Marshalling Area camp R5, Orwell Park, Nacton

This was one of several camps in Marshalling Area R, in Suffolk. Troops in this camp were part of follow up force ‘L’ which landed on the British beaches in Normandy in the days after D-Day. Among the units camped in this region before D-Day were the British 7th Armoured Division, the ‘Desert Rats’, who landed on Gold Beach on 7 June, and the British 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division who began landing in Normandy on 10 June. Units in Marshalling Area R embarked through ports on the east coast, such as Felixstowe and Lowestoft.