The sand and shingle shore at Lepe and nearby Stone Point was used as a troop embarkation point for D-Day, for soldiers camped in ‘Marshalling Area B’. Lepe and the surrounding area came under the control of the shore station HMS Mastodon, and many hundreds of troops with their equipment, vehicles and ammunition were hidden along the narrow roads and in numerous closed camps hidden in the wooded areas across the New Forest in the build-up to D-Day. From 31 May 1944 onwards, soldiers made their way down to the coast to embark onto the ships and landing craft that would take them to Normandy – some on the Lepe shore, others at sites to the east or west, notably in Southampton. Vehicles were loaded earlier, but the soldiers themselves embarked only just before D-Day, followed by those who would be landing on subsequent days.