Arromanches - The artificial harbours and allied logistics

The Normandy landings and the military operations that followed required unprecedented logistical and technological resources. The artificial harbours and underwater pipelines deployed across the Channel to supply the armies fighting on the continent are now well known to the general public. However, they were only two components of the astonishing logistical machine deployed by the Allies. For each combatant on the front line, ten men were lined up in support, ranging from the munitions officer to the forage worker, the armourer, the cook, the lorry driver and the nurse who would treat them in case of injury. All these men and women remained too much in the shadows. The Allies showed great ingenuity. Their ability to adapt enabled them to overcome the many difficulties they faced and thus remain in a position to defeat the armies of the Third Reich. Two million five hundred thousand men, five hundred thousand vehicles and four million tons of equipment were transported to Normandy in barely one hundred days.

Christophe Prime is a historian, a specialist in the Second World War and head of the collections at the Caen Memorial. He is the author of Omaha Beach (Tallandier, 2011), La bataille du Cotentin (Tallandier, 2015), Le Pays de Falaise dans la guerre 39-45 (in collaboration with Stéphane Jonot, OREP, 2016) and Omaha Beach - Mardi 6 juin 1944 (OREP, 2016).