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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 minimally reported afterwards.
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The first practice assault took place on the morning of 27 April{{sfn|Dear|Foot|2001|p=787}}{{sfn|Herman|1997|p=191}} and was marked by an incident involving [[friendly fire]]. [[H-hour]] was set for 07:30, and was to include live ammunition to acclimatise the troops to the sights, sounds and even smells of a naval bombardment. During the landing itself, live rounds were to be fired over the heads of the incoming troops by forces on land, for the same reason. This followed an order made by General [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], the Supreme Allied Commander, who felt that the men must be hardened by exposure to real battle conditions.{{sfn|Small|Rogerson|1988}} The exercise was to include naval bombardment by ships of [[List of ships of Force U Bombardment Group|Force U Bombardment Group]] fifty minutes prior to the landing.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=252}}
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.{{sfn|Small|Rogerson|1988}} Some of the landing craft did not receive word of the change. Landing on the beach at their
==Battle of Lyme Bay==
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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-boat]]s in [[Lyme Bay]].{{efn|One of these E-Boats was ''S-130'', now in [[dry dock]] in [[Plymouth, Devon]].<ref>{{cite web |date=7 November 2004 |title=Schnellboot S130 |publisher=British Military Powerboat Team |url=https://www.bmpt.org.uk/boats/S130/index1.htm |access-date=6 August 2016}}</ref>}} Nine German E-boats had left Cherbourg shortly after midnight, avoiding the British [[Motor torpedo boat|MTBs]] watching the port area and patrols in the [[English Channel]].{{sfn|Margaritis|2019|pages=359-360}}
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=https://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-05S-Scimitar.htm |access-date=6 August 2016}}</ref> Because the LSTs and British naval headquarters were operating on different frequencies, the American forces did not know this.{{sfn|Small|Rogerson|1988}} {{HMS|Saladin|1919|6}} was dispatched as a replacement, but did not arrive in time to help protect the convoy.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=75}}
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* {{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>{{cite web |title=Report of Action Taking Place Morning of 28 April 1944 (LST 511) |website=Exercise Tiger.org.uk |url=https://www.exercisetiger.org.uk/document-archive/declassified-report-uss-lst511-enclosure-a/ |access-date=29 August 2019}}</ref> resulting in injuries to 18 US Army/Navy personnel.<ref>{{cite web |title=Exercise Tiger UK LST 511 casualty report |website=Exercise Tiger.org.uk |url=https://www.exercisetiger.org.uk/document-archive/declassified-report-uss-lst511-casualty-report-table/ |access-date=29 August 2019 |archive-date=3 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703212252/https://www.exercisetiger.org.uk/document-archive/declassified-report-uss-lst511-casualty-report-table/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* {{USS|LST-531||2}} sank within six minutes of being torpedoed with the loss of 424 Army and Navy personnel.<ref name=MacDonald-1988/><ref name=Fenton-2004/><ref>{{cite web |title=Operation Tiger |publisher=[[Combined Operations Headquarters|Combined Operations Command]] |url=https://www.combinedops.com/Op_Tiger.htm |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref>
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=Fenton-2004/>{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=227}} Many servicemen drowned or died of [[hypothermia]] in the cold sea while waiting to be rescued. Many had not been shown how to put on their lifebelt correctly, and placed it around their waist, the only available spot because of their large backpacks. In some cases this meant that when they jumped into the water, the weight of their combat packs flipped them upside down, dragging their heads under water and drowning them.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|pages=64, 114–115}} Dale Rodman, who travelled on ''LST-507'', commented: "The worst memory I have is setting off in the lifeboat away from the sinking ship and watching bodies float by".<ref name=Stokes/> The 248 bodies that were recovered were sent to [[Brookwood Cemetery]] in Surrey on 29 April.{{sfn|Lewis|1990|p=237}} The unit with the most casualties was the 1st Special Engineer Brigade.<ref>{{cite web |title=
==Aftermath==
===Operational consequences===
[[Alan Goodrich Kirk|Vice Admiral Kirk]] of the US Navy immediately realised the huge damage E-boats could inflict on slow-moving landing craft with minimal defences and feared that the German success in Lyme Bay could be repeated on D-day, with disastrous consequences. On 4 May 1944 he sent a signal to [[Bertram Ramsay|Admiral Ramsay]] of the Royal Navy arguing for heavy aerial and naval bombardment of Cherbourg:
{{Blockquote|text=
===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.{{sfn|Small|Rogerson|1988}} He ordered that all the officers' bodies, and any incriminating papers they might have had, be 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}}
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The Slapton Sands memorial plaque reads:
{{Blockquote|text=
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 |access-date=6 August 2016}}</ref> 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 |title=Exercise Tiger Remembered |website=Exercise Tiger Memorial.co.uk |url=https://exercisetigermemorial.co.uk/honoured-dead |access-date=6 August 2016}}</ref>
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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=
== In popular culture ==
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* The [[Leslie Thomas]] novel ''The Magic Army'' is a fictionalised account of the evacuation of Slapton and the events leading up to the Slapton Sands disaster.{{sfn|Thomas|1981}}
* 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 ''For Esme with Love and Squalor'' is narrated by an American serviceman suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Devon after the Slapton Sands massacre.
* The final issue of [[DC Comics]] [[Sgt. Rock]] concerns Exercise Tiger and its aftermath.
==Notes==
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==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Ambrose |first=Stephen E. |author-link=Stephen E. Ambrose |year=1994 |title=D-Day: June 6, 1944
* {{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}}
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* {{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=Margaritis |first=Peter |year=2019 |title=Countdown to D-Day: The German Perspective |publisher=[[Casemate Publishers|Casemate]] |location=[[Oxford]] & [[Pennsylvania]] |url={{GBurl|kYv9uwEACAAJ}} |isbn=978-1-61200-769-4}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Simpson |editor-first=Michael A. |year=2021 |orig-year=1944 |title=Anglo-American-Canadian Naval Relations,
* {{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}}
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* [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
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