D-Day Planning at Fort Southwick

1944

Fort Southwick on Portsdown Hill above Cosham served as the headquarters of the Allied Naval Commander Expeditionary Force during the planning and execution of D-Day. It was from the underground plotting rooms at Fort Southwick that Admiral Bertram Ramsay coordinated the naval operations for the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944. The signal to launch Operation Neptune, the naval element of D-Day, was sent from the fort. This was one of the most significant military operations in history, and it was directed from the hill above Cosham.