national crafts museum case study

Charles Correa Foundation

Education and Research in Human Settlements

NATIONAL CRAFTS MUSEUM

Delhi 1975-90.

This Crafts Museum, casual and accepting of the artisan’s vernacular, is organized around a central pathway, going from village to temple to palace, a metaphor for the Indian street- in fact, for India herself, where all these different kinds of crafts have always co-existed down the centuries. Walking along this spine, one catches glimpses of the principal exhibits that lie on either side (the Village Court, Darbar Court, etc). One can visit any particular exhibit, or alternately, progress through all the various sections in a continuous sequence.

Towards the end of the sequence, the exhibits gets larger and include fragments of actual buildings-since the crafts of India have always been an essential element of her architecture, Finally, one exists via the roof terraces which form an amphitheater for folk dances, as well as an open-air display for large terracotta horses and other handicrafts.

Less than half of the total floor area of 5500 sq.m is open to the public; the rest of the collection is stored in special areas for the use of the very finest craftsmen who are selected from all over India to come and study these archives. In this manner, a potter from Bengal has the opportunity to examine at first hand the best work of his counterparts in Kerala, at the other end of the country- or for that matter, what his own forebears in Bengal had produced two or three hundred years previously. This is a perspective which has hitherto never been available to traditional Indian craftsmen.

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Museums of the World: National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy

The National Handicrafts and handlooms museum was designed by the master architect Charles Correa in the year 1990. But its famed name is National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy. This is situated in the nook of Pragati Maidan across the Purana Qila. The Museum celebrates India’s rich, diverse, and practising craft traditions. s Craftsmen markets were suffering due to modernisation & loss of connection with traditions; hence, it was set up for them as reference material.

Since India is known to be a culturally diverse country, each & every part of the country possesses its art techniques & traditions; from North to down South to East to West, geological features affect the art practices of its local people.

The availability of materials guides the course of art and craft in those places. 

Arts & Crafts | National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy

Currently, The Museum holds a collection from various states of India. Over 33000 specimens in various artefacts and arts, those consisting of Textile, Metal lamps, Sculptures , Utensils, Woodworks, Folk Tribal Paintings, Cane and Bamboo crafts, Clay and Terracotta objects.

The elegant examples of textiles include Kalamkaris, Pashmina, Jamawars and Shahtoosh Shawls; embroidered fabrics namely Kanthas, Chikankari works and Chaklas Tie and Die (Bandhani) fabrics, Baluchar and Jamdani Saree, Pichwais, Phulkaris, Orissa’s Ikat fabrics, and many more, Not only this but Tribal textiles of the Lambadi, Toda and Naga tribes of North- Eastern India .

These are preserved with the intent that they would be a source of reference, revival and reproduction of our cultural heritage and Indian crafts. This serves as a guide to tourists who wish to learn about the art & culture of India. This is also beneficial for the master craftsmen, art historians and craft designers, along with the people who are interested to know India’s age-old cultural heritage. 

Museum Boasts an art collection of a diverse and unique range of displays. A varied range of objects is made up of Cane, Bamboo , Clay Terracotta Metal, Stone, as well as Wood and Textiles; all these collections are displayed in a total of five galleries, three courtyards and passages of Folk, Tribal and Traditional community categories. All passage walls are covered in beautiful folk & Tribal paintings .

Bhuta Sculpture Gallery displays the sculptures from the Bhuta cult of coastal Karnataka , known to be one of the largest in the world.

The Folk and Tribal Craft gallery sculptures with other daily objects, along with a diverse selection of paintings of the folk and tribal community of India.

Cultic Craft Gallery features all types of other accessories associated with the ritual practices of various religions in India, such as sculptures, Paintings , and textiles.

Court Craft Gallery Court Craft Gallery features objects of exquisite craftsmanship and precious materials created for homes and palaces for the nobility in India.

Textile Gallery covers the colourful collection of Indian textile art of handcrafted techniques found all over India.

Design & Planning

The museum is spread across 6800 sqm. of land, a horizontal play of masses. It depicts true Indianness, with innate emotion towards Vernacular architecture and excellent craftsmanship. As mentioned before, the traditional Indian architectural elements such as internal courtyards, open passages, wooden doors with carvings, pillars, iron screens, and jharokhas make you reminisce.

The design style of Correa is well known – The Museum has square courtyards associated with Vedic kund as displayed in Jawahar Kala Kendra, the square courtyards in the museum do not follow a strict Mandala Pattern but are stepped at several places forming an informal social arena, the variation in levels articulates spaces for rejuvenating the mood says Jain, the Director of the National Crafts Museum in Delhi .

He also adds that the metaphor of Indian streets exists in the low-key building and mentions that the concept of museums and displaying objects was never a part of Indian tradition. All of these courts with different scales also give access to exhibits via pathways in an informal manner. Village Court, Darbar court, and Temple court.

It Retains the timeless quality of India. Around 40% of the area is occupied by courtyard & exhibition spaces. The complex follows a rectangular geometry. Columnar, Planar, and Structure all of these define the space. The amphitheatre at the centre of the site creates symmetry and balance. The circulation is free-flowing, it leads from open, semi-open and closed series of space. The light source is mainly natural light from the courtyards, a pucca building which keeps the experience of nature. It is a load-bearing Structure, which uses exposed concrete, and stone, a pucca building masked with a clay-tiled roof, one story high with walls around 3m high.

Correa often creates a space which is not easy to label. The museum is almost invisible. It doesn’t overshadow the Purana quila across which it sits or the artist’s village complex . The passage throughout the building is a play of unveiling the mystery, in this case, exhibits along the way; The Museum seems unfinished in a way, and Correa deliberately tried to create this sense. All these features make the National Museum speak its own telltale.

References:

Wordpress(2020). National Crafts Museum, Delhi . [online]. (Last updated: Sep 26 2020). Available at: https://architecturecasestudies.wordpress.com/2020/09/26/national-crafts-museum-delhi/ ments   /[Accessed date: 15/02/2023].

SHUBHAM JAIN(2016) . Crafts Museum by Charles Correa . [online]. (Last updated: Feb 7 2016). Available at: http://archmonk.weebly.com/architects-and-their-works/crafts-museum-by-charles-correa [Accessed date: 17/02/2023].

Ramaarya(2022) . National crafts museum, New Delhi – 90 minutes at the museum. [online]. (Last updated: June 27 2022). Available at: https://ramaarya.blog/2022/06/27/new-delhi-national-crafts-museum/                   [Accessed date: 17/02/2023].

An Architect, honing her Design skills each day, She likes to Observe Spaces, People, & The Greens! She is in awe of built forms & narrates tales about them, Bingeing On pop cultural content is her guilty pleasure.

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Crafts Museum in Delhi, India by Charles Correa

6 August 1995 By Robert Powell Essays

Correa reinterprets the timeless quality of India into a building which resists the obvious western label of museum.

First published in AR August 1995, this piece was republished online in June 2015

The British brought to India the concept of collecting, preserving and displaying objects of nature and art. Dr Jyotindra Jain, the Director of the National Crafts Museum in Delhi, writes a wonderful essay on this theme in a new monograph of Charles Correa’s work entitled The Ritualistic Pathway (1993).

Jain says that ‘the institution of a museum, aimed at housing objects of antiquity and curiosity, is of western origin’. It was never part of the Indian tradition to display fragmented sculptures, rusted swords and paintings out of their context.

Part of the sequence of modest vernacular courtyards that make up the museum

Indeed, says Jain, ‘broken images were immersed in holy waters, worn-out metal objects were melted down to cast new ones and terracotta votive objects were left to decay and merge with the very earth from which they were created’.

But in following the British example the Indians forgot that, unlike in the West, the past and the present are not so severely divided and, says Jain, ‘blindly adopted the archaeological museum concept’. Dr Jain has considerable ·rapport with Correa, and in this project the architect succeeds in interpreting the timeless quality of India, where tradition and modernity coexist, into a building that resists the label ‘museum’.

Ground floor plan

Correa has frequently expressed the benefits of open-to-sky spaces. In this low-key building, a metaphor of an Indian street is introduced - along a diagonal axis are three courtyards of different scale and intensity. They are stunning spaces with perceptible changes of mood that make for great architecture.

But it is not simple nostalgia for the past. Correa’s work has always drawn on the vernacular and ‘deep-conscious’ echoes, but it is also modern in its fusion of an underlying orthogonal grid and the internal display spaces of lofty dimensions with the open and semi-open passages covered with tiled roofs and lined with artifacts.

Elaborately decorated wall

Correa has succeeded in making the museum almost invisible. He creates an environment that is difficult to define or label. It is not institutional and is deliberately self-effacing in its relationship to its ancient neighbour, the Purana Quila. Nor does it overshadow the artists’ village complex alongside.

The processional route through the building is constantly changing in an intricate kaleidoscope of space and light. It is a journey of discovery and there is a deliberately unfinished feeling about the museum … exactly as intended. What does finished mean? Merely a new beginning.

Crafts museum, Delhi, India

Architect: Charles Correa Photographs: Joo Ann Foh

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Architecture as an Agent of Change: Remembering Charles Correa, "India's Greatest Architect"

Charles Correa: Crafts Museum

National Crafts Museum

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Village Complex was set up in 1972 as Rural India Complex as a Part of Asia Trade Fair Designed by the well –known architect Ram Sharma and Sculptor Sankhu Chaudhuri, the Village Complex was later incorporated into the Crafts Museum. It comprises 19 structures- village dwellings, courtyards, shrines- from different parts of India, built in facsimile with skills and materials of the respective regions.

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National Crafts Museum: Away from Delhi’s chaos, history in all its glory

One of the hidden gems of delhi, national crafts museum stands out for its collection of rich handicrafts, textiles, sculptures and large village abodes..

A treasure trove of over 33,000 objects, including handicrafts, textiles, figurines, paintings and more, collected from the farthest corners of the country. That is the National Crafts Museums at Pragati Maidan, in the heart of New Delhi, set up way back in 1956 by the All India Handicrafts Board.

Earlier this year, Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated a new textile gallery at the museum. A new mini collection from Sri Lanka will soon be a part of the museum, which serves as a platform for the development and revival of Indian crafts, informs a museum official. In their book, Museums of India: National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum, New Delhi, Jyotindra Jain and Aarti Aggarwala write, “It has defined criteria of excellence by determining what should be preserved and encouraged.”

Entering the gravel path, intricate regional murals can be seen on the colourful walls, which are embellished with rich motifs including mud mirror work from Gujarat and Warli and Mithila paintings from Maharashtra and Bihar respectively. If you fancy getting similar artwork for your home, the contact details of each artist are helpfully mentioned alongside their work.

The museum has three parts — the village-disguised outdoor area, indoor galleries exhibiting a huge array of handicrafts and live crafts demonstrations of pan-Indian artisans.

The village complex

Spread over five acres and with 15 life-sized structures of village abodes, courtyards and shrines, the village complex represents one of the most diverse sightseeing experiences. Interestingly, the complex is an extension of a temporary exhibition on the same theme that took place in 1972, a museum official told indianexpress.com .

The architect of this complex, Charles Correa, believed in designs that uplift local and historic cultures. Taking you back in time, the mammoth houses, the verandahs and fascinating array of daily objects blur out the city chaos. The rural scenes radiate with painted walls, mini niches, bright engravings and balconies.

Museum galleries

The museum has a total of five galleries out of which four are operational, while the fifth is currently under maintenance. These are set in traditional Indian houses with a verandah at the core.

Folk and tribal gallery

If tribal and eco-friendly ways of living appeal to you, this gallery is a must-visit. The beautiful tribal art and daily objects, such as the one depicting Nagaland, opens a window to simpler times. Objects and paintings from Rajasthan and South India light up the gallery.

Don’t miss the festooned puppets (kathputlis), masks used in Durga Puja and Ramleela and cloth paintings or Pattachitra.

Bhuta gallery

You could be thrilled or spooked by this gallery. It houses large wooden statues called Bhutas that are believed to be spirits of one’s ancestors. India, among many other societies in the world, believes in worshipping the dead and Bhutas are a manifestation of this age-old belief. As you exit the gallery, you’re greeted by a miniature model of an old Bengal village and a tiny separate enclosure dedicated to beautiful Madhubani paintings.

Textile gallery

This one is for a history geek or fashion lover. A rich corpus of textiles has prevailed in the subcontinent since the Harappan civilisation. Specimens of khadi, brocade, phulkari, Banjara embroidery and much more are discovered here.

Cult craft gallery

An eighteenth-century chariot in the verandah dwarfs the black rustic gates of this gallery. The immersive aura comes from the objects used in various religious rituals of the country. An extensive collection of masks, vehicles, symbols and votive objects associated with Shiva and his forms are displayed here. This gallery allows us to trace the evolution of accessories used in temples and other places of worship.

Keep a lookout for incense burners and their evolution, Jaina domestic temple and over 50 little Lord Ganeshas.

Live craft demonstrations

The Crafts Museum is doing its part in providing a livelihood to artisans of India. “Every month we host 25 artisans from across the country and provide them space to sell their products,” states a museum official.

A Madhubani painter from Bihar remarked, “I have travelled across the country, thanks to my art. We come here whenever the government invites us.” Like many others, he is a registered artisan under the Ministry of Textiles.

Other facilities

The museum houses a small indoor theatre with a unique collection of documentaries and short films on Indian textiles and handicrafts.”We have more than 70 well- researched documentaries that you won’t find on YouTube or any other platform. We host lectures and discussions after the screening, which is conducted every 30 minutes, irrespective of the number of spectators from 10 am to 5.30 pm,” the theatre management informed.

The popular Cafe Lota, located right at the entrance of the museum, was “originally supposed to provide meals to our artisans before it transformed into a contemporary cafe,” according to an official. Today, it is a hub for food enthusiasts and critics alike.

Significantly, the museum enjoys popularity among the foreign audience as well, including prominent personalities such as former US First Lady Michelle Obama. “Regular visitors include students from design colleges like Pearl Academy, NIFT and Delhi School of Art along with year-round visits from schools across the country,” commented a museum official.

The average daily footfall, according to the caretaker, could vary between 1,000 to 2500 on weekends and during school visits. The museum official remarked: “People are not aware of how their ancestors lived; they must learn from simpler times, which is what makes the Crafts Museum important today.”

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Urbanisation

Remembering charles correa, one of the pioneers of sustainable architecture.

Celebrated architect and urban planner Charles Correa died on June 16 in Mumbai. Down To Earth revisits nine of his architectural gems designed to weather Indian climatic conditions without claiming a large piece of the limited urban resources pie

By Avikal Somvanshi

Published: friday 19 june 2015.

The world is struggling to deal with energy guzzling air conditioning and the environmental havoc it has unleashed on Earth’s climate. Behind this problem are modern architects and their revolutionary glass and concrete designs which make air conditioning a necessity. But Charles Correa stood out in the crowd. He reminded us that buildings and architects need to work with the elements. Correa spent more than half a century designing buildings that did not have to depend on air conditioning and heating. He once said “form follows climate” and gave an environmental twist to the popular architectural dictum “form follows function”. Correa will be remembered as independent India’s first urban visionary for his nuanced understanding of urbanisation and architecture in the Indian context. Many of his buildings can be considered as models of contemporary sustainable design. Here are some of his select projects which sought “new and eloquent ways to express the cultures we live in”: Tube House, Ahmedabad, 1961-62

A study on sustainable design principles: A case study of a vernacular dwelling in Thanjavur region of Tamil Nadu, India

Earthquake-safe Koti Banal architecture of Uttarakhand, India

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Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.

Delhi's Crafts Museum Is A Lively & Fascinating Gem Gracing The City's Crown

Very few places, especially museums, offer an opportunity to watch the most amazing pieces of craft and art take shape right in front of your eyes! Yes, the Crafts Museum in Delhi is one lively and fascinating museum, where you can actually sit down with the artisan as he works on his piece.  Even the location of Crafts Museum is well thought out, because it sits in the precincts of Pragati Maidan, which is witness to countless fairs and exhibitions. Ride a Metro from anywhere in the underground network and it will land you right outside Pragati Maidan, and a short walk is all it takes to carry you into the museum complex.

Handicrafts from Around India

If you're a serious art lover, you should make it to the museum soon after it opens in the mornings to enjoy the vast and varied exhibits on display from all corners of the country. Not only are there handicrafts that represent the various states of India, but even the structures housing these exhibits are just as marvellous, depicting the typical architectural style of the region. From the sandstone Havelis of Rajasthan, which are like poetry in stone to pagoda-like wooden structures of the North-Eastern states and thatched mud houses with frescoes on the entrance, India in all its glory and culture is laid bare for all to enjoy. 

The Soothing Ambience

Some people get put off by the idea of visiting a museum because mostly these places are musty, dark, dull, uninspiring and may even smell bad. But the Crafts Museum is unique and very refreshing in this sense! The layout of the place, as you enter, makes you feel right at home and the whole experience will make you feel more connected and in touch with your artistic soul. The setting and relaxed, unhurried ambience as you stroll past a village artist carving a peacock out of a piece of wood, oblivious to the world around him is what makes it so special.

A Creative Space

The museum has indoor passages leading to huge halls displaying crafts in a manner similar to other museums. But once you reach the courtyards and the outdoor open-air spaces of the museum, it takes on an entirely new charm, full of sights and sounds of rural and semi-urban craftsmen all over the courtyards, bent over something or the other like wood, metal or stone and even fabrics. This is where it all comes alive and you can feel the energy and creativity reaching out to you, inviting you to come and feast your eyes on the mind-boggling variety of crafts that are either works-in-progress or fully polished and completed. 

Want to take home the charming enamel on silver Ganesha which is being given the final stroke of a paintbrush? Unlike other run-of-the-mill museums, you can actually buy whatever catches your fancy and suits your budget. Once COVID-19 is not a threat anymore, come along and spend some time here among the beautifully handcrafted pieces of art and don’t forget to take those stunning pictures for the ‘gram!

Where | National Crafts Museum & Hastkala Academy - Bhairon Marg, Pragati Maidan Timings | 10 AM - 6 PM Here’s Their Website | http://nationalcraftsmuseum.nic.in/

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National Crafts Museum 国立工芸館

3-2 Dewa-machi, Kanazawa-shi, Ishikawa-ken

Photo Takumi Ota

A National Crafts Museum preserves Japanese crafts

National Crafts Museum Entrance Area, Photo Takumi Ota

• The Matsuda Gonroku workspace is the reassembled and restored working area of a Living National Treasure renowned for his work with traditional Japanese lacquer commodo.
• The architectural restoration of the museum's new home: two historical buildings that were relocated and reassembled before being refurbished to their original appearances

The Old 9th Infantry Division Command Headquarters (Second Floor Hall), Photo Takumi Ota

How to Get There

The National Crafts Museum is an 10-20 minutes bus ride on the Hokutetsu local line from JR Kanazawa Station East Gate Bus Terminal—located just outside Kanazawa Station and Hokutetsu-Kanazawa Station—to the 21st Century Museum, followed by a seven-minute walk.

Quick Facts

The first national museum situated on the coast of the Sea of Japan

Housed in two historic buildings in Kanazawa that were relocated, renovated, and are now being used as art museums

National Crafts Museum, Photo Takumi Ota

Preserving Japanese craft work, both modern and old

The exhibits are focused primarily on works created after World War II, but they also feature Japanese crafts spanning from the 19th century to the present. The museum's permanent collection includes examples of woodwork, bamboowork, metalwork, glassware, ceramics, lacquer crafts, dolls and dyed and woven textiles as well as examples of industrial and graphic design.

The Old Army Generals Club (Second Floor Multipurpose Room)

Step inside the history of Japanese craftwork

That National Crafts Museum is housed in the Old 9th Infantry Division Command Headquarters and Old Army Generals Club, two historic buildings that were carefully dismantled and relocated from the grounds of the Ishikawa Prefectural Noh Theater to the Kenrokuen Cultural Zone. Once reassembled, the buildings were restored to their original appearances, given concrete reinforcements, and linked by modern glass extensions.

The first-floor "Welcome to the World of Cradts" area that acts as an introductory experience to Japanese arts and crafts. Visitors will get to learn about crafting techniques and terminology that will deepen their understanding and appreciation of the museum's exhibits. The section also features a digital experience zone that allows visitors a 360-degree view of selected examples of the museum's collection.

The second floor features the Matsuda Gonroku's workspace, the actual working area used by Matsuda Gonroku (1896–1986), an artisan who was designated a Living National Treasure based on his accomplishments with Maki-e – a traditional Japanese lacquer technique distinguished by its use of gold and silver powder. The studio was relocated to the National Crafts Museum and reassembled to appear exactly as it was during Gonroku's lifetime. Visitors will see the tools and materials he used to practice his craft and get to watch documentary videos about his life and work.

* The information on this page may be subject to change due to COVID-19.

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D-day doctrine: six elements for a successful landing.

Planning the Overlord assault didn’t just happen overnight. It was a result of a prewar doctrinal framework built upon six identified components for an amphibious assault.

Top Photo: Troops crouch inside a LCVP landing craft, just before landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day, 6 June 1944. Photograph from the U.S. Coast Guard Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

As we remember and commemorate the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, it is important to understand that this event did not just occur as coincidence of efforts. The movement of more than 156,000 Allied troops ashore with an accompanying flotilla of almost 7,000 vessels and an aerial umbrella of over 11,000 aircraft of various types required careful and detailed planning. In addition, the plan also had to be flexible and resilient enough to respond to enemy action and the associated “fog and friction of war.” Developing this plan took years with extensive coordination between the Allied nations, the various services, and countless supporting institutions. While the Overlord plan evolved over the course of time, the basis of the amphibious assault rested upon a set of components that established a framework for the cross-channel assault. These components and the associated framework evolved during the interwar period, years before American involvement in World War II.

LCVPs landing troops during invasion practice at Slapton Sands, England, in 1944 in preparation for the assault on Normandy. (Photo: US Navy Heritage and History Command)

Amphibious assaults are among the most difficult military operations to execute. The movement of men and material in a coordinated effort from either ship-to-shore or shore-to-shore historically involved landing on a beach or littoral area where enemy forces were absent followed by a subsequent movement inland. In World War I, the 1915 Australian-New Zealand and French effort in the Dardanelles to knock out the Ottoman Empire underscored the problematic nature of amphibious assaults. With the advent of modern weapons such as long-range artillery, machine guns, and aircraft, the Allied landings against the Turks ended in disaster. Given this modern precedent, most nations swore off the idea of amphibious assault and placed it in the “too hard to do” category. 

As tensions grew with an increasingly aggressive Japanese Empire , American military leaders soon envisioned a Pacific war. Under orders from US Marine Corps Commandant John Lejeune, Major “Pete” Ellis made surveys of various islands in the western Pacific to determine requirements should the Corps have to seize and defend advance naval bases in a campaign against the Japanese. Done in 1921, Ellis’s detailed and brilliant study framed the various problems inherent in amphibious assault. In his groundbreaking work Operation Plan 712: Advance Base Operations in Micronesia, Ellis determined the basic strategy, material, organization, and doctrinal requirements needed if the Marines had to attack fixed positions on Japanese-held islands. While Ellis would mysteriously disappear in the Palaus in 1923, his work served as the foundation for future Marine Corps studies regarding amphibious operations.

The Army’s FM 31-5 and Navy’s FTP 167 manuals dealing with amphibious assault. Both documents were derivative of the Marine Corps’ 1934 Tentative Landing Manual. (Photos US Navy Heritage and History Command and Internet Archive)

Throughout the interwar period, the Marines focused their efforts on the mission of amphibious assault and in 1934 published the Tentative Landing Manual, which, with continued refinement, served as the foundation for future efforts to develop amphibious assault doctrine. In 1938, the US Navy published Fleet Training Publication 167 Landing Operations Doctrine, which fully embraced and codified American amphibious doctrine. This served as the foundation for amphibious operations at the advent of American entry into the war. However, the US Army was not particularly interested in the idea of amphibious assault as it expected a repeat of World War I—a benign entry onto a distant continent. While the service did conduct some amphibious exercises during the interwar period, Major General John P. Lucas, commanding general of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, concluded that the prewar training was “unwieldly, ineffective, and dangerous.” Leveraging the naval service efforts in June 1941, the Army published Field Manual (FM) 31-5 Landing Operations on Hostile Shores. FM 31-5 gave direct credit to the naval services, stating that the subject matter and the illustrations were taken from landing operations doctrine of 1938.

These publications set forth the framework that would underpin all US amphibious assaults during World War II. Regardless of theater, this doctrine guided every littoral operation conducted by US forces, from islands in the Pacific to the beaches of Normandy. Certainly, new tactics, techniques, procedures, and material solutions came about that modified the doctrine, but the nation had an excellent foundation as it developed its ability to introduce forces onto hostile shores. Keynote to this doctrine was its identification of six components of amphibious assault. These six provided the framework not only for the command and assembly of amphibious task forces but for actions required during the assault, including conduct for subsequent operations ashore. These six are defined as: Command and Control, Ship-to-Shore Movement, Naval Fires Support, Air Support, Establishment of a Beach Head, and Communications and Logistics. To fully understand the complexity and difficulty of Operation Overlord, an appreciation of these components is required.

Command and Control

The first component deals with command relationships. Since amphibious operations are inherently joint endeavors, meaning the various services must work together, who is charge? Is the Army or Marine Corps general in command or is it a Navy admiral? Furthermore, in such an environment what military service is responsible for a given function and at what time during the operation? Furthermore, what roles do the services play and in what domains (air, land, and sea)? Where and when does a service commander have authority to make certain decisions at a given time? The doctrine eventually named the Navy Commander of the Amphibious Task Force (CATF), as the primary lead while at sea with the Commander of the Landing Force (CLF) (usually a Marine or soldier) subordinate to his Navy counterpart while under way. However, during execution when the assault landing craft have crossed the “line of departure” the CLF becomes the “supported” command while the CATF is now placed in a “supporting” role. Obviously developing such authorities require great understanding and nuance as line of authority could quickly get confused in the heat of battle.

For Overlord, the overall commander of the Allied naval force was Royal Navy Admiral Bertram Ramsay. His American subordinate, US Navy Admiral Alan G. Kirk, commanded both the Omaha and Utah Beach assault fleets of the Western Task Force (designated CTF 122). Two task forces supported the US effort. Under Kirk, “Force O” conducted the landings at Omaha and was led by Rear Admiral John Hall, while Admiral Don Moon commanded “Force U” assaulting Utah Beach. With Hall and Moon serving as CATFs for their respective beaches, their associated CLFs were MG Leonard Gerow commanding V Corps at Omaha with Major General Lawton Collins’s VII Corps at Utah.

Ship-to-shore Movement

Ship-to-shore movement addresses how assault forces embark upon a landing craft, traverse the expanse to shore, and offload on the objective beach. Once loaded with men and materials, traveling to the shore requires watercraft or vessels that are capable of operating in surf zones and dealing with local tidal variations and shore hydrography. Not only does this movement require landing craft of various types and capabilities, but it also requires a controlled and orderly movement in the objective area that is already crowded with other ships and potentially under enemy fire. Such movement requires coxswains capable of handling their crafts in unfamiliar and dangerous environments. An assault’s success is largely dependent upon building combat power ashore quickly. This requires an organized and timely movement to the objective beach with follow-on or “on call” waves landing as quickly as possible. After placing forces ashore, landing craft need to exit the surf zone and transit back to the offshore fleet for movement of subsequent waves. This process continues until more robust or permanent facilities are established in the shoreline.

USS LST-332 with a “RHINO” ferry carrying a full cargo of invasion vehicles to the shoreline. (Photo: National Archives)

For this operation, the Allied forces included a mix of landing craft. These ranged from the small Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP) and Landing Craft Infantry (LCI) to move men ashore to the larger Landing Craft Tank (LCT) capable of moving tanks, trucks, and armored vehicles ashore. Perhaps the most important platform for ship-to-shore movement was the Landing Ship Tank (LST). These simple but highly useful platforms carried bulk logistics and other cargoes straight to the beach without need of a pier or port infrastructure. The orchestration and mix of these vessels during the initial phases of the operation were key to the development of combat power. Furthermore, operation of these crafts required coxswains or captains with sufficient seamanship skill to deal with the environment. 

Naval Fire Support

The Naval Fire Support (NFS) component allows landing forces to move toward the beach and land ashore when traditional ground-based artillery fire is limited. To help open the door for the landing, the large guns on naval warships can engage enemy targets, destroy defensive positions, and prepare the landing beach for the assault. Naval guns provide the firepower needed until ground-based artillery transitions ashore and can fully support the landing force. However, the proximity between troops ashore and the impact of naval fires is relatively small. Such close proximity requires extensive liaison between the landing forces and the naval gunners. Close coordination and communication between the forces ashore and gunners afloat is an imperative.

USS Arkansas (BB-33) fires her 12-inch guns at German positions, while supporting the Omaha Beach landings, 6 June 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

For D-Day the bombardment flotilla consisted of at least three battleships, three heavy cruisers, six light cruisers, and 22 destroyers. While the pre–H-Hour bombardment did not reduce German defensive positions as much as planners hoped, naval fires were still an important part of the assault. With the initial waves under direct enemy fire along Omaha Beach, Navy destroyers sailed within a few hundred yards of the shore and engaged German positions. In this effort, many of the vessels had only a few inches of water between their keel and the sand. In some instances, the destroyers took direct fire from German gunners ashore while supporting the landing forces.

Air Support

Like NFS, air support is also another component enabling forcible entry. World War I saw the emergence of specific roles and missions for airplanes to include Close Air Support (CAS) and Battlefield Air Interdiction (BAI). CAS supports troops in direct contact with the enemy while BAI helps shape the battlespace by striking enemy formations beyond the battlefield. While naval guns provide fire support during the initial landings, these rounds they fire have relatively flat trajectories and are unable to hit targets behind berms or hills. Given these limitations, airplanes can fill in and augment when NFS is unable to engage targets ashore. Inherently flexible, aircraft can strike enemy positions in defilade from NFS and respond quickly to “on call” taskings, providing significant amounts of fire power.

For Overlord, the Eighth and Ninth Air Forces provided support during the amphibious assault. While the heavy and medium bombers intended to destroy German positions on or near the shoreline on the morning of June 6, most of the aircrews dropped their bombs long and failed to hit their targets. However, as Allied forces moved from ship-to-shore and fought their way inland, they did so with plenty of protective aircover overhead and without significant interference from the Luftwaffe. In addition to providing cover over the English Channel for the landings, American airmen flew BAI missions inland striking German formations heading for the invasion beaches.

Establishment of a Beach Head

Once an amphibious force comes ashore, it must consolidate the initial gains and establish a defensive perimeter.  Such action falls under the component of beach head establishment. Creating a secure toehold on the assault beach allows additional troops and supplies to arrive ashore creating more combat power for subsequent operations. With a secure perimeter established, follow-on forces begin to organize for the systematic movement of men and material preventing chaos ashore. Incoming men and material need to be received, assessed, and then stored/assigned so they are readily available when required. Conversely, beach head establishment allows for the initial treatment and evacuation of the wounded with medical personnel collecting casualties for their return to ships offshore.

During Overlord, V and VII Corps established defensive perimeters augmented by air and naval gunfire support. Receiving more men and materials along Utah and Omaha Beaches were Army Engineer Support Battalions (ESBs) working with Navy Beach Battalions (NBBs) to organize the beach. Generally, a division of labor had Navy organizations responsible for the receipt and movement of materials up to the high-water mark, with Army ESB responsible for organizing the beach past this feature. With such teamwork in place, the joint effort helped preclude chaos on the newly liberated French beaches.

Landing ships putting cargo ashore on one of the invasion beaches, at low tide during the first days of the operation, June 1944. Photograph from the U.S. Coast Guard Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Communications and Logistics

Lasty communication and logistics provide key links for the assault force. Modern military operations require the ability to communicate with ships afloat, aircraft above, the forces coming ashore, as well as other supporting elements. To fully command, control, and coordinate all the resources of an amphibious task force, establishment of sufficient and secure radio/communication networks are required. Furthermore, the management of logistical support ashore and afloat are key to maintaining the offensive initiative. Providing the various classes of supply, namely food, water, ammunition, and fuel from the amphibious task force to forces ashore must be organized for distribution inland. 

Planners required some 9,000 transmitters for Operation Overlord. With so many radios in the area using a limited number of frequencies, steps had to be taken to manage the electromagnetic spectrum and preclude network interference. With this massive communications requirement SHAEF headquarters published 21 different sets of instructions, annexes, and charts to better manage and organize radio communications. Similarly, the size of the operation logistics requirement grew with more men and material coming ashore. This required a robust logistical supply line that included fuel pipelines spanning the Channel floor, barges loaded with supplies, hundreds of LSTs disgorging vehicles and supplies, and even man-made ports known as Mulberries.

Given the importance of the Normandy assault, the Overlord plan had to be robust and flexible while accounting for all six components of amphibious assault. These components were derived from the doctrine written before the war, and indeed stood up to the test of combat. While modifications and adjustment were certainly required, this framework gave the Allied forces a solid foundation for forcible entry operations. Perhaps the best testament to the doctrine used by the Allied forces came from Marine Corp Commandant and Medal of Honor winner General A. A. Vandegrift who stated in 1948:

Despite its outstanding record as a combat force in the past war, the Marine Corps' far greater contribution to victory was doctrinal: that is, the fact that the basic amphibious doctrines which carried Allied troops over every beachhead of World War II had been largely shaped—often in face of uninterested or doubting military orthodoxy—by US Marines, and mainly between 1922 and 1935.

Clearly the victory over the Axis powers was a combined Allied effort with contributions from a host of nations. However, established American doctrine and its associated components resonated on every assault upon enemy shorelines. Written by the Marines, established by the Navy, and embraced by the Army, this doctrine underpinned the successful assaults in both theaters. The men, material, and processes required for Normandy was something wholly new in military history and was conducted on an unprecedented scale. Only the Americans could accomplish such a feat.

80th Anniversary of D-Day Events

To commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day—a day now known as the greatest amphibious landing in history—The National WWII Museum will explore the epic battle through events on Thursday, June 6, and Friday, June 7, 2024, on its campus in New Orleans.

John Curatola, PhD

John Curatola is the Samual Zemurray-Stone Senior Historian at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Planning for D-Day: Preparing Operation Overlord

Despite their early agreement on a strategy focused on defeating “Germany First,” the US and British Allies engaged in a lengthy and divisive debate over how exactly to conduct this strategy before they finally settled on a plan for Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

'A Pure Miracle': The D-Day Invasion of Normandy

This column is the first of three D-Day columns written by war correspondent Ernie Pyle describing the Allied invasion of Normandy. 

D-Day: The Allies Invade Europe

In May 1944, the Western Allies were finally prepared to deliver their greatest blow of the war, the long-delayed, cross-channel invasion of northern France, code-named Overlord.

Explore Further

The Airborne Invasion of Normandy

On June 5, 13,400 American paratroopers boarded C-47 aircraft for the largest airborne operation in history. Problems began as they crossed into France. 

FDR's D-Day Prayer

On June 6, 1944, President Franklin Roosevelt's usual "fireside chat" would be replaced with a joint prayer with the American people. 

A Bond Broken Only by Death

On June 6, 1944, two brothers from Kansas landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy, France. They promised to meet on the beach after the fighting was done — a promise that would remain unfulfilled.

The First Man on the Beaches of Normandy

US Army Captain Leonard T. Schroeder Jr. was the first man down the ramp and straight into waist-deep water at Utah Beach. As he trudged toward the shoreline, his M-1 helmet stayed firmly affixed to his head as he tried to avoid enemy fire.

Operation Neptune: A Tale of Two Landings

While the Overlord operation was a combined effort of land, sea, and air forces, the amphibious assault plan was given the code name Neptune.

D-Day behind Barbed Wire: Hope for POWs

On June 6, 1944, news of the Normandy invasion spread through German prisoner-of-war camps like wildfire, igniting hope in Allied POWs. 

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Resurgam festival, a massive yard sale and more things to do this weekend

Comedian Dave Attell is in town, Zephyr Ice is serving up cool treats and food trucks are out in force (there's an app that will tell you where).

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We’re not entirely sure how the weekend weather is going to shake out, but either way there’s a whole lot going on, so let’s get to it.

Maine Roller Derby skaters competing at Happy Wheels Skate Center in Westbrook. Photo by Jim Vernier

On Saturday and Sunday, Maine Roller Derby’s first international tournament happens at Happy Wheels Skate Center in Westbrook. There will be several exciting flat-track bouts, and if you’re a Mainer, tickets are half off.

Get a discount on tickets to Maine Roller Derby’s international tournament

Max Abraham runs through Moon Tide Park while performing with the band Corpus Chicanery at last year’s Resurgam festival. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

The Resurgam Music and Arts Festival is Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Ocean Gateway marine terminal and surrounding areas. The list of performers is about 17 miles long and includes Oshima Brothers Band and professional hula hoop and circus artist Nettie Loops.

Resurgam festival returns this weekend with music, arts and more

Local musician Toby McAllister, pictured here at The Press Room in Portsmouth, would of course play at a local venue on his perfect day. Photo by Corey Fitzgerald and courtesy of Toby McAllister

Another musician you can see at Resurgam is Toby McAllister from Sparks The Rescue. McAllister unpacked his perfect Maine day for us, and it includes a hike in Grafton Notch and a stop at Puzzle Mountain Bakery in Newry for cookies.

My Perfect Day: Hiking Old Speck, eating tacos and sweets, playing a show – for musician Toby McAllister, it all strikes a chord

Comic Dave Attell plays the State Theatre in Portland, June 8. Photo courtesy of the State Theatre

There’s plenty else cooking this weekend , including Yoga in the Park on Saturday and the Walk the Working Waterfront tour. Both are in Portland. Or you can shop till you drop at Maine’s Ultimate Spring Yard Sale Saturday at Cumberland Fairgrounds. Need a few laughs? Grab a ticket to see comic Dave Attell at the State Theatre Saturday.

Waterfront tour, giant yard sale, comic Dave Attell

Zephyr proudly tells its customers that everything is made in house with real fruit and no dyes. Photo by Megan Gray

Satisfy your sweet tooth with something a little different this weekend. Zephyr Ice in Portland serves shaved ice atop a scoop of regular or vegan ice cream. Choose from a variety of syrup flavors, all made in-house with real fruit.

For cool, customizable treats, breeze on in to Zephyr Ice

Mainely Burgers food truck. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

Should you fancy a food truck fix, check out our massive, always growing food truck guide and get busy chowing down.

A guide to 87 food trucks rolling through Maine

A Foodtruckalico Instagram post featuring the Ugly Dumpling food truck. Photo by Justin Velgos

For even more food truck fodder, we suggest heading to Food Truckalico on Instagram . A couple of times a week, the account shares details about where and when you can find trucks in the Portland area.

Follow the food trucks with Food Truckalico on Instagram

A newspaper article about a Comegato sighting from web series “Tracking the Comegato.” Photo courtesy of Kate Kaminski

If the weather does indeed relegate you to the indoors, curl up on the couch and fire up the new web series “Tracking the Comegato” about a beastly human-weasel hybrid that may or may not exist.

Could this human-weasel hybrid from Maine join the ranks of Bigfoot?

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