Thread Exercise Tiger, Slapton Sands, 28 April 1944

Discussion in 'All Anniversaries' started by Racing Teapots, Feb 21, 2004.

  1. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member

    Pete, heres a panoramic picture from the same spot
    [​IMG]

    But in looking at it you may be right it could have been Stree, may have been too much cider
     
  2. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    I think I have found a 'Then' picture for post 11.
    [​IMG]
    English children and American guard from Army Service Forces watch from cliffside fence as US troops in distance practice landings along Slapton Beach in preparation for the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France.
     
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  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    American troops and landing craft during mock amphibious assault along Slapton Beach in preparation for the invasion of the beaches of Normandy, France.
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Buteman

    Buteman 336/102 LAA Regiment (7 Lincolns), RA

    Andy

    Interesting shot. I thought all civilians had been moved away from such areas.

    Rob
     
  5. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Cheers Lee
     
  6. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

  7. sherlock

    sherlock Member

    In 2003, on our last trip to Britain, my wife and I made a side trip to Slapton Sands. When we arrived we found a local man by the name of Ken Small who had written a book concerning the wartime activities in the area. It was the middle of December so there wasn't much of a crowd. In fact, it was just the three of us. So we started talking and after he told us his story I asked him for a copy of his book which he retrieved from his car and graciously signed.
    He then immediately left the site. I figured that he had probably met his quota for the day. We felt fortunate to have met him, it gave us something of a connection to the locale and its place in hstory.
     
  8. Pete Keane

    Pete Keane Senior Member

    Stoke Fleming wasnt evacuated, so I guess the kids were from there - they look to be in the 5 - 9yrs age group, which would make then about 70 - probably still live in the village....

    Theres a lot more 'hidden' WW2 stuff in the area - there is another submerged tank in the lake in the garden of the house at the Strete end of the Slapton Line, the cobbles in the car park at Blackpool Sands were from a road constructed to load the invasion ships on the Dart (where the higher ferry is now).

    An ambition - not really WW2 related - is to drink in every Church House Inn that exists in South Devon. I'm easily pleased....

    Cheers

    Pete
     
  9. Vitesse

    Vitesse Senior Member

    In 2003, on our last trip to Britain, my wife and I made a side trip to Slapton Sands. When we arrived we found a local man by the name of Ken Small who had written a book concerning the wartime activities in the area. It was the middle of December so there wasn't much of a crowd. In fact, it was just the three of us. So we started talking and after he told us his story I asked him for a copy of his book which he retrieved from his car and graciously signed.
    He then immediately left the site. I figured that he had probably met his quota for the day. We felt fortunate to have met him, it gave us something of a connection to the locale and its place in hstory.
    It would have been more remarkable if you hadn't run into Ken! :lol: More remarkable still if you'd escaped with an unsigned copy. :D

    He was there just about every day. He passed away in March 2004.

    Exercise Tiger : The Slapton Sands Sherman Tank Memorial Website | Ken Small and the Tank Recovery

    Sherman Tank, Slapton Sands, South Devon | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

    Slapton Sands Tank - Submerged

    An ambition - not really WW2 related - is to drink in every Church House Inn that exists in South Devon. I'm easily pleased....

    Cheers

    Pete
    My personal favourite is the one in Stoke Gabriel. Don't miss the mummified cat!
     
  10. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    To me. the children appear to be overlooking Blackpool Beach, recognising the steep road climb in the background, going towards Slapton.

    As regards the eviction of civilians from the area,there is a poster notice which can be found in the Queen's Arms at Slapton. It gives notice of a meeting to be chaired by the local landowner,Lord Fortesque to discuss the requirements of the eviction.

    I could not take a photograph of the poster as there was a couple having dinner by the side of the displayed poster.....sometime later perhaps.
     
  11. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Blimey seeing those photos of Blackpool beach brings back memories of an exercise we did back in 1987 or 1988.
    We went down to Dartmouth on the Friday night, boarded some wooden motorboats crewed by chaps from the college & chugged around to Blackpool Sands to do a beach landing.
    It felt more like Gallipoli that anything from WW2 in those boats.
    We charged up the beach (one of our other companies was the enemy) cleared them from the woods then sent up patrol bases nearby.
    Great fun.
    I was asked to do a painting of it to give the land-owner, bet he thought it was crap & threw it away.
     
  12. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

  13. 1234567

    1234567 Junior Member

    Can anyone help tell me why the major commemorations are a year early and what events will be happening in Slapton at the end of April.
     
  14. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Information here, but not for April and at the National Arbretum.

    The memorial dedication ceremony will be held on Thursday July 4th 2013 at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire.

    OPERATION TIGER

    Regards
    Tom
     
  15. Packhow75

    Packhow75 Senior Member

  16. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    WW2: Survivors tales of covered up disaster
    By Claire Jones BBC News
    [​IMG]The LST 507, pictured at sea en route to England, was ravaged by fire during the German attack
    Continue reading the main story

    Related Stories

    On 28 April, 1944, four German E-Boats opened fire on a convoy of eight US ships that were making their way to Lyme Bay on England's south coast in a practice exercise ahead of the D-Day landings.
    The disaster that followed - in which about 800 servicemen lost their lives - was deemed by US top brass to be so grave they ordered a complete information blackout.
    Now a British millionaire is planning to restore one of those German E-Boats in honour of those who lost their lives. Here are the accounts of US survivors and the German captain who opened fire on that fateful night.
    [​IMG]
    US sailor Steve Sadlon - Survivor of LST 507
    "Burn to death on the ship or freeze to death in the sea" - that was the conundrum Steve Sadlon, a radio operator on board US Landing Ship Tank LST 507 was faced with when a torpedo struck in the middle of the night.
    [​IMG]Steve Sadlon said in comparison to the April practice attack, Utah Beach on D-Day was "a walk in the park"
    "All hell was breaking loose," he said. "Fire was everywhere, ammunition as well as gas cans were exploding. We had nothing, we were a floating, burning hull of a ship."
    After weighing up his options, he decided to take his chances in the sea.
    "We had to escape the burning oil. There were hundreds of guys all around us in the water screaming for help. There were dead bodies floating everywhere. We got past the burning water, the dead, and the people yelling for help.
    "I floated by this officer who told me to save my breath and stop screaming for help like the rest of them because nobody is going to help us."
    Hypothermia kicked in and he woke up on board another landing craft, LST 515. After leaving hospital two weeks later, he was reassigned to LST 500, a ship that was one of the first on Utah Beach on D-Day.
    "In comparison to the E-Boat attack, Utah Beach was a walk in the park," he said.
    "I found out years later that the captain of LST 515 disobeyed orders, returned to where the ships went down and picked up survivors. If it wasn't for that captain, John Doyle, I wouldn't be here today."
    Steve Sadlon has since passed away.
    [​IMG]
    US Officer Ensign Douglas Harlander - Survivor of LST 531
    Just 15 minutes after the assault on LST 507 an attack began on another landing craft - LST 531.
    As the craft received its second and fatal blow, it began turning over to its starboard side. It would only stay afloat for another six minutes.
    [​IMG]Surviving LST 531 officer Ensign Douglas Harlander said the tragic exercise was kept secret to maintain morale
    A surviving officer on board, Ensign Douglas Harlander, now 94, had little time to decide what to do.
    "We were dead in the water," he said. "We were completely loaded with trucks, vehicles, tanks, and all of them were loaded with fuel to the hilt and it was an immediate mass of fire.
    "I realised saving the ship was futile so I turned my attention to trying to save the men.
    "The ship was sinking and fast turning over and I was the last man over the port side.
    "As I was walking on the outside of the ship's hull, it sank beneath me. I dove off and got away as fast as I could to avoid being dragged under by the suction of the ship's descent."
    But as the night progressed, many of his comrades disappeared below the waves.
    "They slipped away as they became unconscious. At about 6am you even wished you could be picked up by the Germans because the men were falling off like flies," he said.
    [​IMG]Of the 496 men onboard LST 531, 324 men died during the attack
    The survivors were rescued at about 07:00 by the American ship USS Onslaw.
    The exercise that killed so many American servicemen was considered by US top brass to be such a disaster that it was immediately covered up.
    Any survivor who revealed the truth would face a court martial, they warned.
    "In the coming weeks I came to realize that the ordeal I survived was not to be officially acknowledged by the Navy or the United States or British governments," said Mr Harlander.


    LST 531

    US NAVY

    US ARMY

    TOTAL

    Aboard


    142


    354


    496


    Rescued


    28


    44


    72


    Died


    114


    310


    424


    "The report was classified to prevent damaging the morale of the D-Day soldiers who had to travel through those same waters to reach their destination on 6 June, 1944.
    "The sad part of the whole thing is that the surviving family members didn't know for so many years what had happened to those missing.
    "They were told only that they were missing in action or killed in action. I estimate that at least two-thirds of those on board never made it off the ship and today their remains rest at the bottom of the English Channel."
    Mr Harlander was the sole surviving officer of LST 531. Following Exercise Tiger, he became a dentist and still lives in Frederic, Wisconsin.
    [​IMG]
    Kapitan zur Zee Gunther Rabe - the German captain
    Forty years after the attack, in a letter dated 19 December 1983, the German commander of E-Boat S-130 gave his account of what happened to US Navy Doctor Eugene Eckstam.
    [​IMG]Kapitan Rabe was in charge of German E-Boat S-130 on the night of Exercise Tiger
    Kapitan Gunther Rabe said the "chance discovery" of the US training mission came during a routine journey from his base in Cherbourg, France, to the Lyme Bay area.
    "We knew that during April 1944 there was constant traffic on the route off the south coast of Great Britain as we met with increasing resistance from a rapidly growing number of gun-boats, launches and other escorts," he wrote.
    "After a while, we happened to get visual contact with a convoy of LSTs, lined up in a rather long line and from our position we did not see any escorts.
    "The shadows were clearly to be seen in a south-easterly direction. We approached in good distance at comparatively high speed in order to come in a favourable position for torpedo attack.
    "My boat fired two torpedoes at about 2.05am. As there were many more ships in the area we could not attempt to close in to look for survivors.
    "For a man who went through the longer part of his life in the meantime, today these events look very much different.
    "I think we, in our generation, have to do everything possible to prevent that governments repeat the same mistakes again."
    [​IMG]The S-130 had been on a routine mission from its base in Cherbourg, France, when the convoy was spotted
    [​IMG]
    The restoration
    [​IMG]Kevin Wheatcroft bought the last surviving German schnellboot S-130 for £1 in 2009
    The ship that claimed the American lives is currently to be found in a shed in a Cornish seaside village.
    Entrepreneur Kevin Wheatcroft bought the craft - the last surviving German schnellboot S-130 - for £1 in 2009 and plans to restore it back to its 1943 configuration and performance.
    He said the boat's restoration was "an acknowledgement of its sinister past and an apology for what it did".
    "The first mission, under my control, will be back to Lyme Bay and we will torpedo the same number of poppies out of the boat as the amount of people who died there," he said.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Kevin Wheatcroft
    • Kevin Wheatcroft runs the Donington Park race circuit in Leicestershire
    • The Wheatcroft Collection includes 150 items in various stages of restoration, including military vehicles and tanks, steam engines, vintage tractors and Harley Davidson/Indian motorcycles
    • In the 2013 Sunday Times motoring rich list he was reported to have a wealth of £110m
    [​IMG]
    The S-130 boat had a range of up to 700 miles and a crew of 35 and was used as a fast-attack craft for mine-laying.
    After the war, the vessel was returned to the German navy and used to train sailors in underwater weaponry before being decommissioned in 1991.
    It later served as a houseboat before being brought to Britain where it fell into disrepair.
    Mr Wheatcroft said he believed it would cost £5m to restore the boat and he expected the project to take up to five years.
    [​IMG]Mr Wheatcroft bought the vessel to safeguard its future and restore it back to its 1943 configuration
    In order to restore the ship, Mr Wheatcroft acquired the salvage rights on three sunken schnellboots off the Danish coast to use for parts.
    Once it is finished, the vessel will become a floating museum and visitor attraction.
    He said he would like to one day see the boat on the River Thames as a constant reminder of the bloodshed of World War Two.
    "It's an icon of the sea, a killing machine of an era no-one will ever forget. I never lose sight I'm dealing with a killing machine.
    "I've had 90-year-old veterans crying, touching and patting the boat - it's one of the most emotional things I've ever seen.
    "The last time they saw it they were fighting for their life, it's what was responsible for their friends' deaths.
    "If this thing could talk it could tell a million stories."
    [​IMG]
    Laurie Bolton - Host of Exercise Tiger reunion tours
    [​IMG]Laurie Bolton (left) has hosted Exercise Tiger reunions for veterans since 2003 with Dean Small (right)
    Since 2003, there have been a number of reunions of Exercise Tiger veterans arranged by the niece of Sgt Louis Archer Bolton, who was killed on board one of the landing craft.
    She said she knew very little about his death until she watched a documentary about World War Two and began looking into the background to the disaster.
    "I contacted one of the veterans who survived on board LST 531 and he told me what happened on that night," said Ms Bolton, from Kingsburg, California.
    She discovered her uncle was in the tank deck on board that craft when it took a direct hit by two torpedoes. His body was never recovered.
    [​IMG]Sgt Louis Archer Bolton was killed on board LST 531
    "In 2003, I began hosting reunions, brought over some veterans and family members for the 60th Anniversary in 2004, the 65th anniversary in 2009, and a final journey with veterans for the 70th anniversary year," she said.
    "It has been very rewarding to meet these men and their families and has helped with the feelings of loss in losing an uncle I never knew."
    One of the most emotional aspects of each reunion has been visits to the hulk of the S-130 kept by Mr Wheatcroft.
    John Casner, 88, from Summerville, South Carolina, returned to Slapton Sands, the beach of Lyme Bay, and the E-Boat restoration site in 2013.
    "I was glad to come back to Slapton Sands to pay tribute at the tank memorial and participate in the commemoration," he said.
    "That was when I became emotional. I was very surprised at how big the the E-Boat was, it seems like I should have seen it at the time of the attack."
    Nathan Resnick, now aged 90, was onboard LST 511 during the attack.
    He had not told his wife about the exercise for 50 years because it was "such a painful memory" but visited Slapton Sands and the E-Boat in 2009.
    "The E-Boat was an eye-opener because I never thought of it as so big and powerful," he said.
    "It was a mammoth, lethal weapon. I think it's good the German E-Boat is being restored because it will be a valuable piece of history for future generations."
     
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  17. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    I remember watching a BBC (or perhaps it was Channel 4) documentary on this not long ago, and someone had been doing a lot of research into it, even going to the USA and checking records. His research showed that as above the number that died was about 830, but that was basically only the Army numbers and did not include naval personnel which he estimated to be in the region IIRC to be about 300 or so, making the total who died in this tragedy in the region of 1200.

    It is still something that is kept under wraps

    TD
     
  18. Nijmegen

    Nijmegen Member

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U-9e7Cu9CA
     
  19. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Sorry to revive an old thread, but I am just listening to the latest WW2 Podcast which is an interview with Ken Small's son.

    Despite the histories which mentioned the operation the information clearly was not widely disseminated. The locals of the area clearly didn't know. When I listened to his son talk about how the local fishermen's nets would catch on "something" in the water it did make some of the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!

    It looks like a new edition of Ken's book was released by Osprey last year.
     
  20. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    For anyone wanting to visit the area, have a drive to Blackpool Sands near Stoke Fleming. The first car park on the left, the steep one, is paved with the cobbled stones that formed the embarkation point for the troopships in dartmouth - this was located at what is now the Kingswear side of the Higher Ferry, look over the side of the concrete wall and you will see the end of the slipway still there.

    The town was the headquarters of the Free French, and also the base for No.1 Commando, as well as Brittania naval college (oh, and the Pilgrim Fathers set off from here to the States,


    Looking at the Higher Ferry above information from Pete's posting.On the other side of the Dart,ie,the Darmouth side was Coronation Park,formerly a dry creek where the US Army maintained tanks.it is now a leisure area still known known as Coronation Park.There is a good view of the Park from "The Ship in Dock" pub across to the loading area of the Higher Ferry.

    The Free French were based at the Royal Dart Hotel,Kingswear which was HMS Cicala......a base for MTBs which had clandestine runs into Brittany. CDG's son Philippe was based here and one of the incoming postings was Mitterand,a future President of France.In recent years as the trade declined ,the Dart has been converted into expensive flats.There was a display in the bar of wartime gear found in the loft and these items were presented in a cabinet.One of the items was emergency rations from the MGBs....there was pack of biscuits included and on closer inspection they were manufactured by a well known dog biscuit manufacturer.

    There is an special services officer casualty,Captain Philip A Ayton whose grave is in a Dartmouth cemetery.He died in Dartmouth Hospital after being brought back from a raid on the Channel Islands.I did a little research on him and posted the detail on here after I was told of the grave by my son

    Casualty


    There was a photograph of the special services group outside their billets which appeared to be located at Hillhead on the Kingswear side as the road falls down into Brixham from Hillhead

























    Regards

    Pete.[/QUOTE]
     
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