History of Exercise Tiger
"A first class petty officer on LST 507, Angelo Crapanzano feeling feverish had fallen fast asleep in his bunk. The blasting of action station horns woke him up. Moments later there was a deafening roar and everything went black. Least did Crapanzano know at that moment the "deafening roar" was a torpedo discharged from a German E-Boat. The Ship was burning furiously from the bow almost right down to the stern. He had no option but to jump in the icy cold sea".
Slapton’s unspoiled beach of gravel, fronting a shallow freshwater ley and backed by grassy lands seemed perfect to the American forces to simulate practice landings for the launch of Operation Overlord on 6th June 1944, the D-day landings in Utah Beach, France.
"Exercise Tiger" under the command of Admiral Don P Moon US Navy was one of several assault rehearsals conducted at Slapton Sands on the Devon coast. So vital was the exercise that the commanders had ordered the use of live naval and artillery ammunition to make the exercise as real as possible to accustom the soldiers to what they were soon going to experience.
This exercise also turned out to be one of the great tragedy’s of World War II. Hundreds of American soldiers and sailors died needlessly due to confusion and incompetence. It was one of the military’s best kept secrets until it was revealed to the world almost over 40 years later.
The exercise was conducted between 22nd and 30th April 1944 and commenced with the marshalling and embarking of the troops to the LST’s (Landing Ship Tanks, a flat bottomed four and a half thousand tons assault ship capable of carrying several hundred men, lorries and tanks.) off the coast of south west England. The first assault landings were made on the mornings of the 27th April, following the "bombardment" and was continued throughout the day. A follow up convoy of eight LST was expected later that night and it was this convoy which met with tragedy.
The Commander in Chief in Plymouth was responsible for the safety of the rehearsal. Since German E-boats, a fast moving boat armed with torpedoes and with a top speed of up to 40 knots patrolled the English Channel at night, the Commander had placed extra patrols across the mouth of Lyme Bay, consisting from the Royal Navy of two destroyers, three motor torpedo boats (MTB) and two motor gunboats. Another MTB patrol was sent to watch Cherbourg, where the German E-boats were based.
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