Southend Beach Hut Owners Association
But what is it and how did it get there?​
'They had less than 10 months to design and build two harbours the size of Dover'​
​​​And so the plan was born. It was Codenamed 'Operation Mulberry', the name having no particular significance other than being the next available Codename on the official list. The Mulberry concept received a boost when an exploratory frontal assault on Dieppe harbour in August 1942 went disastrously wrong and demonstrated that this method should not be attempted again. Operation Mulberry was approved in August 1943 by the Combined Chiefs of staff to the Supreme Allied Commander, to be overseen by special War Transport Staff known as 'X staff' operating from Norfolk House in St James Square, London. They had less than 10 months in which to design and build two harbours, each approximately the size of Dover Harbour. These would be destined for use at Arromanches, to land, & keep the British & Commonwealth armies supplied, and at the Omaha Beach at Vierville to support the American troops.
​
The harbours would be made up of 'Phoenix' units which were hollow, floating, rectangular, re-inforced concrete caissons which would be towed into place by tugs, then linked & sunk in position by opening gate valves to flood & sink them in the shoal Normandy waters. To assist in this difficult task, a line of old ships, known as “Gooseberries” would be scuttled to provide shelter from the seas. The largest of the Phoenixes would be around 6000 tons water displacement.
'They would arrive off the Normandy Beaches on D-Day + 3'
'In carrying out a practice drill a tug loses steerage in a strong southwesterly wind'​
Part of the preparations included practice manoeuvres by tugs to correctly tow & position the Phoenixes as they would be required to do in Normandy. Whilst many of these tugs were suitable for shoal water operation, there were also numerous deep sea tugs which could cope better with the mid channel conditions while getting the units to the assembly area. One such deep-draughted tug was carrying out a practice drill off Southend early in 1944 when a South Westerly gale was blowing. While having a Phoenix on a long tow astern,
the tug ventured too far into the shoal water off West Shoebury and touched on the Sandbank. The tug lost steerage and in the strong South Westerly wind could not get her head back into the wind to regain steerage. While this was happening the towline to the Phoenix went slack, and the unit was driven in to ground on the sandbank with the tide ebbing. By the time the tug was able to manoeuvre clear, the Phoenix had settled firmly aground and could not be moved. By the next tide it had further settled and broken its back. It was therefore of no further operational use and was abandoned to its fate – remaining in the same position to this very day.
The main body of Phoenixes were duly towed to Normandy and the two harbours were positioned and completed much according to plan, within the target of 14 days. However, there is a twist to the story. Within three weeks of the harbours becoming operational, a violent North Easterly storm blew up and gave the harbours a severe battering. The storm did more damage in three days than the entire German army and Luftwaffe did in three weeks. When the storm abated the harbour at Omaha was decimated – even the protective “Gooseberry” ships sank so much into the sand that they became ineffective. However, the harbour at Arromanches, though damaged, survived Nature’s onslaught and remained operational. By the end of 1944 some 220,000 troops had disembarked via the Mulberry harbour, as well as 39,000 military vehicles. Its role was crucial to the success of the campaign which freed Europe and had involved the largest waterborne invasion in history.
IT IS TESTAMENT to the ingenuity and design of the Phoenixes that they were originally intended to have a lifespan of 100 days required to support the invasion until sufficient French harbours had been re-captured, but many are still in place at Arromanches where they have been left as a permanent memorial to the ultimate sacrifice made by many troops of the Allied Forces in their quest to liberate France and subsequently the rest of Europe.
You can read and see more of these amazing structures and the part they played during the Second World War by visiting the D-Day Lepe Heritage Group
If you would like to know more about the Southend Mulberry harbour including a guided tour click on this link to the Thames Estuary Man
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
MULBERRY HARBOUR
written by Ian Robinson
To anyone who knows the Southend foreshore, the wartime Mulberry Harbour is a familiar sight, located on a Sandbank just over a mile South of Shoebury’s Garrison Point. It stands as a proud reminder of Southend’s part in the preparations for the D-Day landings, and now, eight decades later, it is still a regular navigational mark for boatmen as well as being a popular 'magnet' attracting scores of mudwalkers daily from the tourist beaches during the fine weather in the Summer months.​
Even in the darkest days of World War 2, the British Leaders were quietly planning for the time when they could launch an effective counter offensive to free Europe of the Nazi tyranny. It was known that following the initial assault, an offensive on this scale would require the use of harbour facilities for the landing of sufficient troops, equipment and supplies to sustain a prolongued campaign. Options were limited. Either capture enemy held harbours in useable condition – or transport ready made harbours from home. As far back as May 1942 Churchill had decided that the latter made the best tactical sense and devised a list of requirements which the harbours would need to fulfill which he outlined in a memo to Vice Admiral Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations. “They must float up & down with the tide, anchor problem must be mastered, let me have the best solution worked out. Don’t argue the matter, the difficulties will argue for themselves.”​​​
In all, nearly 300 Phoenix units would be required for the two harbours, as well as around 60 'Gooseberry' ships. The convoys of Phoenixes would set sail for France on the afternoon of D-Day, laboriously towed by tugs. They would arrive off the Normandy beaches on D-Day + 3 while the initial assault force of D-Day troops fought to establish and retain a viable beach head ashore. The aim was to have the harbours built and fully operational within 14 days. Once linked & in position, supply ships would moor along the inner & outer walls to unload, and a flexible roadway would be laid out across floating pontoons to disembark troops and all of their vehicles & equipment from the Mulberries to shore. These where known as 'Whales' or 'Beetles', their total length being some seven miles. A ferry service involving 2000 small craft and 15000 staff would also be used to get men & supplies ashore. The entire Mulberry operation comprised more than 400 towed components weighing 1½ million tons. As the supply line became established the allied armies would be able to extend their beach head and force back the enemy lines on a progressively broadening front.
The key to success of Operation Mulberry lay in secrecy. The Phoenix units were to be built at a variety of locations around the South East coast, often in little used creeks, many of which were just off the River Thames. The technique involved firstly digging out a mud berth in which to construct the unit so it could be floated out on completion. Wooden shuttering was then erected, working from scaffolding which also acted as supports. On completion of the shuttering the units were cast in re-inforced concrete, and the gate valves fitted. The builders were not told what they were building or their purpose. Many believed that they were water tanks, or even decoys aimed at drawing U-boat attacks away from convoys. They were hidden under camouflage nets to avoid detection by enemy aircraft.
​
As D-Day approached the Phoenixes were towed out from their creek havens to be moored in the estuaries ready for towing to the Normandy beaches. Many units were gathered in the Thames Estuary, which was protected to seaward by a lengthy anti-submarine defence boom which stretched from the shore at Shoeburyness (Essex) to Minster (Kent) – separated in mid-estuary by a closable 'gate' consisting of anti-submarine netting supported by buoys, which was towed into position by duty tugs.
Ian Robinson is a Local Waterman & Lifeboatman and originally wrote the article in aid of the Southend-on-Sea RNLI Lifeboat Station. The information was drawn from various sources including eyewitness accounts.
Ian is also the Membership Officer of the SBHOA.