Leaving London, we piled onto a bus, and headed to Portsmouth. Once in Portsmouth, we immediately set out for Southwick House, the headquarters for the main allied commanders in the months leading up to D-day. Originally housing the overnight pupils of the Royal Navy School of Navigation, the house was chosen to be the location of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force.
Going into the house, we were escorted into the Map Room, the primary attraction of the house. The Map Room houses the large maps detailing the Allies plans for the Normandy Landings. It was in this room that extensive planning for D-day occurred. The map is absolutely huge. It stretched to the top of the high ceilinged room! Touring the main floor, we sat in the room where General Eisenhower made the final decision to authorize the Normandy Landings.
After settling into the new hotel, we visited the D-Day Story Museum the following day. With exhibits ranging from models of the obstacles erected on the Normandy beaches, detailing the submarine mines and the brutal posts and sharp iron blades positioned right under the surface of the water,
to exhibits detailing more obscure components of the Normandy landings, such as Rupert the dummy paratrooper. Hundreds of dummy paratroopers were dropped over the Normandy beaches as decoys, as the Rupert dummy paratroopers were seemingly indistinguishable from real paratroopers. The dummy paratroopers obscured the true locations of the allied airborne troops, making it more difficult for German forces to counter the airborne soldiers.
Tomorrow, following a couple relaxed days in Portsmouth, we board a ferry to France to see a more direct perspective of the beaches and other relevant WW2 sites.
