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Beach Groups: Operation NEPTUNE The invasion of Normandy was an immense undertaking not only in terms of the number of divisions, men, and vehicles employed, but for the logistical support necessary to make it work. Among this logistical overhead was the Beach Groups. Maintenance of the bridgehead was to be done over open beaches, with the "Mulberry" artificial harbours not expected to be in place and operational until over a week following D-Day.1 The beaches were code-named consecutively from west to east using the phonetic alphabet. The three major beaches were GOLD, to be assaulted by 50th Infantry Division, JUNO, by 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, and SWORD, by 3rd Infantry Division. They were further subdivided into sectors and individual beaches as shown below.2
The Beach Groups were required to establish exits from the beach so vehicles could travel inland, control traffic, unload and store materiel such as ammunition, rations, petrol, etc., setting up medical care, and even the neutralization of enemy strongpoints bypassed in the initial landing.3 Pre-war doctrine had assumed these tasks could be overseen by a Royal Navy beachmaster and an Army logistics officer, but early in the war the need for a more detailed organization was made obvious. Combined Operations headquarters began formal training of Beach Organization in 1942, and the concept was honed with combat experience at Madagascar, North Africa, Sicily and Italy.4
Each beach was assigned a Beach Sub-Area Headquarters, and each Sub-Area had a number of Royal Navy Beach Commandos, Army Beach Groups, and RAF Beach Units assigned to it. The naval Beach Commandos focused on traffic control of the incoming and outgoing landing craft, while the Army took responsibility for the cargo they discharged. The air force Beach Units were much smaller than the naval and ground forces on the beach and looked after special needs of the air force, whose priority was in establishing forward air bases inland. On D-Day, one of their tasks was establishing a fighter control and radar unit so that RAF night-fighters could patrol the beaches on the first night of the invasion. RAF units also supplied barrage balloon units.5
There were eight beach groups available for Normandy, including two in reserve.6 Each Army Beach Group was based around an infantry battalion. The infantrymen provided the majority of the needed labour, as well as the combat capability to fight where needed, either to clear stubborn hold-outs from the beach or defend against counter-attacks. Specialists were assigned from various supporting corps to perform a variety of tasks, including Royal Engineers, Royal Army Service Corps, Royal Army Ordnance Corps, and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Royal Army Medical Corps, Military Police and Pioneer Corps.7 Major beach units employed on D-Day in Normandy included:
The infantry component of the Beach Groups was as follows:
The insignia of the Beach Groups was a blue disc with a red border, bearing a red fouled anchor insignia. This insignia was worn as a shoulder patch on the sleeves of battle dress, and was also seen painted on vehicles. There is evidence that the patch was worn overtop of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division formation patch by Beach Group personnel assigned to Juno Beach.
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Insignia
