Whale bridge section from Mulberry A Harbour
Musee D-Day Omaha, Vierville-sur-Mer
Location and info
Musee D-Day Omaha, Route de Grandcamp, 14710 Vierville-sur-Mer
Located on the D517 road at Vierville, just a few hundred metres behind Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach.
This is one very large part of one of the most important engineering projects of WW2 – a Whale roadway section from the Mulberry Harbour, the artificial ports which helped keep the Allies supplied following the D-Day landings.
Designed by British Major Allan Beckett, these roadways were supported by floating concrete pontoons known as beetles and connected to Spud pier heads where vital materiel was offloaded from ships from England.
Whale sections consisted of five metal bridge spans measuring nearly 500ft in total and over nine miles of floating track was built.
After the war, many pontoons of the artificial ports were used to replace bridges that had
been bombed in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
This is the longest connecting section still in existence and is part of the Museum D-Day Omaha and stands alongside the road at Vierville-sur-Mer.