Exercise Tiger was the code name for two military exercises held in the United Kingdom during the Second World War:

• The first, conducted in 1942, was an Army-level exercise by Commonwealth forces and the largest ever held in the UK up to then. A military exercise (also called war game in American English) is the employment of military resources in training for Military operations either exploring The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including
• The second, in 1944, was a full-scale rehearsal for the D-Day invasion of Normandy and led to the deaths of more than 600 American troops as a result of both blunders by the Allied forces and enemy attack by German boats. D-Day may also refer to Decimal Day in the United Kingdom. D-Day is a term often used in Military parlance to denote Normandy (Normandie Norman: Normaundie) is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy.

1942

In April 1941, when General Bernard Montgomery became commander of South-Eastern Command in the UK, he conducted the largest military exercise to date in the UK, Exercise Tiger, in May 1942, a combined forces operation involving 100,000 troops. Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, (məntˈgʌmərɪ əv ˈæləmeɪn A military exercise (also called war game in American English) is the employment of military resources in training for Military operations either exploring Troops participating in Tiger noted that it was particularly grueling for the infantry involved, who marched over 100 miles during the course of the exercise. ^[1]

1944

The exercise involved traveling through Lyme Bay to Slapton Sands

A second exercise by the same name was conducted in 1944; this was an eight-day practice run for the Utah Beach landings of the D-Day invasion. Utah Beach was the codename for one of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June D-Day may also refer to Decimal Day in the United Kingdom. D-Day is a term often used in Military parlance to denote During the Exercise, an Allied convoy was attacked, resulting in the deaths of 749 American servicemen. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[2][3][4]

History

In late 1943, as part of the war effort, the British Government evacuated approximately 3000 local residents in the area of Slapton, South Hams District of Devon. Slapton is a village in Devon, England, between Kingsbridge and Dartmouth that lies within the South Devon Area of Outstanding History In the Anglo-Saxon era the South Hams was a feudal estate consisting of all of the land between the River Plym and River Dart and south of Devon is a large county in the South West of England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name ^[5] Some of them had never left their villages before. ^[6]

Landing exercises had started in December 1943. Exercise Tiger was one of the larger exercises that would take place in April and May 1944. The make up of Slapton Beach was selected for its similarity to Utah beach, namely a gravel beach, followed by a strip of land and then a lake. Utah Beach was the codename for one of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day Invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June

The exercise was to last from 22 April until 30 April 1944, at the Slapton Sands beach in Slapton, South Devon. Events 1500 - Portuguese Navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil. Events 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. On board nine large Tank landing ships (LSTs), the 30,000 troops prepared for their mock beach landing. Landing Ship Tank ( LST) was the military designation for naval vessels created during World War II to support Amphibious operations by carrying significant

Protection for the exercise area came from the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore known as the Senior Service) Two destroyers, three Motor Torpedo Boats and two Motor Gun Boats patrolled the entrance to Lyme Bay and Motor Torpedo Boats were watching the Cherbourg area where German E-boats were based. In naval terminology a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance Warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, Convoy Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB was the name given to fast Torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy and Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel situated in the southwest of England between Torbay in the west and Portland in the east Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers History After the Treaty of Versailles most of Germany's military production was severely curtailed

The first practice assaults took place on the morning of the 27 April. Events 1124 - David I becomes King of Scotland. 1296 - Battle of Dunbar: The Scots are defeated These proceeded successfully, but then early in the morning of 28 April, German E-boats that had left Cherbourg on patrol spotted a convoy of 8 LSTs carrying vehicles and combat engineers of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade in Lyme Bay and attacked. Events 1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title Lyme Bay is an area of the English Channel situated in the southwest of England between Torbay in the west and Portland in the east One of these E-Boats was S-130 now in dry dock in Plymouth UK. ^[7] One transport caught fire and was abandoned, a second sank shortly after being torpedoed, a third was set on fire but eventually made it back to shore. The remaining ships and their escort fired back and the E-boats made no more attacks.

The attack caused over 600 casualties, compared to only about 200 in the Utah Beach invasion. 638 servicemen were killed - 441 U.S. Army and 197 U.S. Navy personnel. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. ^[2] Many servicemen drowned in the cold sea waters whilst waiting to be rescued. Soldiers unused to being at sea panicked and put on their lifebelts incorrectly. In some cases this meant that when they jumped into the water, the weight of their combat packs flipped them onto their backs, pushing their heads underwater and drowning them. 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. "^[6]

Of the two ships assigned to protect the convoy, only one was present. HMS Azalea, a corvette was leading the nine LSTs in a straight line, a formation which later drew criticism since it presented an easy target to the E-boats. A corvette is a small maneuverable lightly armed Warship, originally smaller than a Frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft, although many HMS Scimitar, a World War I destroyer and the second boat which was supposed to be present, had checked into Plymouth for minor repairs. In naval terminology a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance Warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, Convoy Plymouth ( is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England about south west of London. The American forces had not been told this. When other British ships sighted the E-boats earlier in the night and told the corvette, its commander failed to tell the LST convoy, assuming incorrectly that they had already been told. This did not happen because the LSTs and British naval headquarters were operating on different frequencies. ^[2] Also, British shore batteries defending Salcombe Harbour had seen silhouettes of the E-boats but had been instructed to hold fire so the Germans would not find that Salcombe was defended. There is another town named Salcombe also known as Salcombe Regis, near Sidmouth in east Devon ^[2]

When the remaining LSTs landed on Slapton Beach, the blunders continued. The British heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins shelled the beach with live ammunition, following an order made by General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, who felt that the men must be hardened by exposure to real battle conditions. The heavy cruiser was a type of Cruiser, a naval Warship designed for long range high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 8in in calibre Interwar career HMS Hawkins was commissioned on 25 July 1919 and became the Flagship of the 5th Light Cruiser Squadron on the China Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (October 14 1890 – March 28 1969 was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a five-star general ^[2] British marines on the boat recorded in its log book (the only log which has since been recovered from any of the boats) that men were being killed by friendly fire. Friendly fire or non-hostile fire, a term originally adopted by the United States military, refers to fire from one's own side or allied forces as "On the beaches they had a white tape line beyond which the Americans should not cross until the live firing had finished. But the Marines said they were going straight through the white tape line and getting blown up". ^[2]

Aftermath

As a result of official embarrassment and concerns over possible leaks just prior to the real invasion, all survivors were sworn to secrecy by their superiors. Ten missing officers involved in the exercise had 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. ^[2]

There is little information about how exactly individual soldiers and sailors died. Various eyewitness accounts detail hasty treatment of casualties and unmarked mass graves in Devon fields. ^[2]

Several changes resulted from mistakes made in Exercise Tiger:

• Radio frequencies were standardised; the British escort vessels were late and out of position due to radio problems, and a signal of the E-boats' presence was not picked up by the LSTs.
• Better life vest training for landing troops. A personal flotation device (also referred to as PFD, lifejacket, life preserver, Mae West, life vest, life saver,
• New plans for small craft to pick up floating survivors on D-Day.

The casualty statistics from Tiger were not released until August 1944 along with the casualties of the actual D-Day landings themselves.

There is still very little documentation in official histories 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 quietness. A cover-up is an attempt whether successful or not to conceal evidence of wrong-doing error Incompetence, or other embarrassing information 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'". ^[2] Charles B. MacDonald, author and former deputy chief historian at the U.S. Army Center of Military History, notes that the incident was reported in a press release issued from the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, and appeared in the July issue of Stars and Stripes. This article refers to Charles Blair Macdonald US golfer For the military historian refer to Charles B The Center of Military History (CMH is responsible for the appropriate use of history throughout the United States Army. Stars and Stripes is the Newspaper published for the United States Armed Forces overseas ^[8] In addition, the story was detailed in at least three books at the end of the war, including, Captain Harry C. Butcher 's My Three Years With Eisenhower (1946), and in several publications and speeches in the intervening years. ^[8] MacDonald surmises that the press release went largely unnoticed in light of the larger events that were occurring at the time, the battle for France in the summer of 1944, and the fact that they were just glad that the war was over in 1946. ^[8]

Memorials to the victims

Sherman DD tank at the Torcross memorial

With little or no support from the American or British armed forces for any venture to recover remains or dedicate a memorial to the incident, Devon resident and civilian Ken Small took on the task of seeking to memorialize the event, after discovering evidence of the aftermath washed up on the shore while beachcombing in the early 1970s. Torcross is a village in the South Hams district of Devon in England. Devon is a large county in the South West of England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, but that is an entirely unofficial name Beachcombing or Beachcomber is a term with multiple but related meanings which have evolved over time

In 1974, Mr. Small bought from the U. S. Government the rights to a submerged tank from the 70th Tank Battalion discovered by his search efforts. The 70th Tank Battalion was a tank battalion of the United States Army active during the Second World War and the Korean War It was formed as an independent In 1984, with the aid of local residents and diving firms, he finally raised the tank, which now stands as a memorial to the incident. A memorial is an object which serves as a memory of something usually a person (who has died or an event The local authority provided a plinth on the seafront to put the tank on, and erected a plaque in memory of those men killed.

A plaque at the memorial at Torcross, commemorating those who perished

Ken Small died of cancer in March 2004, a few weeks before the 60th anniversary of the Exercise Tiger incident. Torcross is a village in the South Hams district of Devon in England.

In 2006, the Slapton Sands Memorial Tank Limited (a non-profit organization, one of whose directors is Mr. Small's son Dean) are seeking to establish a more prominent memorial listing the names of all the victims of the attacks on Exercise Tiger. ^[9]

A radio play 'The Tank Man' by Julia Stoneham, describing Ken Small's efforts was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 24th October 2007. Ken documents how the local villagers were of more assistance than either the US or UK military officials. Later the American military honored and supported him, when at the same time the UK military were snubbing his efforts. ^[10]

See also

• Battle of Normandy
• European Theatre of World War II
• World War II
• Slapton (Slapton Sands)
• Torcross

References

External links

• Exercise Tiger at The Naval Historical Center
• Exercise Tiger U.S. Memorial Site
• Slapton Village Tiger Page
• Detailed account of Exercise Tiger and of Ken Small's role
• An extensive research about the event
• History of Exercise Tiger from the West Virginia State Archives
• Biographies of West Virginians Killed During Exercise Tiger
• Slapton Sands Memorial Tank website
• Five part video podcast documentary about S130 on www.pod3.tv
• The Official UK Charity for Exercise Tiger