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In the run up to D-Day in June 1944, Hampshire and the South Coast was a hive of military activity.

Tens of thousands of soldiers practiced their battle drills, military supremos worked on tactics, and engineers came up with some ingenious technical ways of making the highly dangerous beach landings as effective as possible.

Meanwhile countless civilians worked to prepare and supply the invasion force - all under a remarkable cloak of secrecy.

The Normandy landings

On D-Day - 6 June 1944, the Allies landed around 156,000 troops in Normandy - most departed from ports along the Hampshire and Dorset coasts.

As well as British and American troops, personnel from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland took part in the landings.

While the invasion marked the beginning of the end of World War II, there was a terrible price paid.Ìý Total Allied casualties on D-Day itself are estimated at 10,000, including 2,500 dead, while more than 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy.

Locations

Communities across Hampshire played their part in the build-up to the invasion - from the biggest cities and military bases, to the quietest of country villages.

The New Forest

The New Forest was the ideal environment for camouflaging men and equipment. Special Operations Executive elite agents trained around the Beaulieu estate and Exbury House became a Combined Operations base, called HMS Mastodon.

There were also 12 airfields on the flat forest heathland from where ariel support for the invasion took off.Ìý

Signs of D-Day preparations at Lepe

Aerodromes at sites including Holmsley South, Beaulieu and Stoney Cross were backed up with temporary airfields like Needs Oar near Lymington. On D-Day, Allied aircraft flew 14,674 sorties, and 127 were lost.

At Lepe Beach on the shores of the Solent, parts of the huge concrete Phoenix Caissons of the Mulberry Harbours can still be seen.

The ingenious concrete Mulberry Harbours were designed to float over to France allowing more troops and supplies to be landed.

Southampton

As the home to great passenger liners, Southampton was chosen as the chief supply and troop movement centre for the American army. All spare open space was used to house the soldiers - Allied troops camped on Hoglands Park and the Common.

Southampton Docks (Soton City Heritage Services)

Hundreds of landing craft were assembled in the city's Western Docks. South Western House became the headquarters of Combined Operations Military Movement Control. Soldiers also practised urban warfare on the city's bomb damaged streets.

From 1943, thousands worked on the secret construction of Mulberry Harbours at the George V dry-dock and other locations around the South.

Up-to-date maps of northern France and Belgium were drawn up and printed in the Ordnance Survey office in London Road which was badly damaged in the blitz.

Accurate knowledge of the terrain and communication links would prove vital for the invading troops.

Bursledon

'HMS Cricket' was the secret training base for the flotilla of landing craft taking men, tanks and supplies across the channel from Warsash and Hamble.

The 120 nissan huts on the site were later used to house families who had been 'bombed out' during the blitz.

Southwick

Southwick House and nearby Fort Southwick outside Portsmouth became the operational headquarters of General Eisenhower and co-ordinated all the planning for 'Operation Overlord'.Ìý

The D-Day map in Southwick House

There was a giant map to plot all the movements of the hundreds of craft taking part in the landings.Ìý

Local villagers didn't really know what was being planned but the generals did use the Golden Lion pub as an unofficial officers' mess.

Staff remember that Eisenhower enjoyed half pints of the pub's own bitter, while Field Marshal Montgomery - 'Monty' - had grapefruit juice!

Netley

Opened in 1863, the Royal Victoria Hospital was the first and largest purpose built military hospital.

Netley Chapel

ÌýIn 1944 US Forces took over the hospital to prepare for D-Day. 68,000 casualties (including 10,000 Germans) were treated following landings.Ìý

The remains of hundreds of Commonwealth soldiers killed during the campaign to liberate Europe are buried at the nearby Netley Military Cemetery.

Gosport

Depots like Priddy's Hard were central to supplying the D-Day fleet moored in the Solent with the 20,000 tons of ammunition needed. Vehicles and LSTs – tank landing ships, embarked from six 'hards', areas of beach which were concreted over to speed up the loading process.Ìý

On the Normandy beaches

The Royal Clarence Yard made sure the troops had enough food and drink.

'Compo' rations in greaseproof cardboard boxes contained chewing gum, boiled sweets, chocolate, tea blocks, meat concentrate, compressed porridge, a tin of bully beef, and sickbags for the sea-crossing.

Portsmouth

As home to the Royal Navy, Portsmouth was full of Allied servicemen in the run up to June 1944.

The Horsa Glider (D-Day Museum exhibit)

Concrete caissons for the Mulberry Harbours were built at the dockyard while the city's military establishments had been developing new methods of amphibian warfare years before D-Day.Ìý

Numerous sites in Portsmouth have links to D-Day. Hilsea College (now City of Portsmouth Boys' School) was used by American troops. The Airspeed company, which designed the Horsa glider, was based at Eastney.

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