Anyone heard of Operation Tiger???
The other day there was a program about it on the History Channel but unfortunately I couldn't watch it. I would really appreciate any information on this topic.

Thanks

As requested:

http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/slapton.html

Operation Tiger was a full-scale, live-fire practice landing for the units detailed to land at Utah Beach. It went horribly wrong:

"As the convoy sailed into Start Bay, westernmost corner of Lyme Bay, German E Boats found them and opened fire on a defenceless convoy, killing 749 soldiers. This was the evening of 27 April 1944. German Intelligence had listened to the American radio traffic and dispatched 9 E Boats from their home port, Cherbourg, creating this large scale disaster. Landing Craft 507 and 531 were sunk, 289 was badly damaged.


The losses were 4 times more than lost on D Day itself at Utah.


General Eisenhower ordered all bodies recovered, especially 10 personnel who had on their possession actual maps of the Utah Beach. All bodies were recovered, with the whole sorry episode hushed up the mission was still secure."

Thanks mate for your quick response! It was a very interesting reading.

Always a pleasure. Though God rest those poor kids that got killed and injured.

Actually the operation was called "Exercise Tiger". I did some research of it. It indeed took place at Slapton Sands, where I will be going when I'm on my holiday in England.

It was a total fiasco, some mini-subs screwed up a couple of the LST boats planned to be unloading on the Slapton Sands beaches, about 500 men got killed I think. The beach landings were with live bullets, there also got a lot of men killed.

Cheers

That sucks. Training for the 'day of days' only to be killed. Surprized I never heard of this though.

Yeah Exersice Tiger was kept severely underwraps. No-one was to know, it would be too damaging for morale, not only for the soldiers, but to PR's back home. Official details were only released 40 years later. The Airborne troops on their way there were told to go back, not because it wasnt safe, but because they simply didnt want anyone to know.
5 or so LST baots were sunk (remember these where huge, held tonnes of ppl) and around 946 men were killed. A guy Called Ken Small campaigned for the rights to raise a Sherman from the sea bed, and he helped uncover the true story of Exercise Tiger.
In order to keep this hush hush, the dead were buried in un-marked graves. They never recieved a proper burial all because it wasnt to be known.
It also became one of the larges losses of life at any given moment. Its kinda shocking.

was looking up some info for my Dad and saw this and thought I would reply. My Dad was their on LST 511, he was one of the 18 wounded aboard. The LST 511 went on to serve at D-day and received a battle star for D-Day, but never received one for Operation Tiger. I have found some good articals on the web by surching for info for LST 511. My Dad has bought a book that was written about it aswell.