Exercise Tiger - Slapton sands.

Exercise Tiger


In November 1943 an eight mile stretch of beach in Devon was selected to be used as a training area for American forces taking part in Operation Overlord. Large scale exercises took place for the Americans to practise amphibious assaults, Slapton Sands being one of the main beaches used. Operation Beaver was conducted in March for more recently assembled troops (Force U). This turned out to be a shambles, with confusion and a lack of co-ordination between the Navy and Army personnel. It was decided a second exercise should be conducted in April to help the Utah Force overcome some if not all of the problems encountered on ‘Beaver’.
Embarking on exercise similiar to Ex Tiger

Exercise Tiger was a full scale rehearsal covering all aspects of the invasion including, assembly, loading, assault and build up operations. Force Utah sailed from Plymouth, Salacombe, Darmouth, Torquay and Brixham on the night of 26th/27th April. To make the exercise as realistic as possible the Force had to sail up and down the coastal approach in order to allow for a long simulated mine-sweeping approach which was to be expected as they approached the Bay of the Seine. At daybreak on the 27th the Force landed successfully. On the evening of the 27th the last convoy to practise build-up operations set sail and was expected to arrive at Slapton Sands at 0730hrs on the 28th April. The convoy consisted of eight LST’s and two pontoons. They were escorted by HMS Azalea. The escorting destroyer HMS Scimitar had a collision with one of the LST’s the night before and failed to sail from Plymouth after running repairs.

A Schnellboot (E-boat) like the ones that attacked the LST's

At approximately 0100hrs on the 27th April the convoy of LST’s were attacked by S-Boats of the 5. and 9. Schnellboot-Flottille based at Cherbourg under the command of Kapitain zur See Rudolf Petersen who was subsequently awarded the Oakleaves to his Knight’s Cross.
Kapitain Petersen

As a result of the attack LST’s 507 and 531 were sunk, LST 289 was seriously damaged and the ‘U’ Force commander, Rear Admiral Moon had also lost 639 men killed and 89 wounded of whom two-thirds were Army personnel. In hindsight the casualty list was three times that which ‘U’ Force would suffer on Utah beach on D-Day. Unfortunately three months later Rear Admiral Moon shot himself. People close to him said he never got over the disaster at Slapton Sands.
LST 289 after the attack

This German victory led to further panic at SHAEF. It was discovered that ten officers missing had BIGOT (Access to Operation Overlord plans) security clearance. Although they did not know the date of the invasion, no one did at this stage. Anyone with BIGOT clearance would have access to the location of the invasion, landing beaches and probably a whole host of other information that would be of use to the enemy. When it transpired that the German boats closed on where the LST’s had sunk and switched on their searchlights (Presumably looking for survivors) it was assumed they might have taken prisoners, which was later discovered to be the case. A vast fishing fleet mobilised in Lyme Bay to trawl for dead bodies from the attack. Although many bodies were never recovered all ten of the ‘Bigots were found floating in their life jackets.
Aftermath on Slapton Sands

The disaster was kept a closely guarded secret until after the war although a full investigation was carried out into the disaster at the time. Lessons were learned across the board and these were soon acted upon to prevent a similar event on D-Day. Further rehearsals took place for the other four assault forces on May 2-6 under the codename of ‘Fabius’. These all passed with minor incidents compared to Exercise Tiger.

A memorial website was set up that also was involved in the recovery of one of the Sherman Tanks that is now a permanent memorial to the disaster: Exercise Tiger

 

A personal account of events on the morning of April 27th 1944.
Night fell, and our group of three LST’s from Brixham and Torquay joined up with five that had loaded in the port of Plymouth. The convoy proceeded onward, and I turned in early to get some sleep in anticipation of the next morning’s practise invasion. I was jarred awake around 1.30 in the morning by the sound of the ships general alarm.
Upon arriving in the wardroom a few minutes after hearing the general alarm, I heard reports of some shooting outside. I remember talking about the possibility that some gunner on one of the ships company with LST 507 was shooting at shadows or something equally dubious.
Just after two in the morning, I heard the sound of a tremendous explosion. In quick sequence came the sound of crunching metal, a painful landing on the steel deck with both knees, falling dust and rust.
Later, I learned that a torpedo launched by one of the German E-Boats had rammed into the starboard side of the ship, about 30 feet forward of where I was standing, and penetrated into the auxiliary engine room, where it exploded. Since the auxiliary equipment was knocked out, there was no electricity for light, none for water pumps to fight the fires soon raging on board the ship, and none for lowering the landing craft that might provide escape for those of us on board.
As more reports of damage came in, we realized that the centre part of the LST 507 was an inferno. Consequently, no one could pass from one end of the ship to the other, either topside or below decks.
Since I was stuck in the stern, I decided to search for wounded men and to ensure watertight integrity to whatever degree might be possible. That meant closing all open hatches to prevent water from flooding into dry compartments. I knew that the other officers were busy trying to manoeuvre the ship, fight fires, and so forth, so I set out to do what I could. The result was one of the most difficult decisions of my life.
As I moved about below decks, I approached a hatch leading into a Tank deck, a large open area filled with vehicles and men. As I looked in I only saw fire – a huge, roaring blast furnace. I tried to enter and call out to the men inside, but it was futile. Trucks were burning; gasoline was burning; and small arms ammunition was exploding. Worst of all were the agonizing screams for help from the men trapped inside that blazing inferno. But I knew there was no way I – or anyone else – could help them. I knew also that smoke inhalation would soon end their misery, so I closed the hatches into the Tank deck and dogged them tightly.


Lieutenant Eugene E. Eckstam. 1994

 

A few valuable lessons were learned from this disaster, one being communications!
It was a tragedy that so many men lost their lives on an exercise.

Regards
Tom

 

Is there no vehicle that Wheatcroft does not own?

 

Thanks for that Spidge. I've got a signed copy of "The Forgotten Dead" by Ken Small Had meant to follow up on it.

On a visit to Slapton Sands over ten years ago there a Sherman tank all rusty parked in a layby overlooking the bay.
There was a man with a stall selling his new book.
As I did not purchase a copy I am now wondering if this was Ken Small and the above mentioned book.

Regards
Tom

 

Although the incident was kept secret for over 40 years, it was mentioned in the plot one of the Jack Higgin's earlier books (can't remember which one) from the mid 80's. I seemed to recall that he was criticised at the time for being one of the first people to mention it, even as part of a fictional novel.

 

Well , just to keep a long running thread going......

For those who've been to Slapton, the following might be of interest.

At the Torcross end of the Line (the road to non-locals!) sits Ken Smalls tank. Come up the Line about half way and there is the war memorial. Come up to the end of the Line and you find yourself at the bottom of a steep hill - the road carries on to Strete.

At the bottom of that hill is a large white house, in the garden of which is a deep pond, at the bottom of which sits another Sherman, unrecovered and rusted out.

Back to the very first post..........the drying out creek. When the Americans left, masses of minor kit was buried, I have a friend who lives inland of Torcross who recently excavated his garden for an extension, finding a large hole full of similar items, nothing exciting, just the stuff that couldn't be removed easily. pain in the bum for my mate, you try getting a skip to remove rusted out training munitions!

There are stories of jeeps, motorbikes buried, but I dont believe them, just folklore to tell the grockles I reckon! Same with stories of dead Americans, its just not the American way to leave their boys in a field in Devon.

Of course, what the Yanks did leave behind is a lot of folks who never met their dad...

For anyone wanting to visit the area, have a drive to Blackpool Sands near Stoke Fleming. The first car park on the left, the steep one, is paved with the cobbled stones that formed the embarkation point for the troopships in dartmouth - this was located at what is now the Kingswear side of the Higher Ferry, look over the side of the concrete wall and you will see the end of the slipway still there.

Dartmouth has a small museum - boxes and boxes of photos for those interested.

The town was the headquarters of the Free French, and also the base for No.1 Commando, as well as Brittania naval college (oh, and the Pilgrim Fathers set off from here to the States, they then went to Plymouth - which got all the publicity!)

Its a great area to visit, just avoid the Regatta, too busy.

Regards

Pete.

 

Ken Small died a few years ago.He was in regular attendance beside the the tank selling his publication,"The Forgotten Dead"

He used to keep a guest house at Torcross across the road from the tank memorial.I think he was an ex policeman who hailed from Grimsby.For his involvement in the tank memorial,Ronald Regan sent him a letter thanking him for his kind and generous efforts.

Regarding casualties whilst the area was being used for training.I have a friend whose family farmed at East Allington and he told me that there was an American soldier buried in the farmyard which they found when they were allowed to return to the farm.The casualty was later recovered by the American authorities.

 

Pete -

You may be right about the Pilgrim fathers leaving Slapton for Plymouth - BUT - if you check the actualand initial " Port of Sailing" - you might find that there is a plaque at Southampton which states that this fleet left for the US of A from Southampton - ran into a storm in the Irish Sea - sustained damage -returned for repairs at Plymouth - Slapton et al - THEN set out from Plymouth - to the other one in New England ! NOTTA LOTTA people know that - especially Americans !
Cheers

 

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I am just listening to the latest WW2 Podcast which is an interview with Ken Small's son.

Despite the histories which mentioned the operation the information clearly was not widely disseminated. The locals of the area clearly didn't know. When I listened to his son talk about how the local fishermen's nets would catch on "something" in the water it did make some of the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

It looks like a new edition of Ken's book was released by Osprey last year.

 

For anyone wanting to visit the area, have a drive to Blackpool Sands near Stoke Fleming. The first car park on the left, the steep one, is paved with the cobbled stones that formed the embarkation point for the troopships in dartmouth - this was located at what is now the Kingswear side of the Higher Ferry, look over the side of the concrete wall and you will see the end of the slipway still there.

The town was the headquarters of the Free French, and also the base for No.1 Commando, as well as Brittania naval college (oh, and the Pilgrim Fathers set off from here to the States,


Looking at the Higher Ferry above information from Pete's posting.On the other side of the Dart,ie,the Darmouth side was Coronation Park,formerly a dry creek where the US Army maintained tanks.it is now a leisure area still known known as Coronation Park.There is a good view of the Park from "The Ship in Dock" pub across to the loading area of the Higher Ferry.

The Free French were based at the Royal Dart Hotel,Kingswear which was HMS Cicala......a base for MTBs which had clandestine runs into Brittany. CDG's son Philippe was based here and one of the incoming postings was Mitterand,a future President of France.In recent years as the trade declined ,the Dart has been converted into expensive flats.There was a display in the bar of wartime gear found in the loft and these items were presented in a cabinet.One of the items was emergency rations from the MGBs....there was pack of biscuits included and on closer inspection they were manufactured by a well known dog biscuit manufacturer.

There is an special services officer casualty,Captain Philip A Ayton whose grave is in a Dartmouth cemetery.He died in Dartmouth Hospital after being brought back from a raid on the Channel Islands.I did a little research on him and posted the detail on here after I was told of the grave by my son

Casualty


There was a photograph of the special services group outside their billets which appeared to be located at Hillhead on the Kingswear side as the road falls down into Brixham from Hillhead

























Regards

Pete.[/QUOTE]

 

Exercise Tiger.....tragedy on Slapton Sands ......75 years on and remembered.

Exercise Tiger: families mark 75th anniversary of Devon war tragedy

 

Some photographs I took at the Operation Tiger Memorial at Slapton Sands on 17 September 2018. The last of the four is a Roll of Honour. I have been here a couple of times previously and would have liked to have had a good look around this time, but unfortunately the main road along the front was closed.



Plus, an American Battle Monuments Commission memorial placed in the park in central Dartmouth (2017).

 

Beach art memorial to D-Day disaster

Hundreds of US servicemen who died in a World War Two disaster while rehearsing the D-Day landings are being remembered in an art installation.
Bootprints of 749 troops have been laid out on Slapton Sands, Devon, to mark the 75th anniversary of Exercise Tiger.
The men died when convoys training for the Normandy Landings were attacked by German E-Boats off the Devon coast.

TD