Advance reconnaissance for D-Day included teams sent ashore to collect physical samples from prospective landing beaches. Royal Marine and Royal Navy personnel are recalled as definite participants. An Army officer, possibly a Royal Engineer, may also have gone, although that detail remains explicitly uncertain. Amphibious planning depended on this hazardous cross-service fieldwork to learn what the landing beaches were physically like.
Notable Point · 44:58-45:21
The teams that sampled D-Day beaches
Clandestine beach sampling for D-Day drew on Royal Marine and Royal Navy personnel, with possible Army participation.