Arromanches

In the planning of Operation NEPTUNE the term MULBERRY "B" was defined as, 'An artificial harbour to be built in England and towed to the British beaches at Arromanches." The sheltered water provided by this harbour was to make the landing of a portion of the initial build-up of stores and personnel independent of the weather. A constant flow of supplies to the forces ashore was vital to the success of the operation and could not be interrupted by spells of bad weather that might hold up landings over the beaches.

That MULBERRY "B" actually did far more than the job for which it was intended, despite storms of intensity far beyond that for which it had been designed and despite the total loss of its deep water breakwater, is the success story of a military and naval operation unsurpassed in the history of warfare. From the time it was put into operation, four days after D-Day until the 31st of October, 1944, 628,000 tons of supplies, 40,000 vehicles and 220,000 troops were put ashore in the sheltered area afforded by MULBERRY "B". Expressed in another way, 35% of the British stores, 17% of the British vehicles and 23% of the British personnel were landed inside the Mulberry.

From D plus 4 on it had been planned to handle 6,000 tons of stores a day at MULBERRY "B", actually, however, from the 20th of June to the 1st of September the port averaged 6,765 tons a day. For the month of November the British plan to bring in three MT ships a day and the U.S. intend to land 11,500 tons of stores a day from Liberties.