Mulberry harbour the armoured vehicles would be able to operate on the beach or become bogged down. The final survey, Operation Bellpush Charlie, occurred on the night of 30-31 January but limited information was gathered due to fog and because German lookouts heard the craft. Further sorties were abandoned. On the afternoon of 6 June 1944 (D-Day) over 400 towed component parts (weighing approximately 1.5 million tons) set sail to create the two Mulberry harbours. It included all the blockships (codenamed Corncobs) to create the outer breakwater (Gooseberries) and 146 concrete caissons (Phoenixes). At Arromanches, the first Phoenix was sunk at dawn
Britannia Fields Engineers of the U.S.A. 82 Airborne Division who were housed and trained here from Feb to June 1944 prior to the D Day landings. They often trained and played baseball on the field. Some of the survivors’ visited the site in June 2004 for the 60th D Day Anniversary. A number of temporary wood huts were erected as barracks for the troops which after the war were used as temporary housing up to early 1950s when they were finally demolished. In 1951 these buildings were converted to a territorial barracks for D squadron Prince Albert’s own Leicestershire Yeomanry which used