Following the successful D-Day landings on the adjacent Gold Beach, a vast pre-fabricated artificial Mulberry Harbour was quickly assembled at nearby Arromanches, allowing British and Canadian reinforcements to pour ashore. Towed piece by piece across the Channel, assembled and ready for use within days of the invasion, the harbour - nicknamed Port Winston - would enable more than two and half million men, half a million vehicles and vast quantities of supplies to be landed before it was finally decommissioned at the end of the year, by which time the ports along the Channel and North Sea had been liberated.

Clearly visible in this painting, the new ‘Mulberry’ is working flat out with reinforcements pouring ashore and one of the floating roadways being used to evacuate the wounded onto ships soon bound for England. In the foreground recently-arrived Sherman Firefly tanks from the 13th /18th Hussars climb away from the area as they move out towards the front line alongside infantry from The Devonshire Regiment. In the days to follow both regiments would fight with great distinction.

Easily identified by the long barrel of its British 17-pounder gun whose bright muzzle flash inspired its nickname, the ‘Firefly’ was considered the most deadly version of the iconic Sherman tank and, being the only Allied tank in Normandy with a gun powerful enough to
penetrate the thick armour of the German Panther and Tiger tanks, it was greatly feared by the enemy.