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Description: | The memorial is situated by the shore and has the wording along the top of the memorial.
Combined Operations. British and Allied naval and commando units sailed from the Hamble River on the night of 5th June 1944 for the D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches. 40th Anniversary Commemoration.
Below is another plaque saying;
This memorial was unveiled by the Countess Mountbatten of Burma C.D., J.P., D.I. On 5th June 1984.
In large letters below is For Our Freedom.
Operation OVERLORD, involving amphibious, naval and air operations was an ambitious plan for the landing of Allied forces in Normandy. Many ports, both large and small, along the south coast of England but especially in Hampshire were used for the assembling of the assault forces.
D-Day had been set by General Eisenhower for Monday 5th June. On the 29th May, the marshalling process had begun and units were gathered together for transportation to the coastal gathering points. On the 31st May began the slow journey to the various docks with each convoy allocated to be at the right embarkation point at the correct time to board the ships. These groups of vehicles lined all the approaches to the sea. Stretching inland for miles, rows and rows of lorries, guns, tanks and jeeps jammed all the roads in the area. Many local people believed, however, that this was just another exercise. Many hundreds of the troops amassing at Warsash were from the United States. The loading process had to be completed by the morning of the 4th June, so that the troops would be ready to put to sea for landing on the Normandy beaches the next morning. The landing craft slipped from their moorings and moved towards the specially built hards to be loaded with troops and weapons. After loading they resumed their places at the same moorings they had been anchored at for so long. To the enemy, from the air, everything looked the same. Along the River Hamble at Warsash, most of the commandos involved in the assault climbed aboard their small infantry landing craft. Everything was ready for the invasion on the 5th June. With the landings set to take place between 0600 and 0700 hours, the final decision for the attack had to be made at least 24 hours prior to this. The weather had been warm and sunny on the 2nd June but forecasts for the next few days were for more unsettled weather. The decision was made to board the ships anyway in preparation for the landings. The weather deteriorated however with a forecast of force 6 winds and thick cloud cover with heavy showers. Eisenhower then made the decision to put Overlord on hold. Amazingingly the next forecast was for a brief spell of fine weather before it deteriorated again. The decision was taken for the sea attack to go in on Tuesday 6th June. By 1725 hours, the first landings in Normandy had begun.
Reference:
1. Doughty, Martin (Editor). 1994. Hampshire and D-Day, p.74-5, 123. | Format: | image/jpeg | License: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.exe?a=query&p=gateway&f=generic_sitetext%2ehtm&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&cms_con_core_subtype%3acms_con_text_what=copyright&%3acms_sys_group=%22sopse%22 | Rights holder: | Hampshire Library and Information Service - Hampshire County Council | Subjects: | war memorial memorial D-Day ship River Hamble Countess Edwina Mountbatten WW2 Overlord General Dwight Eisenhower transport jeep invasion tank lorry river | Temporal: | start=1987-07-01; end=1987-07-01; | Source: | Sense of place SE | Creator: | Derek Dine, Hampshire County Library | Identifier: | http://www.sopse.org.uk/ixbin/hixclient.... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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