A Very Different D-Day

THE OVERLOOK

By Tom Clavin

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The 82^nd anniversary of D-Day was this past Saturday and making some box-office hay is the recently released Pressure. This film stars Brendan Fraser as General Dwight Eisenhower and details the decision to launch the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 despite challenging weather conditions.

Rightly so, the casualties of D-Day should be mourned and they should be respected for their courage and sacrifice. There was no better demonstration of General William Tecumseh Sherman’s statement: “War is hell.” But often overlooked are the casualties of a pre-D-Day “invasion” with the death toll being at least 700 men -- more than would die in the actual landings at Utah Beach some five weeks later.

Planning for “Operation Overlord” (D-Day) began in earnest in 1943. In November, the Devon County Council in England was informed by the War Cabinet that the Slapton Sands area was to be totally evacuated to permit part of the South Hams to be used to practice assault landings for Utah Beach.

Preparations began for a series of exercises, with various code names, to take place on the beaches of Slapton Sands during the month of April 1944, including naval operations and live fire exercises on the beaches. The faux invasion was to be known as “Exercise Tiger.”

On the afternoon of April 27, 1944, thousands of men began boarding eight Landing Ship Tanks at Plymouth and Brixham. The LSTs were about to embark on a full-dress rehearsal for D-Day. Slapton Sands was chosen because of its similarity to Utah Beach, the D-Day assignment for this convoy. The exercise also included live ammunition on the beach. The local British residents had been evacuated from their farms and homes for the duration of the rehearsals taking place.

American soldiers were in full combat gear below in the tank deck, along with their vehicles. The LSTs were loaded with smaller amphibious vehicles -- tanks, jeeps, weapons, and trucks that were full of fuel and ammunition. The sailors and officers were at their posts as they set sail. The ships were on their way to meet and form one convoy in Lyme Bay. The distance from Lyme Bay to Slapton Sands was the approximate time it would take to make the crossing to Utah Beach on D-Day.

The convoy’s intended escort, the HMS Scimitar, a British destroyer, was kept in port for repairs. The American military was not informed that the escort would not be there. The only other British ship with the convoy was the Royal Navy Corvette Azalea. Also, unknown to the LSTs’ communications room, a typographical error was made on the radio frequency the ships were given to be told of enemy activity in the English Channel. The convoy never heard the warnings about German submarines in the area.

All of the LSTs arrived at approximately 2 a.m. on April 28 in Lyme Bay and formed one long convoy as they began the journey back to Slapton Sands. Suddenly, a wolfpack of German subs, on a routine patrol, approached the convoy and began spewing torpedoes at the ships. General Quarters was sounded on all the ships, but the LSTs had little firepower and protection against these fast-moving underwater predators.

Initially, the torpedoes missed hitting the LSTs because of their flat-bottom hulls. Survivors from the tank decks recounted stories of hearing the torpedoes scraping the bottom of the hull. The submarines quickly made adjustments and LST 507, at the back of the convoy, took a direct hit and soon was in flames and sinking. LST 531, in the middle of the convoy, then took direct hits from two torpedoes. She would sink within six minutes. LST 289, in front of LST 507, was the third and final ship that was hit by a torpedo. It did not sink but took extensive damage to the stern and suffered the loss of life of 13 men and many were injured.

The LSTs remaining afloat followed orders and moved out in a zig-zagging pattern as they began making their way to the nearest port. By this time the subs had left the scene. Captain John Doyle, of LST 515, the lead ship of the convoy, disobeyed orders and returned to rescue survivors from the sea. His crew rescued approximately 134 men who would have surely perished. Doyle and his LST remained on the scene until the HMS Onslow arrived at dawn to assist in rescuing men and retrieving the bodies of those who died.

There was plenty of work to do: The waters were frigid and hypothermia quickly set in. Soldiers carrying their heavy gear in backpacks did not receive instructions on the proper use of their life preservers and drowned. There were not enough lifeboats and the surface of the water was in flames from the burning fuel. Those who survived were taken to various established and temporary hospitals. They were told never to speak of what happened under threat of court martial because of the secrecy required for D-Day . . . and, of course, to not reveal what an embarrassing disaster Exercise Tiger was.

There was no leave given to survivors to recover from the trauma, no time for mourning those who died. They were reassigned to other LSTs and took part in the D-Day invasion. It was not until the Sherman Tank Memorial was established in 1984 that the tragedy slowly became known to the public. The survivors began to speak about it, a few at a time.

By 1994, on the 50th anniversary of the event, many survivors were interviewed on television documentaries, and finally the family members of those lost finally knew what happened to their loved ones. Even now, more than 80 years later, the very few survivors left still weep when speaking about the tragedy and the great loss of life.

Some solace is that all of the deceased have been accounted for. Individual bodies retrieved at the time were buried temporarily at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey, England. Records were kept on those whose bodies were lost at sea or who went down with the ships. After the war, the families were asked if they wished to have their family member returned to the United States for burial or have them remain overseas. Those whose remains were not returned to the U.S. were buried at Cambridge American Cemetery in England. Those whose bodies were not recovered have their names on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery or on the Wall at the Normandy American Cemetery in France.

Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 25 books. The latest one, Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull, has just been published by St. Martin’s Press. To purchase a copy, please go to your local bookstore or to Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, BN.com, or tomclavin.com.