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The requirement was to load and safely transport the military force which would effect an assault on the coast of Normandy across hostile beaches. Then reinforcements had to be landed without interruption in the correct sequence until the initial beachhead had been secured and sufficient forces built up to allow a breakout from the beachhead.

Initially in November 1942 at the Cairo Conference it was agreed that all naval forces for 'Neptune' would be provided by the British, Dominion and Allied Navies (excluding the United States, which would be the principal naval force in the Pacific.) However as 'Overlord grew from an assault by 2 divisions across the beaches plus 2 airborne brigades; to an assault by 5 divisions with 2 divisions as a floating reserve plus 3 air borne divisions, the US Navy agreed to provide naval forces to assist.

Convoys came mainly from the entire UK south coast round to the Bristol Channel but some came from as far away as the Clyde. All had to be escorted.

Initially, routes through German minefields had to be swept  to allow safe movement of assault convoys and areas cleared to allow troops to disembark onto landing craft. Coastal and patrol craft had to fight off any German surface craft which tried to interfere with the landings. Heavy units had to engage and neutralise coastal defences during the landings, then provide naval gunfire support as the Army required it. Anti-submarine craft had to provide barriers to the East and West to stop U-boats from arriving in the cross channel area. All had to fight off Luftwaffe attacks as they developed.

It was the largest assault landing in history.

A total of 1,213 warships were allocated to the Assault phase, plus 2,468 landing ships and craft.

By 04-July; 958,536 personnel, 183,540 vehicles and 649,568 tons of stores had been landed.

Copyright © Ian M King, except where otherwise indicated.