Hi All. An old subject but still very relevant. COPP Parties were made up of a mixture of Naval and Army members. The naval side were concerned with the suitability of a landing site for landing craft/ships, such things as water depth and tidal effects,rocks and shoals, the gradient of the beach and its approaches enemy sea mines and obstructions, whether a landing craft/ship could dry out between tides etc.
The army were concerned with the holding ability of sand and shingle for the passage of vehicles, exits for vehicle from the beach area and areas suitable for the establishment of equipment dumps etc.
Both were of course concerned with the position and state of enemy defences.
The men involved were selected from Naval Hydrographers and surveyors. The army were from Royal Engineers. They came from British and Dominion services.
COPP teams were used for the Torch landings in North Africa and the Sicily landings using kayaks to go ashore, For Normandy they used kayaks for the initial surveys and midget submarines as navigation markers for the actual landings.
Cheers Skip.
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