Operation Pluto was an operation by British engineers, oil companies and the British Armed Forces to build submarine oil pipelines under the English Channel to support Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy during the Second World War.
The pumping station at Sandown, originally disguised as Brown's Ice Cream
A Conundrum is towed across the English Channel laying out pipe to Cherbourg
Captain J. F. Hutchings, commander of Operation Pluto
A section of Hais pipe with the layers successively stripped away
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Normandy landings. A 1,200-plane airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault involving more than 5,000 vessels. Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, and more than two million Allied troops were in France by the end of August.
LSTs with barrage balloons deployed, unloading supplies on Omaha Beach for the breakout from Normandy
US Army M4 Sherman tanks loaded in a landing craft tank (LCT), ready for the invasion of France, c. late May or early June 1944
D-day assault routes into Normandy
Air plan for the Allied landing in Normandy
