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    Mulberry-American: The Artificial Harbor At Omaha
    Mulberry-American: The Artificial Harbor At Omaha
    Mulberry-American: The Artificial Harbor At Omaha
    Ebook92 pages1 hour

    Mulberry-American: The Artificial Harbor At Omaha

    By Major Brett Peters

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    About this ebook

    The Overlord operation is a widely studied episode in military history. Often overlooked is a little known U.S. operation designed to overcome logistical problems in the Overlord plan. For the first 90 days of combat the Overlord operation would not benefit from major ports to sustain the build-up and counter the German attempt to push the Allies back into the sea. The Allies planned, designed, and constructed two artificial harbours to overcome the lack of ports. The harbours were known by the code name, Mulberry. The components were towed across the English channel with the invasion fleet and constructed under enemy fire. Mulberry A, the A stood for American, was completed three days ahead of schedule and doubled the throughput of U.S. supplies over the Normandy beachhead. Mulberry A was destroyed by a summer gale after only three days of operation and subsequently abandoned. Effective beaching LSTs during the operation led many critics to conclude that Mulberry A supply operations had little effect on the Overlord operation. To the contrary, using modern assessment methods, it can be concluded that the Mulberry operation was effective and influenced the outcome of the cross channel attack.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLucknow Books
    Release dateNov 6, 2015
    ISBN9781786250742
    Mulberry-American: The Artificial Harbor At Omaha

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      Book preview

      Mulberry-American - Major Brett Peters

      This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

      To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – picklepublishing@gmail.com

      Or on Facebook

      Text originally published in 2011 under the same title.

      © Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

      Publisher’s Note

      Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

      We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

      MULBERRY AMERICAN: THE ARTIFICIAL HARBOR AT OMAHA

      By

      Major Brett Peters

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Contents

      TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

      ABSTRACT 5

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5

      ACRONYMS 6

      CHAPTER 1 — CODE NAME MULBERRY 7

      CHAPTER 2 — LOGISTICAL MEANS AND METHODS 10

      CHAPTER 3 — PLANNING FOR MULBERRY 15

      CHAPTER 4 — MULBERRY A OPERATIONS 29

      CHAPTER 5 — CONCLUSIONS 43

      ILLUSTRATIONS 47

      GLOSSARY 48

      APPENDIX A — MULBERRY TIMELINE 50

      APPENDIX B — CODE NAMES 52

      REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 53

      BIBLIOGRAPHY 54

      Books 54

      Archival Sources 54

      Government Sources 55

      ABSTRACT

      The Overlord operation is a widely studied episode in military history. Often overlooked is a little known U.S. operation designed to overcome logistical problems in the Overlord plan. For the first 90 days of combat the Overlord operation would not benefit from major ports to sustain the build-up and counter the German attempt to push the Allies back into the sea. The Allies planned, designed, and constructed two artificial harbours to overcome the lack of ports. The harbours were known by the code name, Mulberry. The components were towed across the English channel with the invasion fleet and constructed under enemy fire. Mulberry A, the A stood for American, was completed three days ahead of schedule and doubled the throughput of U.S. supplies over the Normandy beachhead. Mulberry A was destroyed by a summer gale after only three days of operation and subsequently abandoned. Effective beaching LSTs during the operation led many critics to conclude that Mulberry A supply operations had little effect on the Overlord operation. To the contrary, using modern assessment methods, it can be concluded that the Mulberry operation was effective and influenced the outcome of the cross channel attack.

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      The writing of this work could not have been accomplished without the endless patience of my thesis committee. The motivation the committee instilled in me was sorely needed at times and for that, I am extremely grateful. Thank you for the encouragement, input, and motivation tailored to my personality type. I have never experienced what it means to write. I have now been educated.

      I cannot in good form acknowledge any other party without giving thanks to my wife and family. Without the support of my clan this work would have perished in flames many months ago. My wife and four children are eternally patient, forgiving, and understanding. Thank you for putting up with my moments and giving up more than a few weekends while Daddy could work on that paper; I owe you.

      Appreciation must be extended as well to the 2011, Command and General Staff School, Staff Group 15 Delta. I had more than my fair share of encouragement from Staff Group 15 Delta; More cowbell.

      ACRONYMS

      ANCXF—Allied Naval Commander in Chief, Expeditionary Force

      CMSF(CO)—Coordinator of Ministry and Service Facilities (for Combined Operations)

      COHQ—Combined Operations Headquarters.

      ComNavEu—Commander U.S. Naval Forces Europe

      COSSAC—Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander

      D day—Day of invasion

      LCA—Landing Craft Assault

      LCI—Landing Craft (Infantry)

      LCT—Landing Craft (Tank)

      LCVP—Landing Craft–Vehicle, Personnel. Also known as a Higgins boat"

      LSD—Landing Ship (Dock)

      LST—Landing Ship (Tank)

      MOE—Measure of Effectiveness

      MOP—Measure of Performance

      RE—Royal Engineers.

      RN—Royal Navy.

      CHAPTER 1 — CODE NAME MULBERRY

      After the tragedy at Gallipoli in World War I Allied military leaders gave little credence to the concept of opposed beach assaults. The British Army prior to World War II had discounted the concept of an opposed assault as not viable and instead focused on landings on unopposed terrain. The U.S. Army acknowledged that opposed assaults may be necessary but failed to develop doctrine on beach assaults and instead chose to rely on the U.S. Marine Corps doctrine. The surprising capitulation of the French army in 1940 made an opposed amphibious assault a very real possibility as the Allies had no foothold on the mainland from which to launch any offensive against Germany. If there was to be victory over the Germans an opposed beach assault in German occupied France would be unavoidable. In preparation for just such a reality the Allies proceeded with operation Bolero in 1942. Operation Bolero was the codename for the U.S. forces build up in Great Britain. While Bolero began the massive build-up of U.S. forces, operation Sledgehammer was planned. Sledgehammer was to be an opportunistic assault into German controlled France should the German army fall into disarray due to failures in Russia. In 1943 it became apparent to the Allies that a Sledgehammer opportunity was not forthcoming

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