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{{Campaignbox Normandy}}
'''Exercise Tiger''', or '''Operation Tiger''', which took place in April 1944 on [[Slapton, Devon|Slapton Sands]] in [[Devon]], was one of a series of large-scale [[Operation Overlord#Rehearsals and security|rehearsals]] for the [[Operation Overlord|D-Day]] invasion of [[Normandy
Because of the impending invasion of Normandy, the incident was under the strictest secrecy at the time and was only
==Exercise==
===Landing operations===
In late 1943, as part of the build-up to D-day, the British government set up a training ground at Slapton Sands, Devon, to be used by Force "U", the American forces tasked with landing on [[Utah Beach]]. Slapton Beach was selected for its similarity to Utah Beach: a gravel beach, followed by a strip of land and then a lake. Approximately 3,000 local residents in the area of [[Slapton, Devon|Slapton]],<ref>{{cite web |
▲In late 1943, as part of the build-up to D-day, the British government set up a training ground at Slapton Sands, Devon, to be used by Force "U", the American forces tasked with landing on [[Utah Beach]]. Slapton Beach was selected for its similarity to Utah Beach: a gravel beach, followed by a strip of land and then a lake. Approximately 3,000 local residents in the area of [[Slapton, Devon|Slapton]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.exeterflotilla.org/history_misc/sth_dvn_evac/index.html |title=South Devon Evacuation 1944 |publisher=Exeterflotilla.org |date=16 November 1943 |access-date=28 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924004741/http://www.exeterflotilla.org/history_misc/sth_dvn_evac/index.html |archive-date=24 September 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> now [[South Hams|South Hams District]] of [[Devon]], were evacuated.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/environment/historic_environment/slapton-line/sl-monument_rededication.htm?textsize=1 |title=Slapton Line: Slapton Monument Rededication |publisher=Devon County Council |date=9 March 2007 |access-date=6 August 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531051958/http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/environment/historic_environment/slapton-line/sl-monument_rededication.htm?textsize=1 |archive-date=31 May 2016 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Some had never left their villages before being evacuated.<ref name=stokes>{{cite news |last=Stokes |first=Paul |title=Veterans honour 749 who died in D-Day rehearsal |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |date=29 April 1994}}</ref>
Landing exercises started in December 1943. Exercise Tiger was one of the larger exercises that took place in April and May 1944. The exercise was to last from 22 April until 30 April 1944, and covered all aspects of the invasion, culminating in a beach landing at Slapton Sands. On board nine large [[tank landing ship]]s (LSTs), the 30,000 troops prepared for their mock landing, which also included a live-firing exercise.
Protection for the exercise area came from the [[Royal Navy]]. Four [[O and P-class destroyer|O-class destroyers]], three [[Motor Torpedo Boat]]s and two [[Motor Gun Boat]]s patrolled the entrance to [[Lyme Bay]] while three Motor Torpedo Boats were stationed off [[Cherbourg]], where [[Kriegsmarine|German]] [[E-boat]]s were based.
The first phase of the exercise focused on marshalling and embarkation drills, and lasted from 22 to 25 April. On the evening of 26 April the first wave of assault troops boarded their transports and set off, the plan being to simulate the Channel crossing by taking a roundabout route through Lyme Bay, in order to arrive off Slapton at first light on 27 April.
===Friendly fire incident===
The first practice assault took place on the morning of 27 April
Several of the landing ships for that morning were delayed, and the officer in charge, American Admiral [[Don P. Moon]], decided to delay H-hour for 60 minutes, until 08:30.
==Battle of Lyme Bay==
Line 36 ⟶ 35:
|coordinates={{coord|50.28|N|3.64750|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title,inline}}
|result=German victory
|combatant1={{flag|United States|1912}}<br />{{flag|United Kingdom}}
|combatant2={{flagcountry|Nazi Germany|1935}}
|commander1=
|commander2=
|strength1=1 [[Flower-class corvette|corvette]]<br />8 [[Landing Ship, Tank|LST]]s
|strength2=9 [[E-boat]]s
|casualties1=749 killed<br />~200 wounded<br />2 LSTs sunk<br />2 LSTs damaged
|casualties2=none
}}
{{Campaignbox Atlantic Campaign}}
On the day after the first practice assaults, early on the morning of 28 April, the exercise was blighted when Convoy T-4, consisting of eight LSTs carrying vehicles and combat engineers of the [[Engineer Special Brigade#1st Engineer Special Brigade|1st Engineer Special Brigade]], was attacked by German [[E-
Around 0130 hrs, six E-boats of the 5. S-Boot Flottille (5th E-Boat Flotilla) commanded by [[Korvettenkapitän]] [[Bernd Klug]] saw eight dark ships and split into three pairs to attack with torpedoes: first [[Squad|''Rotte 3'']] (''S-136'' & ''S-138''), then ''Rotte 2'' under [[Oberleutnant zur See]] Goetschke (''S-140'' & ''S-142''), then ''Rotte 1'' (''S-100'' & ''S-143''). The final three E-boats of the nine, S-Boot Flottille commanded by Korvettenkapitän [[Götz Freiherr von Mirbach]] (''S-130'', ''S-145'' & ''S-150''), saw the red flares for attack (or may have heard the contact report sent at 0203 hrs) and joined the attack.
Of the two ships assigned to protect the convoy, only one was present. {{HMS|Azalea|K25|6}}, a [[corvette]], was leading the LSTs in a straight line, a formation that later drew criticism since it presented an easy target to the E-boats. The second ship that was supposed to be present, {{HMS|Scimitar|H21|6}}, a [[World War I]] destroyer, had been in a collision with an LST, suffered structural damage and left the convoy to be repaired at [[Plymouth]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Mason |first=Geoffrey B. |year=2003 |title=HMS Scimitar, destroyer |publisher=Naval History.net |url=
<!-- The E-boats had left Cherbourg on patrol the previous evening and did not encounter the Allied patrol lines off Cherbourg or in the [[English Channel]]. They spotted the convoy and attacked.{{efn|One of these E-Boats was ''S-130'', now in [[dry dock]] in [[Plymouth, Devon]].<ref>{{cite web |
▲<!-- The E-boats had left Cherbourg on patrol the previous evening and did not encounter the Allied patrol lines off Cherbourg or in the [[English Channel]]. They spotted the convoy and attacked.{{efn|One of these E-Boats was ''S-130'', now in [[dry dock]] in [[Plymouth, Devon]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bmpt.org.uk/boats/S130/index1.htm |title=Schnellboot S130 |publisher=British Military Powerboat Team |date=7 November 2004 |access-date=6 August 2016}}</ref>}} On the day after the first practice assaults, early on the morning of 28 April, the exercise was blighted when Convoy T-4, consisting of eight LSTs carrying vehicles and combat engineers of the [[Engineer Special Brigade#1st Engineer Special Brigade|1st Engineer Special Brigade]], was attacked by nine German E-boats under the command of ''[[Korvettenkapitän]]'' [[Bernd Klug]], in [[Lyme Bay]]. -->
===Casualties===
* {{USS|LST-289||2}} was set on fire but eventually made it back to shore with the loss of 13 Navy personnel.
* {{USS|LST-507||2}} was torpedoed and sunk with the loss of 202 US Army/US Navy personnel.
* {{USS|LST-511||2}} was damaged by [[friendly fire]] from {{USS|LST-496||2}} (intended to be directed at one of the E-boats which passed between the two LSTs)<ref>
* {{USS|LST-531||2}} sank within six minutes of being torpedoed with the loss of 424 Army and Navy personnel.<ref name=MacDonald
The remaining ships and their escort fired back and the E-boats made no more attacks. In total, 749 servicemen (551 [[United States Army]] and 198 [[United States Navy]]) were killed during Exercise Tiger.<ref name=
==Aftermath==
===
===Other consequences===
The attack was reported up the chain of command to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] on 29 April. Eisenhower was enraged that the convoy was sailing in a straight line and not zig-zagging, that the attack reduced reserves of LSTs, that it indicated to the Germans that the Allies were nearly ready to invade, and that ten American officers with knowledge of the invasion were missing. The missing officers had [[BIGOT list|BIGOT-level]] clearance for [[D-Day]], meaning that they knew the invasion plans and could have compromised the invasion should they have been captured alive. As a result, the invasion was nearly called off until the bodies of all ten victims were found.
The ten American officers were from the 1st Engineer Special Brigade; they knew when and where the Utah and Omaha landings were to take place, and had seen the amphibious [[DUKW]]s that were to take the [[Provisional Ranger Group|Rangers]] to below [[Pointe du Hoc]].{{sfn|Happer|2019|pages=58–60}} Merely knowing that exercises were taking place at Slapton was of interest to the Germans; the historian [[Stephen E. Ambrose|Stephen Ambrose]] suggests that the insistence in May by Hitler that the Normandy area be reinforced was because "he noticed the similarity between Slapton Sands and the Cotentin beach".{{sfn|Ambrose|1994|p=86}}
There were reports that E-boats were nosing through the wreckage for information with searchlights or torches. The shore batteries around nearby Salcombe Harbour had visually spotted unidentified small craft, but were ordered not to fire on them as it would have shown the Germans that the harbour was defended and disclosed the battery position.{{sfn|Margaritis|2019|pages=367-369}}
As a result of official embarrassment and concerns over potential leaks just prior to the real invasion, all survivors were sworn to secrecy about the events by their superiors. There is little information about exactly how individual soldiers and sailors died. The US Department of Defense stated in 1988 that record-keeping may have been inadequate aboard some of the ships, and the most pertinent log books were lost at sea.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=220}} A ninth LST ({{USS|LST-508||2}}) was scheduled to be in the convoy, but was damaged. Author Nigel Lewis speculates that some or all of its infantrymen may have been aboard ''LST 507'' when it went down.{{sfn|Lewis|1990| Several changes resulted from mistakes made in Exercise Tiger:
# Radio frequencies were standardised;
# Better [[lifejacket
# Plans were made for small craft to pick up floating survivors on D-Day.
Official histories contain little information about the tragedy. Some commentators have called it a [[cover-up]], but the initial critical secrecy about Tiger may have merely resulted in longer-term quietude. In his book ''The Forgotten Dead: Why 946 American Servicemen Died Off The Coast Of Devon In 1944 – And The Man Who Discovered Their True Story'', published in 1988, Ken Small declares that the event "was never covered up; it was 'conveniently forgotten'".
The casualty statistics from Tiger were not released by [[Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force]] (SHAEF) until August 1944, along with the casualties of the actual D-Day landings. This report stated that there were 442 army dead and 197 navy, for a total of 639.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=228}} (However, Moon had reported on 30 April that there were 749 dead.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=227}}) [[Charles B. MacDonald]], author and former deputy chief historian at the [[U.S. Army Center of Military History]], notes that information from the SHAEF press release appeared in the August issue of ''[[Stars and Stripes (newspaper)|Stars and Stripes]]''.
===Memorials===
[[File:Sherman tank at memorial for those killed in Operation Tiger.JPG|thumb|Sherman DD tank at the [[Torcross]] memorial]]
Devon resident and civilian Ken Small took on the task of seeking to commemorate the event, after discovering evidence of the aftermath washed up on the shore while [[beachcombing]] in the early 1970s.<ref
In 1974, Small bought from the U.S. Government the rights to a
The Slapton Sands memorial plaque reads:
A plaque was erected, in 1995, at [[Arlington National Cemetery]] entitled "Exercise Tiger Memorial". In 1997, the Exercise Tiger Association<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.exercisetiger.org/exercise-tiger-memorials.html |title=Memorials to Exercise Tiger |publisher=Exercise Tiger Association |access-date=6 August 2016}}</ref> established a memorial to Exercise Tiger veterans in [[Mexico, Missouri]]. It is a 5,000-pound stern anchor from an LST of the [[USS Suffolk County (LST-1173)|Suffolk County Class]] on permanent loan from the Navy. In 2006, the Slapton Sands Memorial Tank Limited (a non-profit organisation, one of whose directors is Small's son Dean) established a more prominent memorial listing the names of all the victims of the attacks on Exercise Tiger.<ref>{{cite web |last=Casson |first=John |url=http://www.exercisetigerslapton.org/exercise-tiger/roll-of-honour/ |title=Exercise Tiger Remembered |access-date=6 August 2016}}</ref>▼
{{Blockquote|text=Dedicated by the United States of America in honor of the men of the US Army's 1st Engineer Special Brigade, the 4th Infantry Division, and the VII Corps Headquarters; and the US Navy's 11th Amphibious Force who perished in the waters of Lyme Bay during the early hours of April 28, 1944.}}
▲A plaque was erected, in 1995, at [[Arlington National Cemetery]] entitled "Exercise Tiger Memorial". In 1997, the Exercise Tiger Association established a memorial to Exercise Tiger veterans in [[Mexico, Missouri]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Memorials to Exercise Tiger |website=United States Exercise Tiger Foundation |url=http://www.exercisetiger.org/exercise-tiger-memorials.html
In 2012, a memorial plaque was erected at [[Utah Beach]], [[Normandy]], on the wall of a former German anti-aircraft bunker. An [[M4 Sherman tank]] stands as a memorial to Exercise Tiger at [[Fort Rodman]] Park in [[New Bedford, Massachusetts]].
In 2019, the US servicemen who died in the exercise were remembered in an art installation by artist Martin Barraud. Bootprints of 749 troops were laid out on Slapton Sands to mark the 75th anniversary of Exercise Tiger. Commemorative bootprints and special plaques made by veterans to represent each of the 22,763 British and Commonwealth servicemen and women who were killed on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944 were sold. Barraud said:
{{Blockquote|text=Our enduring hope is that every one of the US, British and Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen who gave their lives will have a bootprint purchased in their memory.<ref>{{cite web |date=28 April 2019 |title=Exercise Tiger: Bootprints mark D-Day disaster 75th anniversary |publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-48082397 |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref>}}
== In popular culture ==
* ''Someone In Time'' by Stuart Cowley is a 2019 novel based around the events of
* Sanford Margalith's novel ''Captains'' is a
* In her book ''The Armada Boy'', [[Kate Ellis (author)|Kate Ellis]] relocated Exercise Tiger from Slapton to Bereton on the Devon coast, and used it as the background of the story.
* A major plotline of ''[[Foyle's War]]'' was based on the Slapton Sands disaster, in the episode entitled [[Foyle's War (series 5)#"All Clear"|"All Clear"]].
* The [[Jack Higgins]] novel
* The [[Leslie Thomas]] novel ''
* The 1985 film ''[[Code Name: Emerald]]'' is based around the disaster. As part of a deception from a Nazi spy who is a British Double Agent a message is sent to German High Command that indicating the location of a rehearsal for landings in France. Due to the secrecy around Operation Tiger they are unaware the location and time coincide with the Operation. Consequently, the E-boats attack and capture an officer with oversight of the D-Day landings. The plot revolves around ensuring his secrets aren't revealed necessitating a delay in the Normandy plans
* The [[J. D. Salinger]] short story
* The final issue of [[DC Comics]] [[Sgt. Rock]] concerns Exercise Tiger and its aftermath.
▲* The [[J D Salinger]] short story "For Esme with Love and Squalor" is narrated by an American serviceman suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Devon after the Slapton Sands massacre.
==Notes==
Line 108 ⟶ 114:
==References==
{{Reflist|
==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Ambrose |first=Stephen E. |author-link=Stephen E. Ambrose |year=1994 |title=D-Day: June 6, 1944 – The Climactic Battle of WWII |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |location=London |url={{GBurl|DgG0Y-YyHBwC|p=86}} |isbn=978-0-67167-334-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Butcher |first=Harry Cecil |author-link=Harry C. Butcher |year=1946 |title=My Three Years with Eisenhower: The Personal Diary of Captain Harry C. Butcher, USNR, Naval Aide to General Eisenhower, 1942 to 1945 |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |url=https://archive.org/details/mythreeyearswit00butc |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mythreeyearswit00butc/page/528 528]–535}}
* {{cite book |last1=Dear |first1=Ian C. B. |author-link1=I. C. B. Dear |last2=Foot |first2=Michael Richard Daniell |author-link2=M. R. D. Foot |year=2001 |title=The Oxford companion to World War II |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=New York |url={{GBurl|VM4MAQAAMAAJ}} |isbn=978-0-19860-446-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Happer |first=Richard |year=2019 |orig-year=2014 |title=D-Day: The Story of the Allied Landings |publisher=[[Times Books]] ([[HarperCollins]]) |location=[[Glasgow]] |edition=2nd |url={{GBurl|5yGawwEACAAJ}} |isbn=978-0-00835-826-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Herman |first=Jan K. |year=1997 |title=Battle Station Sick Bay: Navy Medicine in World War II |publisher=[[United States Naval Institute#Naval Institute Press|Naval Institute Press]] |location=[[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]] |url={{GBurl|mDJnAAAAMAAJ}} |isbn=978-1-55750-361-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Lewis |first=Nigel |year=1990 |title=Exercise Tiger: The Dramatic True Story of a Hidden Tragedy of World War II |publisher=[[Prentice Hall]] |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/details/exercisetigerdra00lewi |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-13127-796-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Margalith |first=Sanford H. |year=2001 |title=Captains |publisher=JONA Books |location=[[Bedford, Indiana]] |url={{GBurl|oOfixUuHJNQC|p=224}} |isbn=978-0-96579-298-1}}
* {{cite book |last=
* {{cite book |editor-last=Simpson |editor-first=Michael A. |year=2021 |orig-year=1944 |title=Anglo-American-Canadian Naval Relations, 1943–1945 |others=Contributor [[Navy Records Society]] |publisher=[[Routledge]], [[Taylor & Francis]] Group |url={{GBurl|kmsyEAAAQBAJ|p=222}} |isbn=978-1-032-00935-3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Small |first1=Ken |last2=Rogerson |first2=Mark |year=1988 |title=The Forgotten Dead – Why 946 American Servicemen Died Off The Coast Of Devon In 1944 – And The Man Who Discovered Their True Story |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] |location=London |url={{GBurl|xFx1HAAACAAJ}} |isbn=978-0-74750-433-7}}
==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Garn |first=Kenneth H. |year=2004 |title=The Secret D-Day |publisher=Heritage Books |url={{GBurl|IpjvAAAAMAAJ}} |isbn=978-0-78842-512-7}}
* {{cite book
* {{cite book |
* {{cite book
▲*{{cite book |last= Margaritis |first= Peter |title= Countdown to D-Day: The German Perspective |year= 2019 |publisher= Casemate |location= Oxford, UK & PA, USA |isbn= 978-1-61200-769-4 }}
▲*{{cite book| last=Thomas | first=Leslie. | title=The Magic Army | year=1981 | isbn=0099469170}}
==External links==
<!--
-->
* [http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/e/operation-tiger.html Exercise Tiger at The Naval Historical Center]
* [http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2009/05/massacre-at-slapton-sands-the-great-portland-cover-up/ Operation Tiger
* [http://www.slapton.org/indextiger.htm Slapton Village Tiger Page]
* [http://www.exercisetigermemorial.co.uk/ The Official Exercise Tiger Memorial Website]
* [http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvmemory/vets/exercisetiger.html History of Exercise Tiger from the West Virginia State Archives]
* [http://www.exercisetiger.org.uk/index.php The Official UK Charity for Exercise Tiger] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090604021357/http://www.exercisetiger.org.uk/index.php |date=4 June 2009 }}
* [http://content.library.ccsu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/VHP/id/5580 Oral history interview with John Maltese, a survivor of Exercise Tiger] from the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:
[[Category:British military exercises|Tiger]]
[[Category:Naval battles of World War II involving the United States|Tiger]]▼
[[Category:Friendly fire incidents of World War II]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II]]
▲[[Category:Naval battles of World War II involving the United States|Tiger]]
[[Category:Western European theatre of World War II]]
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