In the year before Operation Overlord, the business of war touched many peaceful parts of Britain.
LEPE, Hampshire*
Logistics rule any war and the D-Day problem of unloading troops and supplies where there were no deepwater harbours was solved by the development of portable Mulberry harbours. These were constructed and shipped from Lepe, which was also a major embarkation point for troops heading to France for the invasion. Immediately after D-Day, a pipeline was laid from Lepe along the seabed all the way to Normandy. It was known as PLUTO and supplied fuel to the advancing Allied armies.
SLAPTON SANDS, Devon*
Don’t be fooled by the name; this beach is shingle. Its steep pebbles were deemed topographically similar to Normandy’s Utah beach, making it the perfect place for practice landings by American forces. Exercise Tiger involved soldiers being landed and storming the shore, while live-fire whistled overhead. Tragedy came in the form of German submarines attacking the ships waiting to disembark their troops; a situation made worse by a series of miscommunications and a lack of training which led to the death of over 700 men. The disaster was hushed up until after D-Day and it is still one of the largest losses of American military life in a single event.
TYNEHAM, Dorset
Across the Purbeck Hills from Studland Bay, the Dorset village of Tyneham was the site of a compulsory relocation of 225 residents during WWII. Its remote location made it ideal for secretly training troops for the D-Day invasion and subsequent battles, and a compulsory purchase order meant 102 dwellings had to be abandoned with just 28 days notice. The village was meant to be returned to its owners after the war, but most of the buildings had been destroyed in the live-firing exercises. Tyneham is now preserved in the state it was left at the end of the war; the Ministry of Defence still uses the land as a training area.
BRAUNTON BURROWS, Devon*
The vast golden beach at Saunton Sands and the dunes of Braunton Burrows behind it, closely resemble parts of Utah and Omaha Beaches in Normandy. The Americans planned to attack without the aid o
