In June 1944, the D-Day invasion of France led to the liberation of Nazi- occupied Europe in World War II.
Before the successful landing on the beaches of Normandy, however, Allied forces practiced on the shores of England.
One such rehearsal – Exercise Tiger, 80 years ago this weekend – didn’t end so well.
As if the people of England didn’t have enough to worry about, with Hitler staring at them from across the channel: The Allies needed a place to rehearse a full-scale amphibious landing of the type they’d need to perform that summer.
First, though, the civilian population had to be removed. Citizens were told they had five weeks to clear out. Eight villages, 180 farms and shops and 750 families — a total of more than 3,000 people — reluctantly loaded up their belongings and farm animals and trudged away from their homes.
The goal of Exercise Tiger was to rehearse for the landings at Normandy. Ships and landing craft were loaded with troops and vehicles in Plymouth and Brixham and set out into the heavily guarded English Channel.
The first troops landed at Slapton Sands on the morning of April 27. The area inland was bombarded throughout the day, just as it would be at Normandy.
A second convoy of eight U.S. LST (landing ship, tank) was to land in the wee hours of the 28th ...
The eight flat-bottomed ships were loaded with engineers, supply specialists, tanks, jeeps and other equipment to be uploaded after the beach had been secured.
They were to be escorted by two British warships, but one was damaged in a collision. A replacement ship was en route, but the U.S. convoy was unaware: No one had realized the U.S. and British ships were using different radio frequencies.
Sure enough, the worst happened: A group of nine swift-moving German E-boats — similar to U.S. PT boats — on patrol out of Cherbourg, France, noticed unusual radio traffic and decided to investigate. Spotting what they thought were eight British destroyers, they ripped into the convoy just after 2 a.m.
A typical German E-boat
Built: October 1943, Pittsburg
Built: November 1943, Ambridge, Mass.
LST-289 was damaged when a torpedo blew off the ship’s stern, destroying the crew’s quarters and the rudder. The troop commander suggested evacuating the ship using amphibious trucks. Flooding was brought under control and the ship landed at Dartmouth later that morning.
Dead: 123
Built: September 1943, Evansville, Ind.
Built: September 1943, Evansville, Ind.
Built: November 1943, Jeffersonville, Ind.
LST-507 was crippled by a torpedo strike and strafing. After it was evacuated, the ship was scuttled the next day by a British destroyer
Built: November 1943, Seneca, Ill.
LST-515 was struck by two torpedoes that failed to detonate. Was reportedly the only ship in the convoy that went back to pick up survivors.
Dead: 202 service members on the LST-507
Built: September 1943, Seneca, Ill.
Built: November 1943, Evansville, Ind.
LST-531 sank within six minutes of being torpedoed.
Dead: 424
The executive officer aboard LST-507, Lt. James Murdock, later said he thought the attackers were Allied escort boats until a torpedo slammed into his ship.
Lt. Eugene Eckstam, a medical officer also aboard LST-507, later wrote: “Ship’s company wore life jackets, but the medics and Army personnel had been issued inflatable belts ... The soldiers that jumped or dove in with full packs did not do well. Most were found with their heads in the water and their feet in the air, top heavy from not putting the belts around their chests before inflating them. Instructions in their correct use had never been given.”
The stern of LST-289 after the attack.
Among the missing from Exercise Tiger were 10 officers who had security clearance “Bigot,” meaning they had the higher-than-top-secret access to D-Day invasion planning.
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of Allied forces in Europe, was forced to continue preparing for the invasion without knowing whether his plans had been compromised by a captured officer.
After the war, residents were allowed to move back to the Slapton Sands area. On the 10th anniversary of D-Day, the U.S. Army erected a monument honoring those “who generously left their homes and their lands to provide a battle practice area for the successful assault in Normandy.”
A local man raised money to bring up a U.S. Sherman tank that had lay on the ocean floor a mile offshore. The tank memorial was restored and dedicated in June 1984.
Ironically, the tank was not lost in Exercise Tiger — it had been lost overboard a year earlier, in 1943.
Urban legends in the region and elsewhere allege that Exercise Tiger was covered up by embarrassed military officials. The exercise was top secret when it happened and until after the Normandy Invasion. Exercise Tiger is not often written about but hardly covered up.
Oh — and the actual D-Day landings in France on June 6, 1944, were successful, of course. The Allies eventually won the war. But you probably knew that part already.
This edition of Further Review was adapted for the web by Zak Curley.
