Empire ship the Normandy invasion depended on the successful construction of the Mulberry ports. These were prefabricated ports, constructed at Southampton, Gosport, Portsmouth, Tilbury Docks, and even as far north as Birkenhead and Hartlepool. Two hundred tugs then took three months to tow the components of the harbours from where they were constructed to assembly areas on the South Coast. Between 7 June 1944 and the end of July, the tugs towed the materials across the channel to Normandy. Before D-Day, sixty old merchant ships and four old warships were selected as blockships, to be scuttled in a line to give protection
D-Day the Sixth of June and wounded. Wynter is killed when he steps on a mine. Parker is badly wounded and evacuated. In hospital, and due to be repatriated, he sees Valerie for the last time. She does not tell him that Wynter has been killed. Lionel Shapiro (1908–1958) was a Canadian war correspondent for "The Montreal Gazette" who landed at the Allied invasion of Sicily, Salerno and Juno Beach on D-Day with the Canadian forces. His 1955 romantic novel "The Sixth of June" was awarded the Governor General's Award for English language fiction. As opposed to a historical account such as "The Longest Day",