BROOKWATSON HOUSE

Unconventional to the last, Bernal was not only pro-Marxist and pro-Soviet, which meant he was excluded from many of the higher level war planning conferences as he was looked upon with suspicion. This would dog him in later life and although in time he became disillusioned with the Soviet regime, he remained a committed socialist. Bernal's unconventionality saw him maintaining three separate households with partners and children. All were known to each other and amicably interacting together. It is recorded that Picasso created his only British mural on the walls of Bernal’s flat. This was later removed and is now kept at Birkbeck College.

In 1939, Bernal joined the Ministry for Home Security. In 1942 he became a scientific adviser to Lord Louis Mountbatten, becoming a member of the “Department of Wild Talents”. He held the rank of Lieutenant in the RNVR (Special Branch).

Following the disastrous Dieppe Raid in 1942, lessons had been learned. The Canadians had suffered huge losses. Out of 4963 Canadians, there were 3,367 casualties, including 1,946 prisoners of war and 916 Canadian fatalaties. Bernal was determined that the same mistakes would not occur again for Operation Overlord. The Quebec conference had been convened in Canada in order to iron out strategies and timelines for the invasion of Europe and the ending of the War. Bernal was the only British scientist in attendance. 

When the Allies were planning the top-secret invasion of Nazis occupied France, a number of issues arose in the planning; not least of which was the need for a harbour.

The problem was that large ocean-going ships of the type needed to transport heavy and bulky cargoes and stores needed sufficient depth of water under their keels, together with dockside cranes, to off-load their cargo.

Bernal demonstrated the advantages of creating and transporting an artificial harbour to aid the invasion. Without a harbour the Allies would not be able to support and supply the men landing on D-Day.

The Mulberry harbours enabled the supply of troops and materiel to advance the Normandy Invasion. The individual caissons were constructed of concrete and steel along the English coast and floated across the Channel before being sunk at Omaha and Arromanche beachheads. Bernal had already scouted Arromanche and had provided detailed maps of tides from his own visits and aerial surveys.

On D-Day + 1, Bernal was himself on the beaches checking on the effectiveness of the landings and the re-supplying of the troops. None other than Albert Speer, Nazi architect, was suitably impressed with the rapidity of Mulberry's construction.

“To construct our defences we had in two years used some 13 million cubic metres of concrete and 1½ million tons of steel. A fortnight after the Normandy Landings, this costly effort was brought to nothing because of an idea of simple genius. As we now know, the invasion force brought their own harbours, and built, at Arromanches and Omaha, on unprotected coast, the necessary landing ramps.”

A constant thorn in the Establishment’s side, he could claim Picasso, Barbara Hepworth, Chairman Mao and Nikita Krushev among his friends and acquaintances. Bernal died September 1971 aged 71. He was commemorated in March 2001 with the prestigious Blue Plaque at his residence at 44 Albert St, Camden. Although awarded the Stalin Peace Prize, he was never offered the Nobel prize. An annual JD Bernal Lecture is held every year at Birkbeck College in his honour. We close with a statement in Bernal's own words......

"Already enough is known to show that the whole concept of the superiority of Western Christian civilisation is one based on an arrogant ignorance of the rest of the world"

During a 1950 Peace Conference held in London, Picasso attended. He was invited to dinner at Bernal's flat at Torrington Square and drew this mural on the wall as gratitude. The entire wall has since been removed and is preserved at Birkbeck College.