Mulberry harbours were two temporary portable harbours developed by the British Admiralty and War Office during the Second World War to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. After the Allies successfully held beachheads following D-Day, two prefabricated harbours were taken in sections across the English Channel from southern England with the invading armies and assembled off Omaha Beach (Mulberry \"A\") and Gold Beach (Mulberry \"B\").
Beach Head Desert War (Portable)
The western side of Wigtown Bay, in the Solway Firth, was selected for the trials as the tides were similar to those on the expected invasion beaches in Normandy, a harbour was available at Garlieston, and the area's remoteness would simplify security matters. A headquarters camp was erected at Cairn Head, about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Garlieston. Prototypes of each of the designs were built and transported to the area for testing by Royal Engineers, based at Cairn Head and in Garlieston.[10] The tests revealed various problems (the \"Swiss Roll\" would only take a maximum of a 7-ton truck in the Atlantic swell). However the final choice of design was determined by a storm during which the \"Hippos\" were undermined causing the \"Crocodile\" bridge spans to fail and the Swiss Roll was washed away. Tn5's design proved the most successful and Beckett's floating roadway (subsequently codenamed 'Whale') survived undamaged; the design was adopted and 16 km (10 mi) of Whale roadway were manufactured under the management of J. D. Bernal and Brigadier Bruce White, the Director of Ports and Inland Water Transport at the War Office.
Mulberry was the codename for all the various different structures that would create the artificial harbours. These were the \"Gooseberries\" which metamorphosed into fully fledged harbours. There were two harbours, Mulberry \"A\" and Mulberry \"B\". The \"Mulberry\" harbours consisted of a floating outer breakwater called \"Bombardons\", a static breakwater consisting of \"Corncobs\" and reinforced concrete caissons called \"Phoenix breakwaters\", floating piers or roadways codenamed \"Whales\" and \"Beetles\", and pier heads codenamed \"Spuds\". These harbours when built were both of a similar size to Dover harbour. In the planning of Operation Neptune the term Mulberry \"B\" was defined as, \"An artificial harbour to be built in England and towed to the British beaches at Arromanches.\"[11]
Arriving first on D-Day itself were the Bombardons followed a day later by the first blockship. The first Phoenix was sunk on 9 June and the Gooseberry was finished by 11 June. By 18 June two piers and four pier heads were working. Though this harbour was abandoned in late June (see below), the beach continued to be used for landing vehicles and stores using Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs). Using this method, the Americans were able to unload a higher tonnage of supplies than at Arromanches. Salvageable parts of the artificial port were sent to Arromanches to repair the Mulberry there.[21]
BEACHHEAD DESERT WAR was an arcade exclusive release that came out during the Iraq War and as such had textures an graphics associated with the politics of the time. Originally You could not obtain this title on the PC until now with the re-release of the beachhead series. Again you will be assigned to a isolated defense perimeter, protecting a command post in the middle of the desert to repel an unexpected assault. So get ready yet again to face an endless enemy whose resolve was only hardened in the cruel desert environment. Good luck soldier!
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After D-Day, the Allies needed to continually build up reinforcements of men and supplies in Normandy to sustain the invasion's momentum. Previous experience taught the Allies hard but important lessons about the need to secure harbours and ports - harbours to provide protection from bad weather and rough seas, and ports to provide a place to ferry men and cargo. The planners responsible for 'Overlord' proposed creating two artificial harbours - codenamed 'Mulberries' - by sinking outdated ships ('Corncobs') and large concrete structures ('Phoenixes'). Adding floating roadways and piers (codenamed 'Whales') would allow them to use the beachhead as an improvised port.
When Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was put in charge of German defences in Normandy, he believed that any invasion would come at high tide, when the beachhead was at its narrowest and troops would be vulnerable to German fire for the shortest period of time. He therefore devised a series of obstacles adapted for use under water that would be completely concealed during mid and high tides. The jagged edges of iron 'hedgehogs', pictured above, could tear through the bottom of landing craft. Some were rigged with explosives that would detonate on impact. Round, flat land mines (called 'teller mines' after the German word for 'plate') were attached to wooden posts wedged into the sand and would explode when they came into contact with landing craft. Inland, Rommel also designed a network of large posts fixed vertically into the ground that prevented gliders from landing in open areas. These defences were nicknamed 'Rommel's Asparagus'.
In July 1917 a young British officer called T E Lawrence captured the key town of Aqaba on the Red Sea, surprising both the British and Turkish high commands, who had considered it impossible. This enabled the Northern Arab Army of Emir Faisal to move northwards and the British to establish a beach-head and mount raids against the Turkish defences along the railway.
In the early morning hours of 22 January 1944, VI Corps of Lt. Gen.Mark W. Clark's Fifth Army landed on the Italian coast below Rome andestablished a beachhead far behind the enemy lines. In the four monthsbetween this landing and Fifth Army's May offensive, the short stretchof coast known as the Anzio beachhead was the scene of one of the mostcourageous and bloody dramas of the war. The Germans threw attack afterattack against the beachhead in an effort to drive the landing forceinto the sea. Fifth Army troops, put fully on the defensive for thefirst time, rose to the test. Hemmed in by numerically superior enemyforces, they held their beachhead, fought off every enemy attack, andthen built up a powerful striking force which spearheaded Fifth Army'striumphant entry into Rome in June.
Main Fifth Army, reinforced by two fresh divisions from thequiescent Eighth Army front, was to strike at the German Tenth Armyacross the Garigliano and Rapido Rivers, breach the Gustav Line, anddrive up the Liri Valley. This offensive was planned in sufficientstrength to draw in most of the available German reserves. While theenemy was fully occupied in defending the Gustav Line, the surpriselanding would be made in his rear at the twin resort towns of Anzio andNettuno, about thirty miles south of Rome. Once established, theassaultforce was to thrust inland toward the volcanic heights of ColliLaziali. The capture of Colli Laziali would block vital enemy supplyroutes and threaten to cut off the German troops holding the GustavLine. The Allied leaders believed that the Germans lacked sufficientstrength to meet attacks on two fronts and that they would be forced torush troops northward to meet the grave threat to their rear. Thusweakened, the Germans could be forced to withdraw up the Liri Valleyfrom their Gustav Line positions. Eighth Army, though depleted of twodivisions which were to go to the Fifth Army front, was to make a showof force along its front in order to contain the maximum number ofenemyforces. If possible, Eighth Army would reach Highway No. 5 and developathreat toward Rome through Popoli by 20 January. Main Fifth Army was tofollow up the anticipated enemy withdrawal as quickly as possible, linkup with the beachhead force, and drive on Rome.
An area roughly seven miles deep by fifteen miles wide around Anziowas to form the initial Allied beachhead.Its 26-mile perimeter wasconsidered the maximum whichcould be held by the initial assault force and yet include the bestnatural features for defense, In the sector northwest of Anzio thebeachhead was bounded by the Moletta River, Here the low coastal plainwas cut up by a series of rough-hewn stream gullies, the largest ofthemformed by the Moletta and the Incastro Rivers running southwest fromthe higher ground inland toward the sea. These gullies, though theirsmall streams were easily fordable, were often fifty feet deep andoffered difficult obstacles to armor. In the central beachhead sector,east of the first overpass on the Anzio-Albano road, the line ran 6,000yards across a broad stretch of almost level open fields to meet thewest branch
LITTORIA AND THE RIGHT FLANK of the beachhead, viewed fromtheair. The Mussolini Canal flows from right to left across the terrainshown in this photo, about one-third of the distance between Littoriaand Anzio. The Factory (Aprilia) was very similar in structure, andbuilt about the same time as Littoria.
of the Mussolini Canal below the village of Padiglione. Thisstretchof open country leading inland along the Albano road formed the bestavenue of approach into or out of the beachhead and was to be the sceneof major Allied and German attacks.
Between Cisterna and Littoria the plain merged with the northernedge of the Pontine Marshes, a low, flat region of irrigated fieldsinterlaced with an intricate network of drainage ditches. The treeless,level expanse offered scant cover for troops, and during the rainyseason the fields were impassable to most heavy equipment. FromPadiglione east the entire right fl