Summer of 23 - UK Tour - Slapton Sands - Where American troops had rehearsal exercises for D-Day & Sherman Tank Memorial

Monday June 12th, 2023 - Part 1 of 2

We went to Slapton Sands, which is one of the places, in the UK, the allied forces practiced for the D-Day Beach invasions. 

I read about the Sherman Tank Memorial on the internet when searching for places to visit and knew it was a must see.  I didn't realize the extent of what had happened here until we visited.

Here is a LINK that details the exercise/rehearsal for the D-Day invasions on Utah Beach.  American Forces used Slapton Sands as it resembled the beach and landscape at Utah Beach. 

If you read the link it will give you a very detailed account of what happened here. I think it's very interesting.

Here's an excerpt:

"Friendly fire incident

The first practice assault took place on the morning of 27 April^[7][8] and was marked by an incident involving friendly fire. H-hourwas set for 07:30, and was to include live ammunition to acclimatize the troops to the sights, sounds and even smells of a naval bombardment. During the landing itself, live rounds were to be fired over the heads of the incoming troops by forces on land, for the same reason. This followed an order made by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, who felt that the men must be hardened by exposure to real battle conditions.^[9] The exercise was to include naval bombardment by ships of Force U Bombardment Group fifty minutes prior to the landing.^[10]

Several of the landing ships for that morning were delayed, and the officer in charge, American Admiral Don P. Moon, decided to delay H-hour for 60 minutes, until 08:30.^[9] Some of the landing craft did not receive word of the change. Landing on the beach at their originally scheduled time, the second wave came under fire, suffering an unknown number of casualties. Rumours circulated among the fleet that as many as 450 men were killed.^[11]"

"639 soldiers and sailors died that night of wounds, hypothermia, or drowned from incorrectly fitted life belts. In all 749 lives were lost during beach landing rehearsals here. Many more men lost their lives during Exercise Tiger than on Utah Beach"

This tank was lost at sea along with American lives during the D-Day practice landings and was recovered in 1984. The link below details how it took Ken Small five years to lead the search for the tank on the ocean bed, and purchase it from the American government.  Then a further 10 years to raise it from the seabed, restore it and create the memorial.

 

This link will tell you more: Ken Small & The Sherman Tank Memorial.

The following three pictures were taken from the site of the memorial.

Across the road from the memorial.

Sue taking a picture!!

It's hard to believe so many died here in a training exercise.

There is a monument here thanking the residents in the area.

"The residents in the area had to evacuate from their homes to enable the exercises to take place and despite the tragic loss of lives here, their action resulted in the saving of many hundreds of lives and contributed in no small measure to the success of the operation."

Personal memorials at the base of the monument

Bus Shelter, across from the monument

Country fields

It was such a peaceful place in spite of the accidental deaths of troops that occurred here. 

We were very moved by the whole place, and it's significance in WWII.

However, we had another place to visit today. Dartmouth Castle, here we come.  You can read about it on the next blog and there are some fantastic pictures to come.