SOUTHAMPTON ART GALLERY & THE US ARMY HEADQUARTERS

US Staff Sargent Irwin Swerdlow in his article for the, Army Transportation Journal, of October, 1945, describes how a month before D-Day, Southampton and its litter of sub-ports became the Headquarters for the US Army and above the doorway to the Art Gallery rooms was a plaque presented in acknowledgement of the generosity of the Borough which gratuitously provided a section of the Civic Center for use as headquarters for the port. It was from here that orders emanated directing the movement of the vast American armies through Southampton and other South Coast ports between June 1944 and the end of hostilities in the great war for the liberation of Europe. Outside is another plaque which reads from June 6th to the end of hostilities orders were issued from here directing the embarkation of American Armies who together with their Allies This tablet records that a wing of the Civic Center was used as Headquarters by the 14th Major Port US Army during World War II. Between D-Day, June 6th and the end of hostilities orders were issued from here directing the embarkation of American Armies who together with their Allies sailed from Southampton Docks to liberate Europe. During the operation over 2,250,000 troops 250,000 vehicles and millions of tons of supplies of the US Army were shipped through this port.