Castletown D-Day Centre Destination
Phil Loder leads us on a tour of the harbour which set the stage for the D-Day landings
Portland Harbour, on the UK’s south coast, has military history everywhere. In the 16th century, Henry VIII built two forts to defend the anchorage: Sandsfoot Castle on the edge of Weymouth to the north, and Portland Castle on the Isle of Portland to the south. The Victorians created a safe harbour and defensive system involving breakwaters, forts, gun batteries and the Verne Citadel, a fortress at the highestpoint of Portland that could accommodate a garrison of around 1,000 men. From its dominant position, the citadel’s gun emplacements could engage enemies at sea in three directions.
A memorial on Weymouth’s esplanade records that ANZAC troops returned to Portland Harbour from Gallipoli in World War One and small ships set sail from here to help with the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940. While most of the anti-aircraft positions that defended against regular attacks by the Luftwaffe in World War Two have long since been removed, the whole area is still dotted with pillboxes built to defend against amphibious landings.
Situated around 100 miles from Normandy, Portland Harbour woul…
