SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE: WOOLSTON FACTORY 1940/41 COURTESY OF BBC SOUTHERN EYE

Operation Overlord, launched on D-Day - 6th June 1944 - was the largest military invasion in history, with 156,000 troops landing on the Normandy beaches on the first day alone. Planning for the invasion of Europe began as early as autumn 1940 when the War Office surveyed the Southampton area with a view to using it as a base for a future invasion. The actual build-up began in the spring of 1942 when the Southampton area was designated area ‘C’. Landing craft and other vessels began arriving in the docks in 1942 and the South Western Hotel became HQ of the Combined Operation Military Movement Control. In July 1943 the US Army 14th Major Port Transport Corps arrived in Southampton to co-ordinate the movement of American troops and equipment through the port. Later in 1943, 25 military camps were set up in the area to hold troops before they embarked for Normandy and the Common and the Central Parks were also converted into military camps.