From late 1943 on, the Allies were preparing for the D-Day landing on the Normandy coast by staging training exercises in the south of England. One such exercise took place at Slapton Sands in Devon, where a gravel beach was followed by a strip of land and a body of water behind it. This particular area resembled a stretch of beach between Pouppeville and La Madeleine, better known by its codename: Utah Beach. For safety and secrecy reasons, as many as 3,000 local residents were evacuated from the area.
By Christmas of 1943, the last locals had left the area, but the streets were empty only for a short while. By April of 1944, thousands of soldiers and service personnel had entered the area, and between the 22nd and the 30th of that month, seven rehearsals were staged. The first phase of Operation TIGER focused on logistics and took place between 22 and 25 April. In the evening of the 26th, some 30,000 troops boarded their transports and were taken to Slapton Sands via Lyme Bay where they arrived early the next day.
H-hour was set for 07:30, and in order to get the troops used to the smell, din and chaos of battle, General Eisenhower had order live ammunition to be used during the initial bombardment and the consequent landing. Several of the LSTs (Landing Ship Tanks) carrying the soldiers to the beach were delayed, and H-hour was delayed until 08:30. However, not all the landing craft received the order, and consequently dropped their human cargo on the beaches. Although official numbers were never given, rumors had it that some 450 men died as a result of friendly fire.
Despite the losses, the operation was continued. The following morning, disaster struck again when Convoy T-4, carrying vehicles and engineers of the 1st Special Engineer Brigade, came under attack of German E-boats that had managed to enter Lyme Bay undetected. Before escaping the bay, the E-boats managed to sink two LSTs and damage another. A fourth LST had damaged by friendly fire. The men aboard ship the sinking ships had two options: die in the flames or perish in the cold water of the English Channel.
Many of the soldiers had not received proper training on how to put on their lifebelt. As their bulky backpacks made it difficult to placed the flotation devices around their neck, many men instead put them around their waist. As they hit the water, the weight of their combat packs dragged their faces under the water, causing them to drown. Over 400 men died as a result of the German attack.
Among the dead were several officers that knew detailed information about the D-day invasion. The Allies so afraid that these men would fall into the hands of the Germans, that the invasion was nearly called off. However, all the bodies were recovered and the fear subsided.
Exercise Tiger Memorial
Survivors of the disastrous exercise were sworn to secrecy and the entire operation was kept silence because of the impending D-day landing. The whole fiasco was conveniently forgotten and there were several reports of unmarked mass graves being dug. It was long after the war that details of the Operation TIGER were revealed to the public. Although numbers are unclear and contradicting, at least 750 men died during the rehearsal landings. Ironically, only 197 men would die during the landings on Utah Beach, several weeks later.
Fortunately, the terrible losses had not been entirely in vain. Future communication problems were prevented by using standardized radio frequencies, life jacket training became more important during training, and small boats to pick up survivors were introduced.
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