If 2020 had gone as planned, I’d be at @trebahgarden in Cornwall right now, talking to my @Zegrahm guests about D-Day embarkation hard PH at Polgwidden Cove. As I can’t do that, you get to hear about it instead.

As part of the second round of embarkation hard construction, PH hard (P for Plymouth Command, H for Helford River) was started in November 1942. At its height it employed 79 men and was completed summer 1943. UKHO

The hard was built by civilian labour under the direction of Admiralty civil engineers. At PH hard, it was largely overseen by Bernard Breakell, who moved to Falmouth IN 1940. He later recorded several memories of the hard’s construction in his memoirs. © B. Breakell

Access to the beach is steep, with a curving road leading down the cliffs from the nearby lane. That wasn’t anticipated to be a problem as any vehicle descending was on its way to board a Landing Ship Tank (PH hard was designed to accommodate two LSTs at a time).

However, to flatten the beach sufficiently to lay the beach hardening mats, they needed a steamroller. Breakell thought it might have to be left at the hard, but Joe, the driver, oozed confidence and had no problem getting the heavy machine back up the hill. Geni/Wikicommons

Another was a water pipe to supply the hard. Steel tubing was laid for some 4 miles from the nearest main, but was completed in less than a month (just in time for D-Day). The only problem came from the water board, but was quickly overcome with Admiralty authority. Google

A memorial in the garden records the men of the US 29th Infantry Division who embarked here. It’s also worth remembering the men of 12 LSTs drawn from the 23rd, 71st and 97s LST Divisions of the US Navy who embarked them at this hard. Good footage here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-cornwall-47525635/footage-emerges-of-soldiers-leaving-for-d-day-from-cornwall

In the 1950s, using a government grant, the beach hardening mats were broken up and removed. The hardstanding remains though, and the mats have been repurposed – some on a path in the gardens, and some as hardcore for the sea wall!

If you’d like to know more about these fascinating points of embarkation for D-Day, join the free @CITiZAN1 webinar next week. Just sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-role-of-the-south-coast-in-operation-neptune-tickets-104626847718