Exercise TigerThe evacuation
Exercise tiger was a training exercise preparing allied troops for d-day, just 6 weeks before the real thing. It was located in slapton sands, Devon which meant that thousands of people living there had to be evacuated as live fire and real explosives were used, it was simply too dangerous to live there at the time. Army officials chose this particular area, as the beaches, there, had similar aspects to the beaches of D-day: such as Utah beach. Reg Hannaford, a citizen of Slapton sands, was surprisingly exited about the evacuation from Slapton sands and described it as an adventure, implying that he was not worried about it at all. Even though the evacuation affected his family business, of a butcher’s shop, he felt that it was a necessary move to ensure that the soldiers in the real D-day landing had enough experience and knew exactly what to do in certain situations. However, many people did not share this view. One man was so devastated that they had to be evacuated from the town, he decided he would rather die there than leave the town he was born in. people had to cram all of their family and possessions in to vans and they would be shown to their temporary house, this was upsetting for some people as it showed how much the war affects everyone, even in the country. |
A disaster
Exercise tiger had terrible, unintended results. due to communication problems and lack of coordination, there were incidents of friendly fire deaths. This happened when an exercise which involved bombarding the beach with shells, clashed with the time for troops to practise running onto the beach from the boats. As the brave soldiers charged onto the training area, they were met by a much more realistic exercise... By far. But this wasn't the biggest disaster of operation tiger. little did the officers at slapton sands know, was that their radio signals were being intercepted by German listening posts, and so, the Germans were able to work out the location of the operation. on the 28th of April, 1944, two American tank landing ships at slapton sands was viciously attacked by German E-boats, using motor torpedoes, causing the deaths of 749 allied soldiers. Cries for help were haunting, as the soldier's heavy rucksacks held them unforgivingly in the icy cold, deep ocean. some soldiers were lucky enough to be saved from this hell, but the hundreds of floating bodies will always plague the minds of some of the fortunate survivors who escaped on life boats. Dale Rodmam, a survivor of the attack, quoted, "The worst memory I have is setting off in the lifeboat, away from the sinking ship and watching bodies float by." one soldier even said that when the sun came up, it was like you could have walked across all of the bodies. Due to total embarrassment and concerns that information, about the operation, may leak out just before the real D-day, officials at Slapton sands decided to cover up this incident by making the survivors swear to secrecy. The Incident remained a secret for 40 years! An even more tragic fact, was that the dead soldiers did not receive one tiny amount of credit- they were berried in unmarked, mass graves in Devonshire fields and their families misinformed about their cause of death. What's more, the number of deaths at the practise for D-day was nearly 3 times the amount of dead allied soldiers in the real battle. |
Did anything good come out of it?
Fortunately, officials managed to fix the faulty and insecure system of communication. Giles Milton said, "All the different command structures and all the different ships involved in the D-Day landings, all these radio frequencies were standardized so that this miscommunication could never happen on the big day itself." At D-day itself, better equipment was acquired such as good life preservers and each soldier was trained properly to use it. D-day was a great victory for allied troops and a very important battle in WW2- it marked the beginning of the end of the war. Since Exercise tiger assisted the victory in D-day (for example lessons were learnt and better planning was applied), that may mean that those deaths were not in vain after all, because, if the officials did not learn many of the important lessons from exercise tiger, then more people could have died as a result of poor tactics or equipment. D-day, which was one of the most decisive battles in WW2, may not have been successful without the practice- operation Tiger, and ultimately, Devon.
Fortunately, officials managed to fix the faulty and insecure system of communication. Giles Milton said, "All the different command structures and all the different ships involved in the D-Day landings, all these radio frequencies were standardized so that this miscommunication could never happen on the big day itself." At D-day itself, better equipment was acquired such as good life preservers and each soldier was trained properly to use it. D-day was a great victory for allied troops and a very important battle in WW2- it marked the beginning of the end of the war. Since Exercise tiger assisted the victory in D-day (for example lessons were learnt and better planning was applied), that may mean that those deaths were not in vain after all, because, if the officials did not learn many of the important lessons from exercise tiger, then more people could have died as a result of poor tactics or equipment. D-day, which was one of the most decisive battles in WW2, may not have been successful without the practice- operation Tiger, and ultimately, Devon.
Should this disaster have been covered up?
The officials had their reasons for covering it up and some of these points are understandable. For instance, if soldiers back then were constantly dwelling on the fact that 749 soldiers died for absolutely no reason, then this would lower military morale, considerably, during exercises. Soldiers may be worried about similar events happening again, therefore, they would not try or perform to the best of their abilities. Also, the families that the disaster would have affected (father and husbands would be dead) would have been extremely devastated for the rest of their lives, knowing that their loved one's death could have been prevented if the officials were more careful.
However, most people agree that the disaster at slapton sands should be remembered as an important event of WW2 and that it should not have been covered up. If it is well known, then armed forces will not make the same mistakes again- there are important lessons to learn from the disaster and it should be remembered to ensure that no more deaths are lost for no reason.
The officials had their reasons for covering it up and some of these points are understandable. For instance, if soldiers back then were constantly dwelling on the fact that 749 soldiers died for absolutely no reason, then this would lower military morale, considerably, during exercises. Soldiers may be worried about similar events happening again, therefore, they would not try or perform to the best of their abilities. Also, the families that the disaster would have affected (father and husbands would be dead) would have been extremely devastated for the rest of their lives, knowing that their loved one's death could have been prevented if the officials were more careful.
However, most people agree that the disaster at slapton sands should be remembered as an important event of WW2 and that it should not have been covered up. If it is well known, then armed forces will not make the same mistakes again- there are important lessons to learn from the disaster and it should be remembered to ensure that no more deaths are lost for no reason.