PREPARATIONLESSON PLAN 1

Look at the timeline document up until 5th June 1944 . Many steps led to the decision to launch an invasion of Western Europe. The date and location of the invasion had to be kept strictly secret, the majority of troops may have known an invasion was imminent but would have had no idea when and where it would be. This lesson plan will look at the experiences of three veterans in the build up to D-Day.

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© D-Day Museum, Portsmouth

ROLE OF ORAL HISTORYOne of the difficulties in oral history stories is

that at the time of the event the veteran would

have little or no idea about what was happening.

When they recall their stories after the event, their

reminiscences and memory can be tempered by

hindsight. However many veterans understand this

as you can see below and can recall the secrecy and

remember their feelings of this at the time.

DISCUSSION POINT

Why do you think there needed to be so much secrecy surrounding the invasion?

Read Gordon Smith’s experience of building a Mulberry Harbour. Do you think it would have made any difference to him if he had known what he was building?

All three veterans knew the invasion was imminent despite the secrecy around it. Discuss the ways that they may have found out about the imminent invasion. How much do you think the public knew?

© D-Day Museum, Portsmouth

EYE WITNESS

“after training at Aldershot for the Catering Corp,

they said we got more urgent personnel wanted

in Scotland, …it was Loch Ryan just outside of

Stranraer and we built the sections called the

pier heads, and Portsmouth and Southampton

built other section called wells… we had to build

them within ten months... I went across before the

Mulberry Harbour got there. When it was taken and

assembled we knew what all these concrete things

were down there because as they towed them

across to the beaches they just flooded the concrete

sections to sink onto the seabed and that’s what we

knew”

Gordon Smith was called up in December 1941

and joined the Royal Engineers. Initially in the

Catering Corps, Gordon built and assembled

the Mulberry Harbours.

“The fifteen trips we did were, nearly all were in

daylight and they were bombing before D-Day. We

had to bomb all the way up behind the coast from

the Bay of Biscay right on through to the North

of Holland. So the enemy didn’t realise where we

were going in…. Well it was a fantastic sight you

know in fact that night of course we were told to

go back of course get some rest and fly again that

night and we were bombing a marshalling yard just

behind the sea front and I think it was, it must have

been an ammunition train blew up just as we were

approaching the target… you can see the sound

wave actually it was an enormous explosion.”

Fred Dankwardt was a Rear Gunner in the

RAF and recalls bombing raids as part of the

Transportation Plan

“One of the things that we did see was an odd

looking ship that was going through more or less

every day, it seemed to be going through for weeks.

I did make enquiries, I was curious to find out what

the ship was doing; we found out afterwards that it

was called Pluto which meant ‘Pipeline Under The

Ocean’, referring to all the pipes being laid leading

to France; enabling them to get all the fuel they

needed whilst over there…all day the ships were

going out; and it was our local padres that went

out with the ships; it was sad in one way because

nobody knew how it would end, and every ship that

went out we were able to send messages, we were

sending them messages such as goodbye and good

luck.”

Pat Massett joined the Women’s Royal Naval

Service (WRNS) and trained as a Signaler. Pat

was stationed on the Isle of Wight in the lead

up to D-Day.

600,000 tonsof concrete was used to create the Mulberry Harbour

3,200 reconnaissance missions were carried out before D-Day

Boat assembly point called

Piccadilly Circus

Bad weatherdelayed the invasion by

24 hours