Solent Self Guided Tours: D-Day In a Nutshell

This tour takes you from Hayling Island in the East to Lepe Beach in the West, discovering locations that were key to the planning and delivery of the invasion force. Please read the guide fully before starting your journey as there are various options which allow you to mix and match the tour travelling by Public Transport, Car, Cycle or on foot. The overall Solent tour could take you a day, or several days depending on transport and level of interaction with the locations. Each section describes the distance by car and cycle. Unfortunately it is not possible to include transport, but there are links to key providers.  

Tour 1: Secret War, Exercises and Building a Harbour

Start: Chichester Road Car Park Hayling Island PO11 9EZ

Location A C.O.P.P Memorial.

Location B Fabius II Exercise Beach.

Location C Mulberry Harbour Construction Site.

HINT: Consider the distances and your transport options. A to B then C is a 1Hr 5min walk and a 16 min cycle. (Non-Stop) 

Location A: COPP Memorial

Parking: Chichester Road Car Park.

Toilets: Chichester Road Car Park.

Refreshments: Semi-Permanent Refreshments Van in Car Park

Walk east from the Chichester Road Car Park on the main path and the COPP Memorial in on your Right.

The Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP) were a group of specialist commandos based at Hayling Island Sailing club to the east of the Island and not accessible to the public, during WW2. The COPP units were involved in many operations involving secret landings on enemy beaches to carry out surveys in advance of a full military landing.

To fully understand the D-Day preparations we have to go back to the Dieppe Raid of August 1942. This landing by allied forces was aimed at capturing the port to test the feasibility of using a French port in a full-scale invasion. The resulting loss of life and mistakes made, are still being debated today, However, the lessons learned went on to save lives on D-Day.

Following the Dieppe Raid it was realised that detailed intelligence about the geology of the beaches, as well as defences and hydrography of the seas around the landing sites was required to successfully get troops and equipment onto the beaches and beyond, as efficiently as possible. Additionally, it was realised that absolute secrecy was required at every level; consequently, it has taken years to learn about the most secret aspects, including the work of COPP which had previously operated in the Sicily, gathering intelligence prior to the July 1943 landings.

The commandos travelled by mini submarine, landing covertly on French beaches to take soil/beach samples, survey areas of beach, and on at least one occasion even took samples of defences to test ways to overcome them. After many such missions COPP teams were back in action on D Day establishing landing beacons and guiding in the first waves of landing craft to ensure all subsequent craft landed in the right place.

Further Resources:

Rob Crane, has written an excellent history of all aspects of COPP  with is available as the COPP SURVEY website.

A documentary, the COPP Memorial Story Narrated by Dan Snow is available at this location in the Virtual Tour ADD LINK

Walk West Back to the Car Park and Travel to Location B. 

HINT: If you have difficulty walking on shingle or a wheelchair user you can view the beach from Location A (part of Easy Sector landing area) via the Boardwalk opposite the disabled car park spaces before making your way to Location B. 

Location B: Fabius II Exercise Beach

Car parking: Pay & Display Parking at several locations.

Toilets: Adjacent to Beachlands Amusements Building.

Refreshments: Hayling Island Beach Café.

Walk to the Hayling Island Beach Café with Norfolk Crescent behind. Landing beaches are to your left and right. 

Whilst the images above would appear to be of a D-Day landing, it is in fact taken close to location B.

This exercise was the last and perhaps the largest exercise was held to test readiness for D-Day.

On the 3^rd and 4^th  of  May 1944, and exactly one month before the original planned date for the Normandy landings, It is estimated that 7,000 ships were involved, travelling to Slapton Sands in the West, code name Fabius 1, Bracklesham Bay and Littlehampton in the east, known as Fabius 3 and 4. The landings at Hayling Island, codenamed Fabius 2, involved 12 Ships, 230 landing craft and about 10,000 men, with air-support provided by the RAF.

Tanks Men and support vehicles were loaded at Embarkation points that had been constructed along the south coast from Lepe, to the west of Southampton, Gosport, Stokes Bay and Newhaven in the east. The forces allocated to land in Hayling Island boarded at Lepe in the south of the New Forest and sailed round the Isle of Wight to simulate the journey to France. Fabius 2 was to simulate landings on Gold Beach. At 7.30am on the morning of 4 May, the first men landed on four zones of the Island’s beaches from approximately Staunton Avenue in the west, to Rails Lane in the east. They were codenamed Fox Red, Fox Green, Easy Red and Easy Green.

Location B is located in Fox sector to the south of Norfolk Crescent. After a simulated barrage from destroyers sitting off shore, we can watch as the first troops come off the landing craft to secure the beach and prepare for the troops and equipment to land, making their way inland to seize a line from Havant to Bedhampton.

This was a full detailed landing including men, tanks and machinery. Whilst there was no enemy fire everything else was to be an accurate simulation that included cutting and driving through beach obstacles, that we think these were the obstacles those in place as part of Britain's defences. Sadly seven men drowned during the exercise, which led to a change in the way that infantry disembarked from Landing Craft, Infantry LCI (L) pictured above (H 038225)

The exercise objective was for Gold Force was to land, then 50 Northumberland Division was to Attack and seize a line from what is today the A27 from just east of Emsworth to Farlington in the west, by last light. Local residents must have been informed as they were told to " keep their curtains closed". However, it must have been a surprise for some as a full scale invasion passed though the island.  

No clues or artifacts relating to this exercise exist today. Even some of the buildings shown close to the water in contemporary films have now gone. However, the buildings in Norfolk Crescent are still in place and provide a good reference point when viewing contemporary films. The White building was at the time know as the Royal Hotel. It has been reported that Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Allied Supreme Commander General Eisenhower observed the exercise from the Hotel. We also noticed a person in the films with a group of observers that bears a resemblance to General Montgomery.    

When we viewed the films it was interesting to note that some landing craft and other vehicles display American markings. Checking the documentary evidence and Film Roll ID filmed by the cameraman, this is defiantly Exercise Fabius, suggesting that the hardware was allocated to who needed it rather than to American, Canadian or British forces.      

This exercise is just one example of the detailed planning that went into making D-Day a success for the allies in 1944.

Further Resources: 

Travel west via Sea Front and Ferry Road to Location C at Ferry Rd Car Park.

Note: After passing a WW2 Pill box on the right there is a house boat that appears to be a WW2 Landing Craft.

Location C: Mulberry Phoenix Construction Site 

Car parking: Pay & Display at the location. Avoid the Parking next to the Ferry Boat Inn unless you are visiting the Pub as it is NOT Free.

Toilets: Adjacent to The Ferryboat Inn, In their Car Park.

Refreshments: Beach Café, at the location and Ferryboat Inn close by.

Walk to the Beach Café where you will find a Hayling WW2 Trail Information Board (Arrowed) describing the Construction Site.

During the invasion planning in 1943 it was estimated that the allies would require 12,000 tons of supplies a day to be unloaded to sustain the liberating force as it crossed France. The ambitious invasion plan avoided well defended ports and therefore called for temporary floating port units known as Caissons to be towed across the channel. These temporary ports were roughly the size of the harbour at Dover. After some initiative design work an enormous construction project began across locations along the south coast including the south west coast of Hayling Island where four of the floating concrete Caissons that were to form the main harbour walls were built by 600 workers.
There were six types of caisson weighing upwards of 2,000 tons. It is believed that the four caissons constructed here were 60 meters long and 18 meters high and weighed 6,000 tons. The Codename for these units was Phoenix with two eventual temporary ports being know as the Mulberry Harbours.

Standing ant the Information Board facing the Ferryboat Inn you are standing on Construction Site No:1 Turning right round the Huge Blocks with metal rings mark the beginning of the launch area. Walking along the carpark with reference to the 1946 photo above, you are now walking on the construction deck of Caissons 2,3 and 4.