Uploaded June 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Composed by Louise Denny MS. Commissioned by the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ‘Mulberry Harbours' at Aromanches.
The Mulberry harbours were two temporary portable harbours developed by the British Admiralty and War Office during WW2 to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. They were designed in 1942 then built in under a year in great secrecy; within hours of the Allies creating beachheads after D-Day, sections of the two prefabricated harbours were towed across the English Channel from southern England and placed in position off Omaha Beach (Mulberry "A") and Gold Beach (Mulberry "B"), along with old ships to be sunk as breakwaters. The Mulberry B harbour at Gold Beach was used for ten months after D-Day, while over two million men, four million tons of supplies and half a million vehicles were landed before it was fully decommissioned. The partially completed Mulberry A harbour at Omaha Beach was damaged on 19 June by a violent storm that arrived from the northeast before the pontoons were securely anchored. After three days the storm finally abated and damage was found to be so severe that the harbour was abandoned and the Americans resorted to landing men and material over the open beaches.
Performed by the Band of HM Royal Marines.
The painting is 'Mulberry Harbour: Arromanches I' by Stephen Bone.
Composed by Louise Denny MS. Commissioned by the Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ‘Mulberry Harbours' at Aromanches.
The Mulberry harbours were two temporary portable harbours developed by the British Admiralty and War Office during WW2 to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. They were designed in 1942 then built in under a year in great secrecy; within hours of the Allies creating beachheads after D-Day, sections of the two prefabricated harbours were towed across the English Channel from southern England and placed in position off Omaha Beach (Mulberry "A") and Gold Beach (Mulberry "B"), along with old ships to be sunk as breakwaters. The Mulberry B harbour at Gold Beach was used for ten months after D-Day, while over two million men, four million tons of supplies and half a million vehicles were landed before it was fully decommissioned. The partially completed Mulberry A harbour at Omaha Beach was damaged on 19 June by a violent storm that arrived from the northeast before the pontoons were securely anchored. After three days the storm finally abated and damage was found to be so severe that the harbour was abandoned and the Americans resorted to landing men and material over the open beaches.
Performed by the Band of HM Royal Marines.
The painting is 'Mulberry Harbour: Arromanches I' by Stephen Bone.
