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- This Event -

To commemorate the tragic WW2 pre D-Day practice landing, Exercise Tiger I will leading a small group of WW2 reenactors on a full kit march in WW2 US Infantry uniform with pack and rifle from Torcross on Slapton Sands to Dartmouth .  Here we hope to meet the Greenway Ferry WW2 Motorboat - 'Fairmile' for a cruise along the Exercise Tiger coast, before making the return trip back to Brixham, retracing the approximate route taken by the landing craft 66 years ago.

The walking part of the route is about 12 miles - which is a long way in WW2 uniform, carrying a heavy rifle and pack.

This event not only aims to raise money for our wounded Heroes, but also seeks to educate people about the part this part of Devon played in the history of WW2..........

 

- Exercise Tiger -

In the run-up to the D-Day landings in WW2, Slapton Sands and a large part of the South Hams was evacuated and used as a live firing exercise area. This was partly because of its close proximity to the ports of embarkation at Torbay, and partly because the areas closely resembled Normandy.

Farmers and villagers had to sell most of their possessions, and some families never returned to the area.

As part of a full-scale rehearsal for the Normandy landings, on the night of April 28th, 1944, eight Landing Craft Tanks (LCTs) and their lone escort were en-route to Slapton Sands when out of the darkness came a flotilla of nine fast German E-Boats, which attacked the convoy.

They sunk two LCTs and crippled a third. Of the 4000 men involved in the exercise, nearly a quarter were dead or missing.

The German attack did not stop the exercise, and there were further casualties caused by 'friendly fire' on the beach. Allied planners were worried about the effect on moral that this would have on the troops just immediately before the D-Day landings, so the tragedy was covered up, with the survivors being split up and sworn to secrecy.

The casualty figures were then ‘conveniently’ hidden amongst those from the actual D-Day landings, only weeks later. This tragedy became one of WW2’s best kept secrets until it was revealed to the world almost over 40 years later.

 

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Ade