Operation PLUTO - well I'll be darned.. BP, check this out!

[Randy V]

English Channel WWII Pipe Line --- **Fueling America 's War Machines After the Invasion of France *!
*
Some of *you may have already known of this, but I sure didn't. In spite *of watching many hours of film about WW II and the European theater, *I never thought to wonder how all the military vehicles were *supplied with fuel. They sure couldn't just stop at the corner BP *station and fill up their tank's gas tank. I found this fascinating. *

And no *environmental impact assessment study !

Operation PLUTO (Pipe-Lines Under The Ocean) (1944) - YouTube

 

[Randy V]

Hmmm.... Guess no interest unless it has tits eh?

 

[Jim Craik]

Randy,

I find this stuff very interesting, they had several years to plan the invasion and a huge budget to work with. There were literally thousands of interesting things built for the invasion. Floating tanks (most sank), inflatable tanks to confuse, tanks with flailing chains to set off mines, they even built two floating harbors. of course all this stuff all needs fuel..........

I understand that the pipeline worked rather well.

 

[Mark]

A good post Randy, cheers.

Now back to the lady-bumps........

 

[Charlie Farley]

Part of the floating harbour is still in position off the French coast.
There's a USAF base near my parents. It has an underground pipeline supplying the base with av gas. It runs like 70 miles to the coast.
Not many people know about it. Runs straight under two houses before
it enters the base perimeter.

 

[Keith]

Interesting stuff Randy and many of us in the UK and especially in this neck of the woods (literally) where much of the invasion force was billeted and items such as the Mulberry harbours were constructed grew up with this kind of thing.

Scattered around the coast can still be seen the remnants of this fantastic effort from half built caissons to quiet docks along rivers where landing craft were constructed and Southwick House, the final UK Overlord HQ, i around 25 miles away, so this part of Hampshire is steeped in Overlord folklore.

There are no less than 14 WWII airfields, most of them vital to the D Day effort within 10 miles of where I am typing this. Many Americans were stationed at them and here are three of the largest. There is nothing left of them now, but if you know where to look!

Stoney Cross home to the USAF 9th Air Force and various RAF units:
(Where incidentally, I taught my mother to drive in the '60's) Also reputed to have the longest runway in the world at one time which I believe was 2 miles in length, to enable the heavy bombers get up on their way to targets in Europe.

Holmesley

And my favourite: Beaulieu Heath. A RC model flying club now operates on the only paved section of runway remaining - the shiny bit to the right of the 'A'.

 

[Randy V]

Very interesting Jim, Mark, Andrew & Keith!

I've often wondered how many artifacts of the war efforts (both WW1 and WW2) are still around..

I am continually amazed by the sheer brilliance in some of the planning and execution of things like this in our past.

Knowing where we are today with computers and GPS navigation and such - to know that men & women used their minds to do all this work in the past is truly staggering..

(thanks for the responses!)

 

[Keith]

The organisation and execution was mind blowing and I'm not sure it could happen today and it goes to show what can be achieved when everyone sings the same song.

Remember, they allowed for possibly 30% casualties on the first day and achieved way under that. Montgomery came in for a lot of stick for the Caen delays but the Allies ended up on the banks of the Sein exactly 90 days following the landings - right on his schedule.

There has been so much criticism and villification about the campaign and yet it remains one of the most staggeringly complex and successful human endeavours in war ever achieved.

Some the tech developed in Overlord is still in use today. PLUTO as Randy mentioned, bridging tanks, flail tanks, armoured recovery vehicles, air to surface rocketry and above all the incredible logisitics.

Just a fab achievement by everyone and a great deal of luck!

I feel really lucky to live amongst that legacy, although you would not know it happened around here because it has all gone, and there is not a lot of information for the casual visitor.

The locals though know differently and the legacy still rears it's head a sometimes strange ways. For example, where the railway lines criss cross the Forest, the areas under the bridges often flood up to a car's roof in height. I was always curious about this phenomena as the road surface is sometimes below the water table, and the answer is simple. In order to transport huge cargoes of tanks, planes and artillery to their respective embarkation points along this coast, the roads were considerably lowered under the bridges in order to facilitate movement.

Every time it rains? The road floods and is closed until the water soaks away

Strange alterations to the road layouts for no obvious reason. Roads were often altered and new cuts constructed to allow for overlong loads of tanks planes etc to turn corners...On the 7 miles of road between Bockenhurst Village and Beaulieu Heath Military Aerodrome, the undulating road through the Forest is laid in concrete and laterally scored to facilitate traction for the heavy vehicles supplying ordinance and stores.

Not a place to take your '40's!

 

[Randy V]

Simply fascinating Keith...

Since returning home from the military in 71, I've had no thought of leaving US soil - but the older I get, the more I realize how much more is out there to experience.. Our history as a civilization is most interesting to me now.. 20 years ago, I was not interested at all..

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jim Craik]

Keith,

Those are very interesting observations, I never thought about that, but the transport of so many large "things" must have required incredable amounts of changes to what must have been a relatively old infrastructure.

The planning for this invasion was incredable and done on many levels.

I recently read a great book on the huge effort to missleading the enemy as to when, were and how the invasion would take place. The book is called "Bodyguard of Lies" very interesting.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Randy,

If you ever make it over to Europe, make it a must to visit Normandy and take advantage of a battlefield tour with these guys. Small groups, an impressively knowledgeable local guide, who will also find you exactly the accomodation you specify. The tours are a whole day and he knows the location of so many bunkers and sites of actions you would never have any hope of finding. After the Le Mans Classic, i'm taking some American friends there on the way back to the UK. Even the women will love the 'human interest' stories he will narrate you. So much stuff is now on private land, that this is the only way you will ever get to see it.

Overlordtour : battlefield tour in Normandy, D-Day Beaches, 6 june 1944 history, D-Day commemoration

Prior to Le Mans, i'm travelling further south to attend a ceremony held every year for my Mother's uncle. Every year a sizeable proportion of the small town meet at the church and hold a service in his honour. They then walk to the local cemetry and the Mayor holds a small ceremony to lay wreaths.
When his body was recovered, a local French family took it upon themselves to bury him in the family vault.
If you read the link below, you will see he was murdered by the SD, the security police of the Waffen SS, under the 'Kommando Order' issued by Hitler.
Whereby any special forces/parachute soldiers even if captured in uniform, where not to be treated as pow's, but executed. I believe some of your 82nd and 101st Airborne met a similar fate in Normandy.

I've found a copy of a poem i like, and this will appear with my floral tribute in both English & French.

' Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush.
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.'

After some research i also found this post :

Its worth reading both the replies on the post.

Lt Tomas (Twm) Mansell Stephens, Commandos & SAS

 

[Randy V]

Andrew ---

Thanks for that... My sister lives in Holland and has been after me for many years to come and visit. I am now considering it. Since many countries are all on the same continent, it would appear that I could rent a car and tour for 2-3 weeks and see a lot of what I have been missing. Normandy would most certainly be one of my stopping points.

Thank you for sharing!

 

[Darren]

There are still a few of the pumping station "Houses" to be found in and around various seaside towns on the south coast. Some are actually being lived in after conversion but they do have 3ft thick walls and blast proof roofs. Always found the PLUTO scheme interasting, and there have been a few TV progs about them here in the UK. There are something like 30 pipe still under the English channel.
Darren

 

[Keith]

Weren't some of the pumping stations disguised as Ice Cream huts? Actually, I also believe that these pumping stations were not necessarily for PLUTO but for Churchill's infamous "Flaming Sea" anti-invasion weapon. Having seen a film of it testing, I think the German Army would have been really thankful not to have attempted to set foot on the Southern beaches. Awesomely fearsome idea.

Pretty daft really for two reasons. Firstly every single German spy ever landed in the UK during WWII was captured and turned, and secondly who on earth was going to visit the seaside with mined beaches, miles of barbed wire, zero petrol availability and the railways being turned into a weapon of war.

For me, the very greatest scam of all time which totally fooled the Germans was F.U.S.A.G. Absolutely brilliant deception, and putting Patton "in charge" was a master stroke as he was considered by the Germans to be the best attacking commander on the allied side.

Despite the horrendouse breach of security by De Gaulle, who on the 2nd day of Overlord announced over the radio that "The Normandy landings are the Real Invasion" the Germans continued to believe it was a feint due mainly to the F.U.S.A.G. deception and operations such as 'Fortitude'

If they had taken De Gaulle seriously, a disaster could have unfolded in Normandy. Honestly, the man was a total putz...:veryangry:

 

[Charlie Farley]

Talking of De Gaulle:

A long time ago, Britain and France were at war. During one battle, the French captured a British Colonel. They took him to their headquarters, and the French General began to question him. Finally, as an afterthought, the French General asked; "Why do you British officers all wear red coats? Don't you know the red material makes you easier targets for us to shoot at?"
In his casual, matter-of-fact, way, the officer informed the General that the reason British officers wear red coats is so that if they are wounded, the blood won't show, and the men they are leading won't panic.

And that is why, from that day forward, all French Army officers wear brown trousers.

True.

 

[Jim Craik]

Randy,

My in the late 1990s, my wife was VP of marketing for a Netherlands based Company. She made 36 trips to Amsterdam over a 2+ year period. I joined her on five or six of those trips, including a few month say one summer.

I must say that of all the European countries I have visted, Amsterdam is by far my favorite. Its a wonderful city and the Dutch are truly great folks!

The French, not so much.

 

[zollis]

One of the places that was used to produce armaments and aviation stuff is Brooklands. The reason one of the bankings was removed was to get clearance for the wings of aircraft to clear at take-off.

But today ?? In the infield of that area two huge corporate logos are erected. Sony and Mercedes-Benz. Japanese and German In the heart of the ex-armaments industry.

Sorry for the thread drift ,





















Z.C.