Britain's D-Day Heritage

28/12/2025

Another of the Marshalling Camps ticked off the visit list. A1 Rowlands Castle visited on a Christmas walk. Sadly the site has no apparent remaining features. The wooded areas are also managed and so the coppiced areas may have gone through a few cycles since 1944. Here is a 360 degree sample view.

Img a1 rowlandsmerged

24/12/2025

Wishing all our contributors and partners a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

We are taking a break but will be back in the new year with new places to explore and news of our developing projects.

🎄

17/12/2025

.movie.blog if I'm going to try this version of this story maybe I should do it now on the Anniversary of the event.

16/12/2025

Every picture tells a story.

A contributor recently provided us with a picture of some tanks and a Berlin Victory Parade programme plus snippets of information.
We were able to fill in the gaps and provide the family with their father's D-Day journey from West Tofts camp, to Bognor, then to A17 West Gate Marshalling Camp then onto Gosport for Embarkation

We also provided them with the war Diaries of the 8th Royal Irish Hussars for them to follow their father's journey all the way to Berlin. We were not able to identify the location of the tanks in front of a large camouflaged structure thought to be Bognor. It could also have been taken at West Tofts Camp near Thetford, Norfolk, which incidentally still exists complete with what appears to be period nissen huts.

Nissen huts were invented by Lt Col Peter Nissen Royal Engineers in 1916.

11/12/2025

.movie.blog just sorting out some Christmas viewing, although not sure documentaries are in your listings. Or should they be🤔

10/12/2025

Hidden in plain sight.

There are still many examples of D-Day Heritage hidden in plain sight. When traveling along roads known to be D-Day buildup routes it's worth keeping an eye out for clues. Hambledon Road in Hampshire is a known route and checking Google maps we find two possible passing places. Covering the ground we find evidence of the two concrete areas washed by recent rain.

However, it is possible that they could be turning points for farm vehicles or even old bus stops! So more research using historic, aerial images or post cards or even oral histories would be needed to confirm. We do know they were there in 1947 from aerial images.

This example will stay on the back burner as they don't yet contribute to a coherent story.

Please keep your contributions coming in here or join the Discovering Britain's D-Day Heritage Facebook Group.

09/12/2025

I urge you to check out Rob writes with passion about the amazing exploits of the combined operations pilotage parties and their enormous contribution to WW2 they are the lesser known of the very special forces. The website is also well worth a visit.

09/12/2025

Are unmanned military vessels new?
In the week that saw the MOD launching its groundbreaking Atlantic Bastion programme we continue our quest to explore how past pioneers can assist the innovators of tomorrow.

We are uncovering lessons lost and amazing military projects of the past to provide the young innovators of tomorrow with an engineering vocabulary and a thirst for discovery by exploiting gameplay.

Just discovered this week Image 1,2&3 Testing an unmanned rocked powered craft Feb 1945. 📸 IWM Image 4 experimental unmanned craft Dec 2025📸 Marine Radar image 5 Royal Navy demonstrating unmanned craft on the Thames📸©️crown copyright 2025.

02/12/2025

Spending a bit of time getting up close & personal with Mulberry Whale bridge sections, Beetles, Bailey Bridge sections and A Spigot Mortar turret at today. Ongoing research for the website.

If you love a bit of historic engineering register your interest on Facebook: Discovering Britain's D-Day Heritage, and help us use pioneering WW2 engineering to inspire the innovators of tomorrow.

26/11/2025

Honoured to attend the launch of this evening showcaseing several of their collaborative projects including The South Coast's forgotten Railway Workers.

21/11/2025

Some brilliant insight from WW2 Veteran Colin Bell who was 105 when he spoke these words of wisdom at the Chalke History Festival in June 2025.

A longer version of the talk is on our YouTube Channel and you can find the link in the bio.

19/11/2025

We look forward to bringing the story of the Southampton Whale to the website in 2026.