Start: Southwick D-Day Memorial Hall, Southwick, Fareham,PO17 6ED.

Location 1: Southwick Village and Southwick House*. 

Location 2: Embarkation Site and Memorial Gosport .  

Location 3: Stokes Bay: Mulberry Harbour Caisson Construction Sites, Memorials, Embarkation points and Duplex Drive Tank Training Site

Location 4: HMS Daedalus, Solent Airport and RNAS WW2 Memorial

Location 5: Warsash Embarkation Site and D-Day Memorial.

 

Hint: If travelling by Car, consider where best to park and distances between each Location. Locations C-D each have a Pay & Display Car Park but are within walking distance, depending on mobility. 

Location 1: Southwick Village & Southwick House*

Parking: Various Places including Free on street parking and car park adjacent to The Memorial Hall.

Toilets: Tea Rooms 20a High Street or Golden Lion Pub in High Street.

Refreshments: Tea Rooms 20a High Street or Golden Lion Pub in High Street.

 

*Note: Southwick House marked with a white diamond is still an operational Military Base with NO public access. In June each Year the village is closed, but accessible via paid entry for Southwick Revival which includes limited advanced ticketed entry to Southwick House and Fort Southwick. See Southwick Revival Website and book early!  

 

We suggest you explore the village at your leisure. The village has changed very little since 1944, so it is easy to imagine what life was like in June 1944.

From Southwick House, close to location A, the immortal words “OK let’s go" (or something very similar) were spoken and the greatest invasion force that the World has ever seen prepared to to board their ships and cross the English Channel to begin the fight back against Hitler’s ‘Fortress Europe’.

Southwick House, dating from 1800,became the location of HMS Dryad, the Naval Navigation and Fighter Direction School in 1941. However, prior to D-Day it became the Advance Command Post and Forward HQ of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) previously located at Norfolk House in Central London.

This location was chosen to be close to the primary ports of embarkation as well at Fort Southwick, the Secret underground communications Centre for operation Overlord from which the operations were coordinated.

 

The whole village was taken over as part of The Southwick Command Post with The Golden Lion Pub, becoming the Officer's Mess. The village has remained relatively unchanged over time, including the red doors mandated by covenant for the buildings that are part of the Southwick Park Estate.

Both Field Marshal Montgomery, who was in overall charge of the Army Forces and General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces had personal command posts in the woods close by, just outside the village on the road to Denmead. Further along Bunkers Hill close to Denmead is Creech Woods, home of Creech Walk Embarkation Area (A11&A12) this will be covered in a future tour

 Also nearby  to the south marked with a white star is Fort Southwick, a Palmerstone Portsmouth defence fort built in the 1860s. an underground HQ was completed in December 1942 and known as Portsmouth Naval Headquarters. It was designed as a conventional bombproof HQ for wartime use by the Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth containing a comprehensive naval operational control centre with associated communications centre and limited accommodation. This was used as the Portsmouth communications centre for D-Day Operations and was in direct contact with Southwick House. Unfortunately the fort is NOT open to the public. However, occasional tours are available via https://hiddenhistorytours.uk/

The next location is Hardway slip in Gosport about 22 minutes away by car.

Location 2: Embarkation Point and D-Day Memorial Gosport

 

Parking: Hardway Slipway Pay & Display Car Park

Toilets: None Close by.

Refreshments: None Close by

 

From the Small Car Park Walk towards the water and the Memorial is on your right. The Hard area can be very slippery.

The embarkation site at the Hardway (GH) Is typical of the embarkation sites used to load vehicles. This particular site could birth two Landing Ships (LST) simultaneously as shown in the image above, right taken on 1 June 1944.  

When facing the water on the modern slipway, you can see the remains of the beach hardening mats and a large cast bollard at each end. In the road to the rear is a former pub, which during June 1944 became the Embarkation control centre. It is difficult to imagine the weight of heavy armoured traffic that must have passed down the narrow roads most of which are unchanged except for part of Heritage way which was a railway to the Royal Naval Armaments Depot which is now the Explosion Museum. 

An area close to the Gosport ferry to the seaward side of Harbour Tower, was the location of a second Gosport Embarkation Hard (GF) for two Tank Landing Craft (LCT) an example of which can be seen at the D-Day Story Museum in Tour 2. There is no longer any trace of the GF Embarkation site.

Location C at  Stokes Bay is about 12 minutes away by car. See Hint below

Location 3: Embarkation Sites, Mulberry Harbour Caisson Construction Sites, Memorials and Duplex Drive Tank Salt- Water Training Base, Stokes Bay

Hint: The next locations are relatively close to each other, so work out the best parking area before you begin. Closest Car Parks to each location are listed. 

Parking: Gilkicker Car Park, Pebble Beach Car Park, Alverbank (East) Car Park, Alverbank (West) Car Park and No2 Battery Car Parks. All Pay & Display. 

Toilets: Entrance to Gilkicker Car Park, next to Stokes Bay Boat Club and No2 Battery Car Park

Refreshments: Pebbles Café and Bay Side Cabin (No.2 Battery) 

Embarkation Site G4

Stokes Bay was crammed with D-Day activity in the months before June, 1944. The area had already been part of the extensive network of strategic Victorian Portsmouth and Gosport defences with large undeveloped areas and existing military roads such as the one that leads to the car park.

Walking from the car park to the esplanade turning right there is an area of concrete on the beach. This is Embarkation Site (G4) could berth four Tank Landing Craft (LCT ) simultaneously.

 

Mulberry Harbour Construction Site

Moving west along the path, before the boat club you will come to a large area of grass on the right. The grass area and path you are standing on is a construction site for eight Mulberry Harbour Phoenix Caissons (4 on the grass and 2 on a deck close to where you are standing. On the right before the end of the grass area is a memorial and in the summer it is possible to see the outline of the construction deck marked by daisies or scorch marks, depending on the time of year. 

 

Embarkation Site G3

A short walk further west is the Stokes Bay Boat Club. This building is marked with a Blue plaque confirming its role as the loading control centre for sites (Hards G1-G4). Immediately after the Boat Club building is a concrete PRIVATE access path into the boat park. This was the vehicle access road to the Embarkation Site (G3) that extended from the boat club slip to the splash park. Areas of concrete are still visible and the site is marked by a Canadian Memorial marking the 50th anniversary of D-Day opposite the Pebbles bar. This site was able to berth four Tank Landing Craft (LCT ) simultaneously.

 

Mulberry Harbour Construction Site

The Camper Van parking area of the Car Park marks the location of the access road to the Embarkation site and the whole area of the Car Park, Splash Pool and grass to the west is the second construction site for six further Mulberry Harbour Phoenix Caissons (4 on the grass and 4 on a deck and side launching ramp close to the Esplanade path. Nothing exists of this particular site.

 

Embarkation sites G2 and G1

From the Pebbles Beach Car Park it is a short walk to the Alverbank east Car Park which marks the site of Embarkation Site (G2) for four Tank Landing Craft (LCT ) The parking area still retains the approximate shape of the loading Apron and on the beach beyond each area of the sites were beach hardening mats which we saw at Gosport Hardway (Location B) The hardening mats still lie beneath the shingle and have been exposed from time to time at this and the next location.

About 2-3 Mins further west is Alverbank west Car Park which marks the site of Embarkation Site (G1) Once again four Tank Landing Craft (LCT ) could use the site and the Car Park retains the approximate area of the Apron.

With 16 Landing craft loading tanks at any one time, this area must have been a hive of activity. The Caissons built on the construction site will have been moved to a storage area off Selsey and Dungeness before D-Day and the loaded landing craft would have been allocated mooring berths in Southampton water and the western Solent before the journey to Normandy.

The activity at embarkation sites continued beyond D-Day until about August 1944 as reinforcements were shipped out and Injured troops, vehicles for repair and prisoners were brought back from Normandy.

 

Duplex Drive (DD)Tank Salt-water Training Base

From the Alverbank west Car Park  west to the boundary fence of the Brown Down Training Area and north into the PRIVATE Mobile Home Park was the site of the DD Tank salt-water training base. These tanks are one of the inventions referred to as Hobart's Funnies. They were modified with propellers, canvas screens and Snorkel exhausts allowing them to "swim" ashore from further out a sea, providing instant armoured firepower on the beaches. 

In 1944 The Stokes Bay Road ended at the Eastern Mobile Home Park which formed the Tank Park, a lay-out which is still retained today. At the entrance there is possible evidence of  hasty construction where the wall of the original property has been knocked down and left (Please note this is a PRIVATE park and respect residents privacy. Further images are available on the accompanying Virtual Tour.

Tanks were waterproofed and crews were trained in buildings sited to the south of No 2 Battery and we believe that the the slipway which is just visible to the south of No2 Battery Car Park maybe part of this complex. We understand that the Tanks were loaded onto Landing Craft at Stokes Bay and taken to a location in Osborne Bay to "swim" ashore approximately 1,200 yards. Around 30,000 launches were conducted between Jan-May 1944. In June 1944 they were loaded one last time to take part in the Normandy Landings. 

Initial familiarisation training took place at Fritton Lake on the Norfolk Suffolk border and Narford Lake in Norfolk . There were additional salt water training facilities at Lock Striven in Scotland and Linney Head in Wales and a river crossing training area on the river Trent at Burton upon Stather.

The next location is about an 8 min drive from No.2 Battery Car Park. 

Location 4: HMS Daedalus, Solent Airport and RNAS WW2 Memorial

 

Parking: Solent Airport Car Park (free)

Toilets: Café at Zero 7

Refreshments: Café at Zero 7

On the drive into the airport there are a large expanse of building on the left of the airfield. These formed part of the the original base and are slowly being redeveloped. At the Car Park is an viewing  area next to the airport building. Spitfire flights take off from here on a fairly regular basis, but there is no advertised timetable and flights are subject to the weather. The only guide is; if there is a spitfire on the Airport apron, there is likely to be a flight. 

History

Naval Aviation began at Lee on Solent in 1917. Prior to D-Day both RNAS and RAF squadrons were operating from the base.  In preparation for the Normandy Landings seventeen pilots from the United States Navy’s cruiser and battleship observation units were trained to fly Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft and the Cruiser Scouting Squadron (VCS) 7 was formed. No. 26 Squadron arrived at Lee-on-Solent at the end of April 1944, operating with Supermarine Spitfire Vb and was joined by the Supermarine Spitfire Va aircraft of No. 63 Squadron at the end of May and the British single-seat fighter-bomber Hawker Typhoon Ib equipped, No. 1320 ('Abdullah') Flight. Together with No. 268 Squadron, equipped with North American Mustang II an American long-range, single-seat fighter and No. 414 Squadron RCAF operating North American Mustang I, this mixture of units formed the Air Spotting Pool, operated by No. 34 Reconnaissance Wing, of the RAF Second Tactical Air Force.

On 6 June 1944, at 0441 hours, the first allied aircraft to take part in Operation Overlord took off from HMS Daedalus. The Air Spotting Pool operated as pairs with one aircraft covering against an air attack while the other aircraft provided aerial spotting for naval gunfire support. A large number of aircraft was required for this work because of the need to maintain aircraft over the beaches used for the invasion but with aircraft that had a limited endurance. The number of sorties from HMS Daedalus in support of Operation Neptune (Naval Arm of Overloard) was 435 and this was the highest total achieved by any UK airfield on D-Day.

 

RNAS Memorial

A 10 min walk or 2 min drive south from Daedalus Drive into Marine Parade West will bring you to the war memorial on the corner of Richmond Road where there is on street parking or alternatively on Marine Parade itself. There is a Hovercraft Museum close by which was once all part of the Air base, and the slipway opposite the museum was used for seaplanes from the WW1 period.

The principal base of the Fleet Air Arm, Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, was chosen as the site for this memorial to almost 2,000 men of that service who died during the Second World War and who have no known grave.

   

Location 5: Warsash Embarkation Site and D-Day Memorial.

Parking:  Shore Road Car Park Pay & Display 

Toilets:  Passage Lane Car Park (3 Min walk from Memorial).

Refreshments: Coffee Shop, Marines Quay and Rising Sun Public House.

The Shore Road Car Park marks the general area of Embarkation for Commandos of 1st and 4th Special Service (Commando) Brigades, who included both British Army and Royal Marine forces. The 1st Brigade was commanded by Lord Lovat and included his famous bagpiper Bill Millin. The two brigades landed on the British and Canadian beaches of Sword and Juno respectively. On D-Day, the commandos were given special tasks that involved marching from the beaches to achieve a specific objective. For example, Lord Lovat’s forces landed on Sword Beach, and their objectives included reinforcing the airborne troops led by Major Howard at Pegasus Bridge, and the capture of particular strongpoints nearer the landing beaches.

This site is at the mouth of the River Hamble as it enters the Solent. The ‘Rising Sun’ Public house includes a Memorial Plaque on the wall close to the entrance is pictured below. Above Right is the stone Memorial representing the exit of a landing craft that was unveiled on the 40th Anniversary of D-Day. 

Rising Sun Memorial Plaque © BDDH Collection

Further Information:

HMS Tormentor

A few minutes south along the Shore path past the Boat Club is the former site of HMS Tormentor that was used as a base by Combined operations Pilotage Parties (COPP 6) for operations carried out in the lead-up to the Normandy D-Day landings — it was also the base of the 712th Landing Craft (Survey) It was also the place that Lady Mountbatten, daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten the Chief of Combined Operations was based.

COPP 6 remained at Tormentor until 8 March 1944 when the team relocated to Invergordon, in Scotland, to be closer to the Force ‘S’ training location — they would lead Force ‘S’ to Sword Beach on D-Day.

 

HMS Cricket

Further up the River Hamble (15 Min Drive) is the River Hamble Country Park which includes buildings that were once the site of HMS Cricket. Commissioned in 1943, initially it was a Royal Marine Landing Craft Crew Training Base. The base was later used to assemble troops and landing craft in the build-up to D-day from 23 May 1944. This complex included 120 buildings housing over 2500 men at its peak during the war. Amenities included a cinema, small hospital and a sewage works. The former guardhouse is the only building still standing at the park, which is currently used as the rangers' depot.

On 5 June 1944 the order was given to travel back along the river and head out to battle. The camp assembled in full kit and marched down to the landing craft. By that evening the River Hamble was empty and HMS Cricket had gone to war.

 

This is the end of Tour 3 of the Solent: D-Day in a Nutshell Tour. 

 

Tour 4 ' A Modern Port and Ancient Forest go to War'  is still under construction