Operation Neptune - Force ‘J’

Anchorage Locations of Ships, Landing Ships, Trawlers etc in Southampton, Portsmouth & Isle of White Final Assembly Area Pre D-Day

Source:
Operation "Neptune" Force 'J' Operation Orders - dated 19 May 1944 (DND - R24, C17, Vol 17,763, Reel T-7620, Library and Archives Canada)

Force 'J' Operational Instructions - dated 18 May 1944 (DND - R24, C17, Vol 17,763, Reel T-7620, Library and Archives Canada)

 

The maps may help with: Portsmouth harbour defences I assume the lines drawn to the east of Portsmouth denote where the nets etc were laid between the sea forts. A very timely addition and I will add a cross reference.

 

Nice plotting!

I believe the actual source is fold3.com though. I could not find this in T-7620, which apparently has only ONEAST/J.2 (short title for 'Force "J" Naval Operation Order') plus J.O.I. (Force "J" Operational Instructions, dated 28th April, 1944 and amended to 15th May, 1944 plus some rather illegible handwritten changes), whereas the allocation of berths is in Appendix "C" to ONEAST/J.1 ('Force "J" Orders for Loading, Assembly and Sailing'), both part of ONEAST/J ('Force "J" Naval Operation Orders').

The actual title is 'Details of berths for L.S.I., L.S.T. and ships attached to Force "J" for the operation'. In the Naval Orders, "The Anchorage" means the berthing area at the Far Shore (i.e. off Normandy):



Note that there is a Berth 31 J 07 (for Mimico) which is not on the Berthing Plan. Also, although the various ships you left out did not all participate in the landings in JUNO Area on D Day proper, they were indeed all attached to Force J.

Michel

 

Michel……you are correct on the documents, they were indeed from Fold3…..but as i wasn’t sure how many would have access to Fold3 (paid membership site)….I didn’t include it, I should have “for the record”

And thank you for the correction on “Anchorage & Berthing”…..I’ll have to correct my plotting to reflect your recommendation.

Finally, as I have been focused on the JUNO Area lands specifically in my research and information gathering, I did not include the other ships you noted, in my plot, only again to keep the info focused on JUNO for my own research……….but having said that, sometimes I have been “sidetracked” in finding more information on other organizations that have come up during my research, for example USCG Rescue Flotilla One (ResFlotOne)….which when I learned about them, and 30 of their 83’ Cutters assisted on the British/Canadian Assault areas, I needed to know more, and have been working for some years trying to determine the CO’s of each of the vessels……with much help from the USCG Museum and other USCG organizations and families, you recently supplied the names of EVERY OFFICER that serve red in Rescue Flotilla One…..but unfortunately does NOT tell us which vessel each was on…..but it has helped narrow the gap. 35 CO’s of 83’ Cutters identified out of 60….slowly getting their

Sorry, I ramble……thank you for the info and corrections

 

Can't quite remember where I found this, but it does say "Anchorage". Must be a post-op reconstitution
Solent Assembly

Michel

 

Michel,

That map clearly shows "something" with a 'Spithead Gate', with a connection to two of the Palmerston / Victorian era forts: No Man's Land Fort and Horse Sand Fort. The third fort is mis-named Spit Sand Fort, today it known as Spitbank Fort and a fourth is St Helen's Fort (nearer the Isle of Wight).

the commercial owners of the three forts have suspended business due to events and their history refers to 'boom defences' between two of the forts. See: Napoleonic History of Spitbank | No Mans | Horse Sand Forts and Explore the fascinating history of the Solent Sea Forts in The Solent near Portsmouth

 

Michels map is from the 'Plans Book' which supplements 'Naval Staff History Battle Summary No39. Volume 1.Landings in Normandy'. 1947.

Mike

 

Hi, My Grandfather (Charles Pregger) was on USCG-43 (83464) and thought you could help find information. I saw a great article about his shipmate here https://cdn.cnsnews.com/documents/Chief Motor Machinist Mate Jack W. Read.pdf
and a photo at the end that has him in the back row. But I think the man has since died (looks like he was CMOMM on this site, since that crew picture was the right one. Any suggestions on finding more about what their ship did at Normandy? Ships logs? Best Regards, --Erik M

 

Hi,

I have seen these "Force J" "Force G" and "Force S" Operation Orders before, for each of the Commonwealth Beaches. I have also seen "Force L" orders, for the follow-up forces. However, I have yet to see any for American Beaches. Does anyone know if the same sets of orders distributed or was there a different format?

Thanks!
Hamilton

 

Just some documents, some of the links below give you access to more American documents. The “landing documents” for American forces were almost identical as the Eastern Naval Task Force. There is an “original planning document” that outlines how the Landing Table’s documents would be used and filled out (sorry, I just can’t remember where this document is)

OPERATION PLAN NO. 2-44
OF THE
WESTERN NAVAL TASK FORCE,
ALLIED NAVAL EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
SHORT TITLE "ONWEST TWO"

This information below is a reproduced document of Original planning documents
HyperWar: Operation Neptune - Operation Plan 2-44 (ONWEST TWO)


Operation Plan No. 2-44 of the Western Naval Task Force, Allied Naval Expeditionary Force: short title: "Onwest Two"
This document is the ORIGINAL planning documents
World War II Operational Documents

World War II Operational Documents

CONTENTdm

Initial joint plan – Neptune operation

World War II Operational Documents

 

New Resource - Landing Tables - legend

 

Hi Temujin and Michel,

Thank you very much for those links. Those links give a fantastically useful place to start looking and further understand the true breadth of the printed material. I look forward to reading them in full this coming weekend.

Thanks,
Hamilton