". Backed by the harbour, Allied armies advance into Europe.
Production Details:Ministry of Information (Production sponsor)
Admiralty Film Unit (Production Company)
Army Film and Photographic Unit (Production Company)
Darnton, Christian (Production individual)
Personalities, Units and Organisations:Churchill, Winston Leonard Spencer (person)
Keywords:
Physical Characteristics:Colour format: B&W
Sound format: Sound
Soundtrack language: English
Title language: English
Technical Details:35mm
Number of items/reels/tapes: 2
Footage: 1256 ft; Running time: 14 mins
