DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

The Invasion of Normandy: Port-en-Bassin

These studies of a small Norman coastal town illustrate the effect of the war on the local population.

Port-en-Bessin, Normandy
Dwight C. Shepler #152
Watercolor, June 1944
88-199-EZ

 

Notched into the cliff area between the American and British beachheads, this little port was taken from the rear by British and American forces. The waterfront was battered from the shelling of the town's German coastal guns by Allied naval ships, and duels with a Nazi flak ship which lurked behind the big breakwater at the harbor entrance. On D-Day the sign on the Grand Hotel De La Marine could easily be read through binoculars from the bridge of the destroyer U.S.S. Emmons (DD-475), which together with the battleship U.S.S. Arkansas (BB-33), had a couple of sharp contests with Port-en-Bessin's fixed German guns.

 

 

street sceen in Port-en-BessinReading the Notices Port-en-Bessin
Mitchell Jamieson #V-25
Pen, June 1944
88-193-RA

 

 

 

 

Fountain at Port-en-Bessin Used as Signpost by British Troops
Mitchell Jamieson #V35
Pen & wash, June, 1944
88-193-RL

 

 

 

 

Harbor Scene
Mitchell Jamieson #V-76
Pencil, circa 1944
88-193-TC(b)




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