History of Sussex airfields around Sussex. During the lead-up to the D-Day landings, the people of Sussex were witness to the build-up of military personnel and materials, including the assembly of landing crafts and construction of Mulberry harbours off the county's coast. Five new airfields were built to provide additional support for the D-Day landings, four near Chichester and one near Billingshurst. A legacy of the D-Day landings are the sections of Mulberry harbour that lay broken and abandoned on the sea floor off the coast, of Selsey Bill, having missed the invasion. Sussex was an industrial county, from the stone age, with
Liberation of the German-occupied Channel Islands awarded an OBE when a Major with the BEF in June 1940. A small HQ structure was created to look into the planning. On 10 May 1944 Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, (SHAEF) sent a report to Southern Command stating that in the event it became necessary to capture the Channel Islands, this would be undertaken by 21st Army Group, after which Southern Command would take over and "Rankin C" should be reviewed accordingly. Shipping would be available after 15 July, but no troops. Southern Command replied on 22 June 1944, after the Normandy D-Day landings had taken place, that