dramatic exercise:exercise Tiger

[dutchww2]

Exercise Tiger was a exercise for the men who were going to do the D-day landings. This exercise took place at Slapton Sands on the Devon coast. Because this exercise prepared the men for the D-day landings, it was done with real bullets and explosives. The fleet that took the men to the beach was discovered by German E boats. They ware on a normal reconnaissance mission from their base in Cherbourg into the Lyme Bay area. They followed the usual channel route without any sign of a convoy or ‘enemy’ ships. As they headed towards the Lyme Bay area, they suddenly came in visual contact with the fleet. Since they could not see any naval escorts, they quickly positioned themselves for a torpedo attack. They torpedoed'a few ships, killing 749 American soldiers. Please check for the whole story:

Exercise Tiger: The Slapton Sands Sherman Tank Memorial Website | Home Page

[NickD]

such a tragic story & made worse by the fact that neither the US nor the British army wanted anything to do with it, very sad that they were so willing to let these guys & what had happened that day be forgotten

[dutchww2]

i have found a page on wikipedia about it Exercise Tiger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and those men who died those days must never be forgotten, and should have at least a propper memorial.

[Ty Revelo]

What a tragedy kept secret. You think that more precautions would have taken place before any exercises would have taken place.

[Steve T]

I have quite a depth of knowledge on this subject that I would like to share with you.

The radio communications between the Royal Navy escort vessels and the LCTs was inadequate, (indeed they didn't tell each other what frequency they were using !), resulting in total confusion on the night. It is sad to note that many reports from American GI's made it clear that they thought the attack was part of the exercise to the extent that many men jumped into the water shouting 'See ya on the beach guys !' and such like, laughing and joking at the 'damn Brits' and their need for 'realism'.

The loss of LCTs almost had a big impact on D-Day itself and there was even talk of postponing the whole operation as the invasion fleet was seriously short of LCTs because of these losses.

The area itself around Slapton sands was cleared of all residents for the practice. The beach road was relaid a few years back but apart from that, the area is exactly how it looked 60 years ago.

The whole thing was kept secret for fear of it exposing the Overlord plans to the Germans, and also due to the impact it would have on both military and civilian morale. It is of note that far FAR more men died on this practice than died on the actual landing beach at Utah.

Ken Small was instrumental in 'exposing' the tragedy. The story goes that he was walking along the high water mark one day after a storm and was picking up a relic every other step ! This prompted him to find out what went on on the beach and hence the disaster was finally admitted to by the British and American governements. If it wasn't for him, we would still not know about this. He found the Sherman and organised its retrieval and it now stands as a monument to the disaster at the Western end of the beach next to a small lake.

I have been there twice with my metal detector and it is easy to pick up alot of relics. I found a large number of spent 30 cal rounds and various other items. However, I only searched the beach and locals told me that there was a heck of a lot of relics to be found in the hills and fields surrounding the beach. I didn't have time to get permission of the land owner so have never searched the fields etc. One chap told me of a friend of his whose son had found what must have been an MG post overlooking the beach, finding 350 ish spent 30 cal cases in an area 1 foot square !! It's a beautiful spot and I am going back there one day.......I'll leave the wife on the beach sunbathing

One other thing. When in conversation with an elderly local during lunch on my second visit, they told me that their Father was part of the clean up squads that removed the larger gear like jeeps, trucks, tanks, DUKWs etc.... He told me that they dumped nearly everything they found IN THE LAKE !!! So, anybody have any heavy lifting gear and a wet suit wanna join me on a little adventure ???

I recommend you visit the place if you get a chance......with or without a detector. Maybe we could organise something where we could all meet up ? It'd be nice to put faces to the 'voices'

Steve T

[Steve T]

Some pictures for you. A close up (ish) of the lake where the equipment was dumped. A picture of the Sherman retrieved from the sea. And a picture of the beach itself looking towards Torcross. You can see the coast road running right along the edge of the beach. This road is closed alot during winter as even a medium storm swamps it ! You can also see the way the terrain slopes down to the beach giving plenty of locations to set up 'practice' defensive positions.

Steve T

[Ty Revelo]

Thanks for the story and the photo's. Very interesting.

regards, Ty

[Hirschstein]

ah Steve thanks for the pics and the documentation but do you know the Kriegsmarine side of the story. 4 LST's claimed to have been sunk by crews of the 5th and 9th S-Flottille's What is interesting even with all the Allied secrecy over the months pre-Normandie the KM S-Boot arm was picking up the Allied radio traffic and finally sent several Boots onwad towards the shoreline to engage. They had actually been working on 2 separate raids earlier. I have a ton more from the German navy side of things

[Steve T]

Hirshstein

Interesting ! I have read a number of reports of the Kriegsmarine's 'view' of the engagement and it makes you realise just how much the hand of fate was involved in the whole episode !

Steve T

[Ash Riding]

Hi steve , I live not very far from slapton , I have been scuba diving off the beach there , but never dived into the lake .
There are tons of relics in the sea , there are rifles , helmets , boots , bullets , shells , etc .
Unfortunatly the tank that is there didnt come from exercise tiger , the exercise only consisted of troops no equipment .
The guys at brixham battery gardens ( 01803 852449 ) know the full story , might be worthwhile chatting to them . I went there last year with my scout troop , outstanding little site , they took us on a guided tour of the whole battery site .