D-Day’s Forgotten Critical Secret Weapon

[@TodayIFoundOut]

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[@mingfanzhang4600]

😮😮😮

[@mingfanzhang8927]

😊

[@jonlyons1033]

Miss callainious? Gros venour? Simon?

[@HardChunks]

The more I watch your videos on WW2, the more the numbers terrify me! I come from a country numbering just shy of 300,000 citizens. A battle less than a year would have wiped us, man, woman and child, a chilling thought. Great video as always.

[@BenjaminXHenry]

I’d love to visit Iceland one day. I still believe Churchill must have felt very proud to have given the order “Defend and garrison Iceland” to the Royal Navy. I hear there were some who weren’t happy about it!

[@jeffdroog]

Simple people are scared by Simple things like numbers.Do you know how many BILLIONS of people exist? A few 100 thousand,or even a million gon ein a second,wouldn't make much of a difference.

[@avv397]

Absolutely masterly. I've seen quite a lot about the D-Day preparations, but the amount of fascinating detail you manage to squeeze into 35 minutes 42 seconds - and all in the right order - is hugely impressive. Hardly a wasteful word in the whole thing. Brill

[@nicholas389]

The sheer numbers of man power necessary to achieve these missions are mind-boggling. Hundreds of thousands of men, some dead to history, disappeared from the earth entirely.

[@jamiecarter459]

I live near Portland harbour where a couple of these huge blocks are still stored! Always wondered what they were when I was younger

[@simonelsey]

one in kent coast as well stuck in the mud

[@garyn3323]

You can still see a Phoenix caisson in Langstone harbour situated on the south coast between Portsmouth and Hayling island. Hayling island was a caisson build site and one of the units developed a fault and still sits on a sandbank in the harbour.

[@johndyer23]

Surrounded by eels

[@angelogarcia2189]

Mulberry harbors don't get enough respect. Thanks

[@danielkarmy4893]

Most days here in Gosport, Hampshire, UK, I and many others take a brisk - or leisurely, for some - walk along Stokes Bay beach in this town; at low tide, you can see the remains of the Mulberry Harbour here, which my family have always called 'chocolate boxes' because of the distinct shape of the concrete slabs. The ingenuity of their invention, and the sacrifice of all those men who departed from them, is never far from our minds, in a place like this.

[@obelic71]

Another bonus fact about the Phoenix caisons. In 1953 after the devasting February storm surge that destroyed the dikes and flooded the lands in the South/west of the Netherlands and the Thames estuary in the UK spare caisons were used to plug the gaps in the dikes. In fact the museum dedicated to the February floods in Ouwekerk the Netherlands is situated inside 4 Phoenix caisons.

[@55giantsfan22]

5k ships is hard to imagine, what a sight

[@TommyCrosby]

Bonus fact: D-Day in French is "Jour-J" so... the D clearly has no specific meaning beside being the first letter of the word for day.

[@mattd6931]

That's exactly what it was. The first use of D for Day, H for Hour was in Field Order No. 8, of the First Army, A.E.F., issued on Sept. 20, 1918, which read, ‘The First Army will attack at H-Hour on D-Day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel salient.’” Sources: U.S. Army Center of Military History and the Oxford English Dictionary

[@TheManFrayBentos]

Mulberry A was wrecked so badly by the storm because some asshole decided he knew better than to read the instructions. As a result of that, the caissons and other elements were not anchored properly.

[@anthonywilson4873]

My father was a Clyde ship-worker who had joined the Royal Engineers during WWII. He was recalled from Italy to help build the Mulberry Harbours built on the Clyde. Biggest floating structures at that time I believe. They did their job well.

[@AIRGEDOK]

The Mulberry Harbours were incredible and truly war winning as armies can't fight without supply. When compared to the PLUTO system that sounds incredible a system to pipe petrol from the Uk to France how could that not be a war winning tool? Yet it is my understanding that the pipeline was insignificant in terms of volume making less than 10% of total petrol supplies used in the allied forces. That isn't war winning numbers, that is great system for moving supplies but the allies could have used conventional means to move petrol if it failed. Mulberry was a system that just barely handled the capacity of the supply and manpower need to prosecute the war effort. You remove their contributions and the advance stalls or is pushed back because we don't have the ammunition, food or fuel to fight the enemy. People think generals and weapon systems are the key to victory but supply lines are paramount for without them your weapons don't work and a general's plan fails. Mulberry gave the allies the ability to fight the war, that isn't something that should be forgotten or minimized.

[@mattharrell6880]

"Amateurs consider tactics, veterans master logistics"

[@krisfrederick5001]

"Any port in a storm" Unless the storm is so bad, you have to build your own...

[@Justmewonky]

Good evening Simon from a very foggy Suffolk UK

[@Bluelagoonstudios]

A few years ago, to celebrate the end of the war, those bridges were rebuilt on our River "Schelde" which is a big part from our haven from Antwerp. We walked over those bridges, great experience.

[@Chiller11]

Excellent episode.

[@peterixon8708]

Another tour de force Simon. Thanks.

[@bencejuhasz6459]

Greetings from Hungary! Two Phoenix caissons can be found in Portland's harbour and the best view of them, unsurprisingly, is from the Castletown D-Day Centre.

[@jeffdege4786]

Tidal range on the Normandy coast was 20 feet or more, and the tidal currents while all that water ran in and out were immense. The Spuds were to provide a platform at a constant height above the water onto which Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs) could drop their ramps one offload vehicles which would drive to the beach over the Beetles and Whales. LSTs could also drop their ramps directly on the beach on a falling tide, but once they did they were stuck until the tide came back in. The Spuds could turn around two LSTs in an hour, an LST on the beach was stuck for 12. Meanwhile, Liberty ships could anchor in the harbor and use their cranes to lower material down to DUKWs, which could drive inland and offload at supply depots. But all of this was possible because the Phoenixes were blocking the tidal currents.

[@jeffdege4786]

Edward Ellsberg's book "The Far Shore" is the best account I've seen on the artificial harbors.

[@goo_rocket5897]

Nicely said

[@matthewsecord7641]

Ya know when I was a bout 5 years old, I was at my grandparent's house. I mentioned that I thought the Queen and Royal Family was useless to Canadians. Without a word my Grandfather slapped my face, right at the dinner table. No one said a word. Don't get the wrong idea, and slap to a 5 year old, he didn't fuck me up, but made sure it certainly shockingly stung. Back in those days the consequences came first and THEN were explained later. But there was no getting out of the punishment. No warnings, and there are because there were extremely good reasons for that, most knowledge has been as a whole lost in the majority.

[@supernoodles91]

As a Brit that considers the royal family as little more than parasites, your 5 year old self was remarkably enlightened!

[@jssamp4442]

Was your comment about the uselessness of royalty or the need for corporal punishment?

[@americafirst3738]

Lmao... Makes sense why yall still have the queen on your money and Justin clown Castro destroying your nation

[@Crioten]

-starfishes love you guys!!! Thank you for your hard work 🙏

[@perrydowd9285]

The lesson here is that because so many people were seeing the problem and coming to the same conclusions, The Allies were able to do it despite coming to the party so late.

[@henryknepp]

I like the old documentaries on this subject. A good condensation tho.

[@alucide]

22:02 Wow, how ever were they able to fool the Germans the landings wouldn't be in Germany?

[@anthonylewis679]

Whilst i am very open to correction, i do believe that a number of churchills DID infact get off the beach, and actually reach into the town, however, due to the rather dire situation on the beach, they we recalled to help the infantry.

[@jasonwarwick5062]

My grandfather was involved in the design and manufacturing of these 😊 His future wife was working for the SOE at the time ( he had no idea) 😆

[@stancil83]

5:20 I've heard of Commander in Chief but not Supreme Commander of Allied Forces. I've heard of Supreme. Didn't know they were around in Dwight Eisenhower's reign.

[@jonathanpidock3006]

I’m early and I have nothing witty to say

[@gurglejug627]

That the Clover design should quickly rot away - something doesn't make sense there: wood does not rot in seawater/saline water: Indeed the salt is a preservative. Most woods will not rot for decades in any case if properly treated/grown. Fresh rainwater is the bane of wooden boats, especially if it allowed to gather in pools and is why wooden boats rot internally or above the water line, mostly on the superstructure and exposed upper parts/transom etc. I'd love to know more about what happened there.

[@LaurensPP]

The Mulberry harbors were not critical for D-Day itself, they were critical for the follow-up advance.

[@RabbitStu-M7UTS]

There is one in Portland harbour Dorset. Hiding in plain sight if you don’t know what it is.

[@Olifantenstaart]

They should brand it ‘Port-Able’ and sell it to nations during coffee breaks at the UN.

[@wrt142]

Honestly i'll book that as some.good news

[@robinhammond4446]

Tinker, not tinkerER. But, LOL Wheezers and Dodgers.

[@jamesdellaneve9005]

“What about the Dardenelles?”

[@THIRSTYGNOME]

We need more of these longer format videos 🤌

[@jodyrichards4433]

Ok, I only got to 15 seconds into the video. So I am guessing by the silhouette that the secret weapon is the hollow portable concrete pier suppoets that were prefabricated then floated across the channel to be sunk to create artificial deep water docks or piers to unload materials. Only there was a storm and rough seas at some point and destroyed some. That is my guess.

[@jssamp4442]

And yet somehow I preferred the video over your synopsis. Must be Simon's voice.

[@jodyrichards4433]

@jssamp4442 Thank you for the confirmation. I just wanted to see if I was right without watching the video. Now imma watch the video.

[@ThursdayNext67]

during peace time - Those inventors are complete lunatics during war time - About those inventors, recruit them right away

[@ThursdayNext67]

My late night thought - make it all out of pykrete

[@graverobbermotorsports4606]

Ive looked into this before its pretty neat huh?

[@jssamp4442]

The worst storm the channel had seen in 80 years? It destroyed the Mulberry A harbor and damaged Mulberry B? With winds of 30 kts and 8 foot waves? Did I get that sea state right? That hardly seems like a fierce storm.

[@mavericmorph5358]

I was wondering when you were going to talk about these.

[@wordsmithgmxch]

2:24 Simon, please: FES-tung-en

[@bellshooter]

Fantastic channel but sometimes QA needs a polish ...at 22:00 we landed in Normandy not Germany...Still a great channel.

[@larrybremer4930]

The whole comment of using the code word "Mulberry" so its passing mention could not indicate the nature of the project or operation reminds me of a US cold war operational plan to invade an unnamed hypothetical island nation using the code word "ORTSAC" (Castro spelled backwards) that stupidly made its intentions clear.

[@pherretofdoom]

flat bottom barges you make d-day logistics go round!

[@SUSTHUNDER-i6s]

Why doesn't this guy have his own TV show?

[@slappomatthew]

Planned to the smallest detail and the plan was ti land on the beach and charge machine guns with waves of flesh. Great plan 👍

[@kensmith5694]

Yes it was grim thing but there was no other solution to the problem. War movies tend to leave out the bloody truth.

[@johnruiz1296]

I must’ve watched hundred of his videos but this is the first time I see him dress casually 👍

[@JDWDMC]

Superior logistics management won WWII. Not weapons, not numbers of troops. Eisenhower was right when he said the Liberty Ships, C47s and Jeeps won WWII.

[@jssamp4442]

Liberty Ships, C47s and Jeeps.... You mean the conveyances that delivered the weapons and numbers of troops? Not to belittle the importance of logistics, but I suspect the troops and their weapons had a little to do with winning the war.

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

So the vast resources used on the Mulberry may have been wasted?

[@kenflagler635]

Wow! Even though I am 60 years old. Sometimes I pretend that I am attending Oxford or Cambridge and you are my British or English or United Kingdomish. And then I become Indiana Jones. I have a pair of pants like his in the first movie. Pulls the whole thing together in my head. GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!😎😎😎

[@lxtechmangood9503]

One is still in Portland harbour

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thanks.

[@jayburn00]

Mulberry, calling it before watching or reading anything else...

[@jayburn00]

I happen to be a WW2 history buff, so kind of why I guessed so well.

[@mingfanzhang8927]

Please 🙏

[@mingfanzhang4600]

😊

[@weatherman667]

Yeah, the french use Jour-J. It doesn't mean anything.

[@497adam]

We do use stenographer

[@tomix7866]

yes

[@yzorgone]

"festungen" haha

[@busdriverethan4099]

Wow 0 views in 35 second

[@markbroad119]

643 @ 14 minutes

[@wile-e-coyote8371]

Simon's really slipping up! 😂

[@ShaneStephens-k6n]

Hey man ,,, I'm at work. Give me until lunch 😂

[@mingfanzhang4600]

😅😅😅

[@mingfanzhang8927]

😊

[@gazamataz6839]

Your mum's a big fan of D day

[@leosmith848]

Adding thumbnails is one thing. Thumbnails inside thumbnails is utter crap.

[@jokerzyo]

An unmatched lack of care for the soldier and an impatients like no other

[@Hillbilly001]

🦨💨

[@Jean-yn6ef]

💚🏜️💚

[@BenjaminXHenry]

But why do you mispronounce words and enunciate silent letters?

[@timbirch4999]

Your accent is middle class British, but all your pronunciation is like an American who's never even been to this country. It's bizarre.

[@davidmouser596]

More bait, this is hardly unknown or forgotten.

[@scooby45247]

Real Engineering did a MUCH BETTER video 4 years ago.. you explain very little comparatively..

[@mvb88]

You missed the 10k new Zealand troops that took part in d day. Wasn't just America and England. Fact boy got his facts wrong. Will point out other countries took part but don't know their numbers

[@ME-ke7qc]

oh yeah we forgot about you sorry

[@mvb88]

@ME-ke7qc we just went under England's flag, but still wore new Zealand born troops

[@JohnnieAshton]

0:14 ~American, British and Commonweatlh troops~, which bit missed you out?

[@mvb88]

@JohnnieAshton new Zealand left the commonwealth. So my comment still stands. Although we left in 1947. Going by today's standards. He still failed to mention it.