Northumbrian Gunner

Saturday, 4 April 2026

Red Bulls 2025/26 v Stade Rochelais

EPCR CHALLENGE CUP

Newcastle Red Bulls v Stade Rochelais

Red Bulls v Stade Rochelais IJ

Red Bulls v Stade Rochelais

Thursday, 12 March 2026

Ex Magpie Progress 26 - Arromanches D-Day 75 Garden

Located on the clifftops at Arromanches overlooking Gold Beach is the D-Day 75 Garden, opened in 2019 on the 75th anniversary of the Normandy Landings.

Arromanches D-Day 75 Garden IJ

Arromanches D-Day 75 Garden

Ex Magpie Progress 26 - Arromanches Mulberry Harbour

Arromanches Mulberry Harbour IJ

The D-Day landings on 6th June 1944 would secure the beachhead required for the the subsequent liberation of Europe. The strategic problem for the allies was the breakout into occupied Europe would require hundreds of thousands of men and vehicles, together with millions of tons of materiel to be landed in France for ongoing operations. They would require a deep water port to sustain the logistics chain. In 1942 a raid on Dieppe ended in failure which proved that an attack on well defended ports was not a viable option.

The solution was to build two ports in the Normandy Beachhead. The ports would be constructed from pre-fabricated components which were constructed in Great Britain and towed across the channel where they were assembled into the two harbours; Mulberry A at Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer off Omaha Beach to supply the United States forces and Mulberry B (Port Winston) at Arromanches off Gold Beach to supply the British and Canadian forces.

Mulberry Harbour
The first supplies started coming ashore on 14th June 1944.
Mulberry Harbour Arromanches Supplies being landed
Source: IWM A24361
Five days later the worst storm in 20 years hit the Normandy coast destroying the American Mulberry.
Normandy storms batter Mulberry Harbour
Mulberry B at Arromanches suffered damage, but survived the storm. It was repaired using parts from the American harbour and operated for 10 months, outlasting the 3 months it was expected to operate.

During the period in operation 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles and 4 million tonnes of materiel were landed at Port Winston, the Arromonches Mulberry harbour.