D Day on the Roseland
In June1942 U.S. President Roosevelt and U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill realised that the only way that Germany could be defeated was to mount an invasion of Europe. President Roosevelt nominated General Dwight D Eisenhower to be Supreme Allied Commander of the invasion which they called “Operation Overlord.” planned for June 4th 1944.
The first task was to set about finding departure points along the south coast. The Roseland shores of the river Fal estuary were chosen as one of the points of embarkation for thousands of soldiers, American, Canadian and British. Soon the small creeks of the Fal with their overhanging oak trees hid all sorts of odd looking craft, many requisitioned locally and naval landing craft assembled to transport the troops to Normandy.
Thousands of men from North America had crossed the Atlantic in the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth arriving at Liverpool and were then transported to many areas along the south coast in long convoys. By 1943 there were more than a million US troops in the UK. They probably had no idea where they were as all the sig posts in the country had been removed and there was a blackout after dark. The American soldiers who came to this area and were sent to Tolverne and Turnaware were from the 29th Infantry Division, a National Guard division that had received an influx of regular officers and had been filled out with conscripts, mostly 18 and 19 year olds. These areas had been selected as places where the allied forces could load troops, guns and tanks onto landing craft. At Tolverene hundreds of local men built the hard and a large jetty stretching half way across the river. They built a hard and 2 jetties at Turnaware. The narrow lanes to both these areas had to be widened and concreted to allow the convoys to deliver the men to the area. The beaches and jetties were strictly guarded with 40mm AA guns as the operation was secret.
The troops camped in the woodlands and fields, well camouflaged under canvas with corrugated huts holding tanks, jeeps, trucks, artillery and ammunition waiting to be transported in the landing craft which would take them to Normandy. The men waited and trained for the event, practising running landing craft on to the beach in St. Mawes harbour at low tide. The remains of these piers and camps can still be seen. The decision for “Operation Overlord” to begin was made for June 4th 1944. However bad weather delayed the departure and on June 5th 13 landing craft left Tolverne for Omaha Beach and a total 11,000 tons of supplies were dispatched every day from the south coast embarkation points to the battlefields of Normandy. Although many men lost their lives during the invasion the success of the operation changed the direction of the war from defeat to our eventual victory.