Written by 4 June 2024
Eighty years ago today, the tide was turning to favour the Allies as the secret, but much anticipated Normandy landings were being prepared for all over the country. Shoreham Port was no exception.
The Port trustees met throughout the war, and the minute books, while not openly discussing the plans, leave some clues as to the involvement of the navy and the military in the day-to-day life of the Port. Each month the numbers of naval vessels docking were recorded, fire watching took place regularly, paid for by the Admiralty, as did mine watching. There was constant contact with the Commander in Chief at Portsmouth.
Port employees received war bonuses as part of their wages, and the Emergency Committee spent £142 and 10 shillings (the equivalent of £5,260 today) on building an air raid shelter for the Trustees in April 1944. Miss Harris, a typist, received 3s a week as a war bonus. Other employees received far more – some up to £50 a year.
The Kingston lighthouse was requisitioned and then de-requisitioned again in April 1944, reasons not given. The Admiralty took over part of the hard near Wimpey’s Wharf, and the Air Ministry did the same with part of the shingle beach. The Admiralty ended up paying the Port £1,500 compensation for the use of its facilities.
Were the Air Ministry flying to France to check out conditions on the beaches in advance of D-Day? The minute books do not say. The Port was obviously important to the war effort as the Ministry of War Transport regularly sent dredgers to keep the Shoreham Harbour entrance clear.
The MWT stored “anti-gas” equipment at the Port, various building work took place, no doubt to help facilitate D-Day plans, and the minutes record the Admiralty negotiating with the Works and Survey committee for the use of the harbour.
The Harbour Master reported that the Admiralty craft were causing “abnormal strain” to the Prince George lock gates. And there was an ongoing claim to the Admiralty for the lock gate keepers overtime payments, which had reached the princely sum of £35 between 1942 and 1944.
Between May 1944 and the end of June 1944 there is a resounding silence, with no meetings recorded or minutes available. What is a matter of record is down to an unpublished book called Operation Colour Scheme by Commander Charles Birch*, who headed up the fire service in the area in 1944.
In the run up to D-Day, Shoreham and other Sussex ports were supplied with Naval Auxiliary Boats, a Port Fire Office was set up at Shoreham, and a group of volunteers, men and women were trained to provide back-up for when the expected enemy reprisals for the Normandy landings took place. These did not happen on the scale expected, but there is a record for the morning of 6 June 1944: Embarkation of troops and vehicles from Newhaven and Shoreham and Landing in France.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
*D-Day captions for Shoreham Port based on material from Operation Colour Scheme by Charles Birch, OBE the Commander of Number 31 Fire Force, held by The Keep, University of Sussex.
There is a display on the top floor at Port Kitchen of photos and information about Operation Colour Scheme and the involvement of Shoreham Port. Please look for the glass top coffee tables.
The exhibition ‘Shoreham Fort – incorporating Shoreham’s role in D-Day’ will be on display at the Marlipins Museum in Shoreham from now until the 27th July 2024 between 11:00am – 3:00pm, Thursday to Saturday.
Category: History
