The Normandy Campaign: Operation NEPTUNE
The famous movie Saving Private Ryan begins with sea sick assault troops in a small landing craft approaching the Normandy beaches. But that moment in the film gives just a glimpse of what was a month-long naval operation, two years in preparation, which involved over 5,000 ships sailing from throughout the British Isles, all tasked with securing “a lodgement on the continent”.
Operation NEPTUNE involved ships of the US, French, Dutch and Polish navies, hut it was primarily the Royal Navy’s operation. Many of the Kiwis serving in the RN saw action throughout the Normandy campaign. Their experiences highlight the multi-faceted nature of this, the largest amphibious operation in history.
After the German’s successful blitzkrieg of 1940 it was obvious that the Allies would eventually have to invade France. From mid-1942, after extensive geographical intelligence analysis, it was clear that the Bay of the Seine would be the best landing place. That same year the idea of building artificial harbours, to he towed to the landing beaches (instead of the probably fruitless effort to take and repair the existing French ports) was agreed.
Following those decisions, the Allied planning teams focused on the size of the land force that would have to be landed - it was that which would dictate the size of the naval effort to land the troops. Operation NEPTUNE was planned by Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, who had planned the North African and Sicily landings; appropriately he had also commanded the evacuation from Dunkirk.
NEPTUNE comprised several elements:
- Mine clearance and the escort of the assault convoys
- The bombardment force
- The initial assault
- The follow up forces
- The stream of reinforcements
- Flank protection from German E-boats, aircraft and minelayers to the east, and from destroyers and U-boats to the west.
Meanwhile the Home Fleet, based in Scotland, provided strategic deception with a series of attacks against Norway, including strikes on the battleship Tirpitz
Weather Forecasting
Kiwi Lieutenant Commander G.L.Hogben was one of the meteorologists on General Eisenhower’s staff. His team advised that the weather was too bad for the intended landing date, 5 June, hut there was a likely 36 hour break in the weather coming. Eisenhower postponed the invasion for 24 hours. In contrast the Germans did not spot the coming change and on the night of the 5th many of their forces were stood down because of the bad weather.
The landing ships and craft had loaded their troops on 3 June, and many sailed on the 4th, the day General Eisenhower postponed the landing. At 0315 on the 5th, Eisenhower gave the go ahead, and the armada of troop-laden ships sailed again, into the still-bad weather.
Minesweeping motor launches were in the van, to sweep the tidal shallows of the Bay of the Seine. Lieutenant Bullock (Christchurch) commanded ML 217; Lieutenant Messenger (Auckland) ML 206. The sloop HMS Scarborough closely followed the minesweepers and laid marker buoys for the assault convoys. Lieutenant S.G. Jervis (Auckland), who had won a DSC during the Battle of the Atlantic, was watchkeeping in Scarborough as she approached the beaches; his ship continued escorting follow-up convoys throughout NEPTUNE.
The Landing Craft
Twenty four hours after sailing, the large LSIs and other ships were oil Normandy, transhipping their troop into the small assault craft; the larger LCTs, LCIs and LSTs had sailed in convoy direct from Southern England.
Many New Zealander officers and ratings served in the thousands of landing craft. Lieutenant Denis Clover commanded LCI(S) 516, he won a DSC during D-Day; Lieutenant Prebble had moved from the Mediterranean to serve in LCI(L) 243 with another Kiwi, Lieutenant Buchanan. The landing craft did not just land troops once, the scale of the operation meant round-the-clock trips to the beaches for all the amphibious craft. Sub-Lieutenant Seers in LCT 760 made 27 beachings at Normandy in 22 days.
Naval gunfire provided essential support to the troops during the vulnerable first hours on the beaches. Lieutenant-Commander J. Lennox-King was the gunnery officer of the new destroyer HMS Virago; Midshipman John Pallot from Christchurch saw much of the bombardment of Utah Beach from the bridge of the cruiser HMS Enterprise.
Navalmen Ashore
A number of naval Kiwis went ashore during D-Day. Lieutenants J.G. Watson and R. Crammond were among them. Naval Beach Control parties were
necessary to control landing craft, communicate with the HQ ships and prioritise vessel movements onto the beach. Telegraphist Richard Mitchell (Waiau) was a veteran of several amphibious operations. After experiencing the Dieppe operation in an ML he had been posted to No 6 Naval Beach Signals unit and gone through the North African landings, Sicily and the amphibious operations in Calabria (before Salerno). At Normandy he landed with the first waves, to establish ship-to-shore communications despite heavy enemy fire.
The components of the ‘Mulberry’ harbours were built and tested in secrecy then towed to their sites three days after the initial landings. A Kiwi, Electrical Artificer C.D. Turner, prepared the scuttling charges in the old battleship HMS Centurion, which was deliberately sunk off the beaches as part of the artificial breakwater. Ultimately the Mulberry harbour at Arromanches would remain as the main supply port for the Allied armies until December 1944.
Beating the U-Boats
The naval operations in support of the Normandy landings stretched from Norway to the Bay of Biscay. One fear was of a U-boat ambush but in fact tactical surprise was achieved and the first U-boats did not enter tine Channel until seven days after the first landings. However, the Navy’s ASW precautions were effective with three escort carriers, eight 8 ASW groups of destroyers and frigates, Coastal Command maritime aircraft and other patrolling ships as well as the close escorts with each convoy, every U-boat faced daunting opposition. It was not until 15 June that many U-boats reached as far up Channel as the Isle of Wight. Despite the mass of shipping in support of the landings, the U-boats responding managed to sink only three Liberty ships, one LST and two frigates. But two New Zealanders Sub-Lieutenant H. Read and Able Seaman E. Broad were among those lost when the two frigates were sunk.
In return, the Allied maritime forces sank 12 U-boats of the counter invasion force, and damaged another five. The ASW effort was so intense that 18 U-boats not fitted with the schnorchel air tube (for submerged running of their diesel engines) were all recalled to base.
The E-Boats
Further north, in the narrow waters of the Channel, the Coastal Forces (much favoured as a posting by the New Zealanders) saw frequent action against E-boats and minelayers. Before dawn on 6 June, a sortie by German torpedo boats (light destroyers) sank the Norwegian destroyer Svenner while two bombarding battleships, HMS Warspite (in which Lieutenant Bisson from Napier was the radar officer) and HMS Ramiillies (with Lieutenant J.A. Pollock of Invercargill) were near-missed during their approach.
The fast and hard-to-hit E-boats were a constant threat each night, until Ultra intercepts and photo-reconnaissance revealed a concentration in Le Havre, just 30 miles from the invasion fleet. A heavy-bomber raid, led by 617 Squadron RAF with 6 tonne ‘earthquake’ bombs, sank a dozen E-boats, smashed their of shelter and sank some 40 other vessels on the evening of 14 June. A day later, another raid on Boulogne had a similar result; German naval strength on the eastern flank of the landing was shattered.
The German 8th Destroyer Flotilla made a gallant sortie from Cherbourg the on the night of 8/9 June. Forewarned by Ultra intelligence a combined RN and Canadian destroyer force intercepted and engaged them sinking two and damaging the others. By mid-June the German Navy based in the west of France was reduced to impotence.
Other Kiwis at sea were commanding Motor Torpedo Boats, including Lieutenant Watson (Otaki) in MTB 453, Lieutenant Goldsmith (Auckland) in 723 and Lieutenant Wright (Napier) in MTB 772. Close inshore was the 150th HDML Group, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander H.M. Nees (Dunedin); other Kiwis serving in the ‘maid of all work’ Motor Launches - both the little 72 foot boats and the larger Fairmiles – included Lieutenant Jack Forgie from Auckland (ML 1415) and Lieutenant Nisbett from Hamilton in ML 1409. In July, during the continuing build-up, Sub-Lieutenant Gordon (Taumaraunui) was one of many sailors killed in action off Normandy.
Overall, the ships of NEPTUNE suffered light casualties relative to tine size of the operation but the toll went on. On the night of 20 July the destroyer HMS Isis was sunk by a mine off the beaches; the loss of life among her company included all ten Kiwis onboard.