What Remains Of The D-Day Landing Sites Today? | Traces of World War Two With James Rogers
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- 'Exploring The Epic Remains Of The Allied D-Day Landings'
The Allied Invasion of Normandy in June 1944 was one of the most spectacular pieces of military planning in history, with every element planned to the tiniest detail. However, one of the biggest problems the Allied planners faced was exactly how to provide the invasion force with the supplies they needed to sustain the assault without access to a major French port.
The disastrous Dieppe raid in 1942 had shown that capturing a heavily fortified French port would be extremely costly and had absolutely no guarantee of success. And so Allied planners came up with a rather ingenious solution.
Instead of risking the lives of thousands of troops by taking a port like Le Havre or Cherbourg, the Allies decided to bring one with them.
In this episode of 'Traces of World War Two', war historian James Rogers visits the remnants of the various mulberry harbours that still exist on the beaches of Arromanches in Normandy.
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#DDay #MulberryHarbour #SecondWorldWar
I've visited Normandy years ago and was fortunate to see the Mulberry harbor during low tide. Amazing how massive those concrete piers were!!!
I visited 2 years ago. Definitely an impressive engineering feat.
wait 12 hours. wtf.
@@dr.floridaman4805 Florida man being trash again.
Wtf
It’s shocking to know that we are the last generation to be able to talk to these great men who served in WW2.
The future generation will talk about World War 3. Which I think will happen within 50 years.
My great grandfather ( 99 now ) fought in the war , I really wanna know his stories but he has alzheimers :(
And they were the last to speak to those who served in WW1. They even served under them 🤯
@CoconutMan man that would be great to hear him speak!
An incredible feat of military engineering. The Romans would love this.
Bruh romans loved building shit in wartime I remember they literally built a ramp up a mountain to fight at mossad.
@@casuallyretarded5161 you remember that? So you were there?
Why don’t you ask them?
Romans wouldve lost their shit if you told them about this xD
The Holy Roman Empire =The First Reich
It's hard to even imagine the scale of D-Day even now. Everything from land, sea and air must have been an incredible sight
i remember watching a vets account and cant remember his exact words but he said all the ships and planes in one place your mind couldnt really ocmprehend it.
It’s amazing how political leaders allow situations to get to this point.
I will never forget my visit to Normandy. I will never forget the bunkers, the blood still on church pews, and the random bullet holes in buildings.
The memory of WWII is slipping away. Which is tragic. Because recent events suggest that we might face a new world war, except a war without leaders with any integrity
Hell even one of Hitler’s General tried to help his civvies
Pootin more alien than hitler
Aleast WW2 and WW1 are gonna be in historians hearts we will never forget other generations will be we won’t
Wrong it's far from slipping away
My man doesn't bullshit. Can I vote for you? Lol
I don't know why but knowing that bridge is still carrying out it's duties today warms my heart.
same here, made me smile a bit
As is the HolyBible
@@Jackazz2ndGen Not really, people keep misquoting it for thier own gain.
My father entered Europe on "Mulberry B,", aka "Port Winston" on June 11th, 1944 with the Seventh Armored Division of the UA Army. He was the driver of a M5A1 Stuart light tank used for reconnaissance by the Seventh. He saw action at the Battle of the Bulge and helped translate at one of the liberated concentration camps, as he spoke Yiddish, (being Jewish), and could speak to most of the Jewish prisoners. Once, while on patrol, a German Panther tank was encountered and, before his tank could retreat, its tracks were blown off, so the crew exited their vehicle carrying the loose machine guns and the cannon's breech to keep their own weapons from being used on them as they ran back to the American lines. As he told me, "fun times".
Sadly there is no proof so nobody know wether to believe you or not 🤷🏻♂️ but… why would someone make up a long story about their grandfather in ww2?
@@Snerbington you’d be surprised on how many stories are faked. This one I doubt is faked, but look at any 9/11 videos. “My dad died in 9/11” is literally almost every comment. Sad what people will do for likes.
@@robothms9787 I was being satirical lol, yeah, most lengthy stories I hear on the internet good or bad, I don’t believe.
@@Snerbington father not grandfather duh
@@robothms9787 who cares what what you think
In 2016 I cycled around the D day beaches. I knew nothing about Arromanches. As I cycled south, I could see this reef, or container boats or something out in the sea. They got bigger and bigger. I had no idea what? It was an amazing experience discovering the marvel of engineering of this artificial harbour and the history off it.
There are some ruined Mulberry casons here in Galloway (Wigtownshire as it was called) in Scotland, near The Isle of Whithorn. Beached on the shore and slowly dissolving away into the sea. They were built here and towed away on D Day. The ones here never got towed off for some reason. And on the hills above Stranraer you can still see the concrete wall which was used for aiming practice for the bomber crews when they were training for the Bouncing Bomb raids on the German dams. Also, in Loch Ryan on which Stranraer sits, there is the old wartime pier slowly falling in to the sea at Cairnryan. This was the backup port for the whole of the UK, for grain imports from Canada, should the other ports (Southampton/Liverpool etc) get bombed to smitherenes. After the war, all the German Uboats were broken up there (as well as HMS Ark Royal R09). Even the Queen visited in the 50's docking at the now derelict jetty on board Britannia! In addition, we still have the concrete parking spaces at Wig Bay on Loch Ryan, where all the RAF flying boats (Catalinas/Sunderlands/Stranraers) were kept when they use to use Loch ryan to operate from. LOTS of WW2 relics around here in Wigtownshire/Galloway. I also suspect there to be an undiscovered Roman fort here at Cairnryan! You ought to come up here and explore it for yourselves!!!
Man I want to go there lol
@@mcduck5 Good.
I thought the Romans never went into the Scottish mountains and stayed in the lower half of britain
@@heysiritellmeacoolprofilen7296
No. That is actually a myth. Cawdor Roman fort is near Inverness. The first campaign to conquer Scotland was by Gnaeus Julis Agricola. See;
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus_Julius_Agricola
You can quite clearly see on the map of his campaign to conquer Scotland, the naval supply line going round the WEST coast of Scotland. The perfect place for a naval dockyard would have been on Loch Ryan, in exactly the same location that the later WW2 docks were built, at Cairnryan. For exactly the same reasons; sheltered harbour and deep water. The Roman fort, I believe lies under what is now Loch Ryan House, right next to the WW2 jetty. And the grounds of the house preserve the basic shape of the fort with the house at it's centre built upon what I believe was the Principia.
@@alexanderguestguitars1173 As a recent arrival to Stranraer, I can see the Loch from my bedroom window, this is fasinating. My Grandfather worked on the Muberry design so I must go and take a look.
My father in law joined the Navy 12/8/41 at 16. He was a torpedo man in the destroyer escort fleet. He made 37 passages of the Panama Canal seeing Naval combat in both the Atlantic & Pacific theaters. His first cruises were convoy duty in the North Atlantic in early 1942. I feel truly fortunate to have heard his stories first hand, as he only started to open up to me in about 1995 without my asking. Think when he realized that I too am a Navy vet he felt comfortable enough to start talking. Thanks to all now serving, those who have, and those who will in the future. FLY NAVY!!!
My uncle was part of the planning for the Mulberry harbor system. His unit was charged with reconnaissance and mapping of the sea floor as well as locating the obstacles and mines that had to be dealt with before these behemoths were brought over. His team conducted their work in the dark, in the cold waters off France in April and May.
I salute him.
Some of the sections were built near my home in Wales. I explained the principle to a young colleague at work, he was knocked sideways. Thanks.
It's always amazing to see how the younger generation can't grasp how is society at work and come together and do miraculous things. Part of the problem is the education system for instance here in the United States for not really teaching it. But I also place some burden on parents for not sharing family lore with their children. I think with all our advanced technology we wasted on stupid videos of people doing stupid things and not enough about the history of a family or a people. I mean World War II was not all that long ago in the scheme of time.
I had two uncles that landed on that day. One was on shore and the other was in the blimps guarding any axis planes from bombing. When I learned about their stories I was humbled. They were the Greatest Generation.
There is no greater praise, than admiration from your enemy. That last bit says it all.
My parent's generation lived through the war and all of them either fought were evacuated as too young and even my aunts made planes or worked for barrage balloon teams. Even 50 years later it was something that completely defined them as a generation. Sometime's it was like they missed it as I guess they were young and had such an important purpose. Although, they also suffered and had rationing and bombing raids and lost family. It always had a strange powerful hole over them that nothing that came after could ever be as important as. Even my generation was affected simply by the amount it affected our parents.
ive walked across utah beach in normandy and ive seen the bunkers, the mullberry harbours, and the remains of a landing craft. it was epic.
I'm 37, and today is the first time I've heard of Port Mulberry, this is absolutely fascinating, why didn't we learn about this in school!!!
James . . . I am increasingly convinced that we (at least in the West) must not loose sight of this mountain of historical facts. Best to you in your work.
Thank you for posting this. My dad was in the second wave at Omaha beach he also fought in the Falaise Gap and the Hurtgen Forest. He rarely spoke about his time in the war. When he did, he made it sound more like a lousy camping trip than a brutal war. I guess that was his method of coping with what he endured.
For his service I salute him. He bought us our freedom.
My dad wasn’t at Normandy, he was with the 8th army fighting Rommels Afrika Corp in the desert. When I was kid I asked him about his wartime experiences, his reply was short and blunt, he said “You never need to know about that”. My dad passed away in 2018 and never spoke a word about it to anyone. I miss him. RIP Dad❤️
My dad would have loved this.
When I lived in Paris he came to visit in 1997 and we went out to Normandy. He was former army special forces and knew those who served in his unit after the war (he enlisted in 1953).
When the locals in Caen learned my dad had been in in the 82nd AND 101st Army Airborne they treated him like a family member. He had never been to Europe and was humbled at the battle locations and the cemeteries -- especially the German ones along side the French and American.
My dad was though as nails but was the most easy-going person. Special forces, then army reserve, then city police, then US deputy Marshall -- a lifetime of service. But he couldn't fight off Covid in 2020 -- he died 3 months before vaccines were available.
I miss him every day.
Im sorry. My dad got sick around the same time, fortunately he was lucky. It wouldve been very hard to lose him. I hope that youre doing well.
I’ve fished right next to those concrete casons exactly 30 years to the month in 1974. I was 15 and our concierge from our apartment in Paris had a summer place they invited me to. Surreal experience.
My Grandad (Royal Engineers) crossed the channel a couple of times on Mulberry harbour sections. He reckoned they preferred to be towed by the Royal Navy rather than the Americans as the American navy tended to cut you adrift at night to avoid U-Boats. They had a wooden shed as shelter and a brazier to keep warm though they darnt light it for fear of the luftwaffe.
Thats nothing , the British troops stopped for tea as their own country men were being slaughtered in a bridge to far !
And you still can't defend yourselves and need nato !
@@smckay6438 someone’s mad
@@LyyraRoi yes !
It would be nice for all Europeans to at least show some respect for the American soldiers that are now "in" European soil !
Its not that hard to respect the men who literally gave their lives for everything you have !
American soldiers got their asses kicked by vietnamese farmers lmaoooo
@@smckay6438what’s it like being a troll😂😂
Just offshore of the island of Saipan is the wreck of a cement hulled ship. From what I understand the Americans intentionally beached it to draw fire from enemy positions during the first day of the invasion. As the Japanese gunners were dumb enough to fire into it, the U.S. Navy dutifully noted each enemy gun emplacement. Sometimes the best weapon is a "Tempting Target".
The world ain’t what it seems is it Gunny?
They did have several concrete ships but it wasn’t deliberately beached to draw fire. The ships were already being fired upon so no sense in sending one concrete ship it to get shot up and report where the guns were.
When the Navy had their UDT teams operating on the beaches and just offshore of Iwo Jima they were escorted by a battleship and some destroyers. It was one of the older battleships that were rebuilt after Pearl harbor. The Japanese open fire thinking the invasion was starting and they revealed some previously unknown gun emplacements. Coincidentally those gun emplacement ceased to exist shortly after they opened fire.
@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer I am still impressed by how clever our US WWII at war generation were. Thanks for your post.
The American Mulberry was constructed by the U. S. Navy Seabees. I am a retired Seabee and have always been fascinated by this engineering marvel. Thanks for this great video.
And it fell apart quicker than the other. cos the yanks didnt follow instructions
My favorite part of the video was seeing a piece of the harbor still acting as a bridge today. It was forged in the worst war in human history, and here it stands, peacefully existing, it's original purpose served. I imagine all the moments and lives that passed over that bridge.
Pounding swords into ploughshares as the saying goes.
I love your passion about this subject.
Great job.
Absolutely amazing thank you for sharing God Bless
I live in Luxembourg.
Many sections of the American Mulberry harbour are now used as local bridges in the French department “Moselle”.
They replace bridges destroyed in 1944 when Patton fought the battle of Metz / Thionville and later as the Germans slowed US reinforcement for the battle of the Bulge. There is 1 with a display panel for example in Cattenom.
You have got to make your episodes longer then 10 minutes. Im always wanting more when they are done.
Truly astonishing!
Great episode, almost everything was a detail I'd never known before.
Love stuff like this, you did a great job here James, very interesting 👍👍.
My Grandfather was a Naval engineer, his first posting being the Olympic. He worked on many projects after that and after some other projects during the war, was on the design team for Mulberry. Sadly he passed away before I was born. My wifes Grandfather was also an engineer, he invented practical aplications for the Navy of white noise, earning a bonus payment from the MOD.
fantastic vid, well done!!! thank you
LOVE THIS .
Simply astonishing what the allies did to get onto the continent and then drive the enemy to its rightful end. Just...wow. Never to be forgotten what the allies did.
I done a brief talk on this a few years ago outside the museum at Arromanche. The Mulberry harbours were a fascinating achievement. Thanks for the video.
Astonishing achievement
I met a D-Day veteran. He’s 99 currently, and turning 100 years old on September 13th! He landed on Idaho beach, and he told me that he only survived because of luck. It sucks because I never got his name though :(
No Idaho Beach at Normandy. Omaha and Utah in U.S. section. Gold, Juno, and Sword in the British/Canadian section.
My grandfather was there. He was one of the engineers that set up the Phoenix cassions and then stormed the beach. Till the day he died he couldn't watch the opening to saving private Ryan. My other grandfather was on a tanker ship in the Caribbean when it was torpedoed and sank in late 43. He refused to get in water over his head. He also served on the Wisconsin till the end of 46.
Some of the caissons which were sunk to hide them got stuck in the mud on the seabed and wouldn't re-float when they were pumped out. Compressed air was jetted underneath which worked to free them in most cases but some of them broke their backs and were left behind and still visible today
I have never heard of these. Absolutely amazing 👍
Great stuff here..my grandad landed at Sword with the RA👍
Some of the Mulberry components was later re-floated and moved to the Scheldt estuary, when operations to activate the Port of Antwerp were underway. The concrete caissons were re-used there as breakwaters.
This is part of the reason why I believe the allied forces are probably one of the singular greatest forces in earths history, I still learn more and more about ww2 every time I look it up or see anything of it, and it’s always more impressive than the last time
The Mullberry harbours were designed at my school. Kingswood School in Bath had it's buildings comandeered by the Navy and one of the teacher's officies was assigned to the designer that created them.
Those royal engineers didn't mess about!
This is a great episode, enjoyable to see the travelling aspect.
My grandfather was an army engineer and built those, then he was sent to build bridges all over Europe after the invasion. He told me about landing in Normandy the day after the invasion. He said, "There were a sea of bodies, and the water was red with blood."
Great work
Wow, just wow!
Brilliant video
I grew up looking at one of the caissons at the entrance to Langstone harbour (I think it sank before it could cross the channel), I was delighted to finally get t Arromanches and see where the rest ended up. The town has a fantastic museum and a circular cinema, both well worth a visit (I was there in the late '80's but I presume they are still there?)
Yes still there!
The Intelligent Savage: A very interesting reminder of man's ingenuity and innovation under gross duress. WWII pushed technology to the extreme, money no object, time as fast as possible.
Never knew about this amazing engineering accomplishment. And I even served (REME 94-98).
7:18 Love it!!
I love what you did
It s a good job
I was born there
I love normandy and this History is absolutly fantastic
Visited Normandy in 1994 during the 50th anniversary and camped ina field in Saint come de Fresne, so we spent alot of time on the beach in Arromanches and the remains of the Mulberry Harbour. Would be good if you did something on the history of P.L.U.T.O. if you haven't already.
Did you find any bullet casings or anything like that?
It seems surreal now, the scale of Dday, and how much was at stake. The innovation and sheer will behind it all.
Fascinating.
Great video
Fantastic truly astonishing thanks for sharing 👍
Nicely done.
Awesome 😎 I really want to visit Normandy
As logistics go, so goes the war. Fascinating.
Great vid, everyday is a school day.
Amazing
there are a lot that were brought back to the UK. you can see them on the River Thames & Medway eastury. used as break waters to reduce erosion and now reefs and wildlife habitat. one of the many construction docks was on dartford Creek on the river darent in kent . both of these docks are now filled in and built over but you can still see from the creek then lock entrances and from maps the lay out.
Great!
Big history guy. However, I have never heard of this. They need to make a movie out of this. No wait I’m starting the screen play now… dibs.😊
I hated to be there. I know it’s history. I got every so often with friends that haven’t gone but it’s been two years since. I don’t think I’m going again. I just get the overwhelming feeling of sadness and very negative energy that I don’t want to bring back with me.
@Honu Very understandable. I was surprised at the overwhelming feelings I experience at the Vietnam memorial in D.C.
Military engineers don't get the respect they deserve. This was some feat!
Rip to all the HEROES who defended freedom with everything theyhad
If you visit Hayling Island near Havant & Portsmouth there is an old section of the Mullbury Harbour they built still in Langstone Harbour.
They were REAL men and Thank God for their service and we are thankful for their sacrifice.
Now let’s enjoy no-fault divorce and transgenderism and overwhelming property tax
Wood have been really cool coming over from Britain on a boat…hooking up to the harbor …driving a truck ..Jeep…tank …off that bridge while the bridge shakes and shimmers..not realizing your effort is going to be talked about…learned by students…studies by scholars for centuries to come….
Sad part …there are probable 5 thousand guys left who drove on that bridge alive today…who could talk about it…out of the two million (guess) that went over it… there all gone…some probable didn’t last another two weeks……seems all to sureel…..being a baby boomer…my life was made very easy…with many opportunities and great times..because of that effort…how many people take the time to think and appreciate that effort…I do….went to beaches last summer with my grown up kids..the place is quiet now..but if you look at all the old building..you can see the bullet holes and redone cement walls on all the building and walls..I felt it..it was moving .
Never thought I would see "Epic" and "D-Day" in the same sentence
RIP all the young boys and men who died trying to prevent an allied invasion.
And no I don't blame allied soldiers for anything, my G. Grandad was a paratrooper involved in these landings. They simply did their duty as men and served their countries, they didn't know what/who they really fought for.
People are truely amazing arent they
Hey Hostory Hit. Do you ever watch those videos where they dig up trenches and battlefields and they unearth Soviet and German soldiers with all their equipment helmets, grenades, etc etc and stuff like wallets and coins where there pockets were. Fascinating stuff!
damn i wanna visit d-day beaches someday
You can see these if you look north from the Omaha Beach cemetery. I didn't manage to get up to Arromanches but we could see them from the headstones...
One part of the war many of us never heard of, interesting since my Uncle was one of many who hit Omaha Beach.
you may have never heard of it but it is a major part of the History sylabus in english schools.
when you think about it, it’s very sad because they worked tirelessly to sustain an invasion force, and then almost 80years later people vandalize the remains of their great work,
the engineers would also be happy to be told at the time of design that their efforts were so successful that people are able to vandalize them 80 years later
It is sad seeing some of the old structures are vandalized
That’s my favorite fishing spot….fish on;)
My husbands dad was on the HMS EMPIRE BROADSWORD that’s out there …. There is a piece of the Mulberry Harbor just off Southend on Sea Essex. She broke away from being towed down the Thames and there she sits
Iv seen the remains of the harbour money times and I still wonder how it all just worked...👍👍
It's amazing one guy caused All this
Mulberry A was destroyed during the storm because the Americans who built it did it faster by leaving key components uninstalled as that meant the work went faster. They gambled as those components left off were the components that protected the harbors during storms. Which is the real reason Mulberry B more or less survived the storm in a usable condition.
Wow just imagine these things saved the free world
Its a wounder that Dan snow isn't introducing this and taking full credits as if it was him that made the documentary
After the storm of June 19th wrecked the American Mulberry it was decided to use what was left to repair the British Mulburry.
"In his Struggle for Europe the late Chester Wilmot raises an interesting point about the outcome of this decision: Undismayed, the Americans applied their talent for invention and organization... During July they handled more than twice the tonnage of the British Mulberry. This achievement has led to the suggestion that the vast expenditure of effort and materials on the artificial harbours was unnecessary... the same effort could have been achieved far more economically with a few hundred more landing craft and ferries.
He goes on to point out, however, that the Allies were short of landing-craft when planning for Overlord began, and the possession of an artificial harbour gave us the freedom to land well away from heavily defended areas. It also gave confidence to the Allied High Command." from 'The Secret War 1939-45' by Gerald Pawle.
In the UK by the Hayling Island Ferry point a large concrete structure that broke is a reminder to part of Hayling Island's role in World War two - area around the Ferry Boat Inn was used to construct sections of Mulberry harbour - One of these cassIons developed a fatal crack and was eventually abandoned on a sandbank in Langstone harbour. As an obstacle to shipping the cassIon was refloated and towed to safety on Sinah sands where it was again sunk
I was hoping someone had mentioned this, I live 10 minutes from Langstone Harbour and wondered why it got left behind 👍
in churchills autobiography he was pissed at the americans for not building their mulberry correctly. they cut corners and when the storm hit the mulberry was destroyed.
Mhm well he doesn’t get to be pissed at the nation he begged to save him
of course he can. he held the line alone.
Nice.👌🏻
this is amazing; many people don't know how much these harbors meant. quite literally the first step in conquering Nazi Germany on the western front and redefining democracy in Europe
after the german army was already defeated in the east, it took you westerners 4years to decide to open a second front. your so called democracy was saved by the soviets that fought alone against the german warmachine, while you looked at it and waited who would win, and only when you saw that the soviets were pushing east you opened a second front.
Actually Mulberry A was the American Mulberry while B was the British. The competitive attitude of the USA was anything the British can do, the USA can do better and faster, the US Mulberry was completed ahead of the British. Not because the US team were better, but rather they cut corners and did not bother to dig in the anchors of the Mulberry units. The British took the time needed to ensure the anchors were right. For want of a nail the ship was lost.
Therefore when the storm of the 19th June swept through the US team were helpless to keep their pontoons on station and the lot was swept away.
Meanwhile the British were just able to hold their own against the storm because they had something to pull against - the anchors for each and every pontoon which were properly set.
Much like the German V1, Luftwaffe project, and the V2, Wehrmacht project, the Mulberry was an Army project, and not a Naval project as might be expected. The British Navy, feeling a bloody nose for being left out, responded with a number of old ships that were stripped of useful equipment, sailed across and then scuttled along side the Mulberry's in a school boy effort of creating a break water around the Mulberry's to protect them against a rough sea. This probably did very little other than to complicate the clean up of the area after the war but left th Navy feeling they now played a part in the creation of the floating harbour.
R.I.P to the Young solider at 1:18