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Early Plan for the Construction of Mulberry Harbor "A" at Omaha Beach, Predating the D-Day Landings.
Top Secret detailed plan for the construction of the so-called "Mulberry" harbor at Omaha Beach. This was one of two temporary harbors (the other at Gold Beach - Mulberry "B") that facilitated the initial landings and supply during the Allied breakout from Normandy.
The map shows the construction plans around "Les Moulins" on Omaha Beach, with schematics of boats, moorings, bridges, notes on tides, the composition of the seabed, size of entrances, names of subsections of the beach (e.g., "Dog Green", "Easy Green"... etc.)
The plan reports that it is the Eighth draft of 13 May 1944 - still weeks before D-Day (June 4, 1944) - intense
Mulberry "A" Harbor, Omaha Beach
On 2 September 1943, the Combined Chiefs of Staff estimated that the artificial ports would need to handle 12,000 tons per day, exclusive of motor transport and in all weathers. On 4 September the go-ahead was given to start work immediately on the harbors. However, infighting between the War Office and the Admiralty over responsibility was only resolved on 15 December 1943 by the intervention of the Vice-Chiefs of Staff. The decision was that the Admiralty managed the blockships, Bombardons, and assembly of all constituent parts on the south coast of England. Further, the Admiralty would undertake all necessary work to survey, site, tow and mark navigation.
The War Office was given the task of constructing the concrete caissons (Phoenixes), the roadways (Whales) and protection via anti-aircraft installations. Once at the site, the army was responsible for sinking the caissons and assembling all the various other units of the harbors.
For the Mulberry A at Omaha Beach, the naval Corps of Civil Engineers would construct the harbor from the prefabricated parts.
The still only partially-completed Mulberry harbor at Omaha Beach was damaged on 19 June by a violent storm that suddenly arrived from the north-east. After three days the storm finally abated and the damage was found to be so severe that the harbor had to be abandoned.
The harbor at Gold Beach was used for 10 months after D-Day and over 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tons of supplies were landed before it was fully decommissioned.
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