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.

Summer of 23 - Tintagel Castle

Monday June 5th, 2023 

Our next outing was to Tintagel Castle, another English Heritage site. So we got in for free with our annual membership that we purchased when we got to the UK. It will pay for itself after two or three visits to their sites.

We parked the car and went to get on the mini bus that takes you either halfway down to the castle or to the cafe which is near the bottom. We opted for halfway as if we went to the bottom we would have to walk back up to the bridge and the bronze sculpture inspired by King Arthur.  We could always walk down to the cafe and get the bus back from there. Either way we were in for a lot of walking.

There's the top of the mini bus taking people down the hill.

flowers growing in the car park walls.

Here's some views from the car park. You can tell it's quite a walk to the ocean and castle.

We got our free tickets and found the mini bus that took us to the first stop.  The driver was very friendly and helpful, telling us we could get back on the bus here, or down at the cafe at the bottom when we returned.

We started the long walk down, although this was half the walk if we hadn't taken the bus.

                       

We had a rest on the seat

Eventually we came to some of the ruins. Here's a LINK to an article on the website that tells about the history and legends of the castle, starting in the 5th century. It was named as the place where King Arthur was conceived.

I climbed the steps to the viewpoint.

Ruins at the top

and took a picture of Bryan from above, as he took pictures from below.

This little fella was looking for food!!

Bryan did come up there to join me and take some pictures.

a cave but not Merlins!!

Next we had a bridge to cross. This was a new modern bridge, opened in 2019, as the original natural land bridge had eroded.

The colors were amazing, especially the water.

Merlins Cave

Looking down with the cafe in the distance. The bus will pick up from there but there are numerous steps to encounter. 

We loved the stone ruins, especially ones that acted as frames for our pictures!!

Wild flowers growing on the rocks

Looking down. The cafe is the white building.

We debated whether to continue up the steps or go down to the cafe. I really, really wanted to go and see "Gallos", a sculpture that had been made.  Of course it was at the furthest point of the headland and involved quite a walk. With all the walking and hills and steps we had already done I wasn't sure I could do it, but I had to try.  We decided Bryan would stay at the viewpoint below as he could sit there and I would continue. He was apprehensive about me going on my own but I assured him I would turn around if I didn't think I could make it. We both had our phones as well. So, off I went. 

Getting higher, see the overlook on the right. Bryan is sitting on the wall.

Someone was watching over me!! 

It was quite a walk and you couldn't see the statue until you were virtually on top of it. I was just hoping I was going in the right direction!!!  

Then, suddenly, there it was!!

"Gallos', a sculpture inspired by both the legend of King Arthur and Tintagel's royal history"

There were a lot of people around and posing by the statue. I patiently waited until there was no-one by the statue for these pictures.

I didn't continue on the trail but turned and went back the way I had come.  You can see it was quite a trek!! I was a little concerned as I had lost my phone signal so couldn't let Bryan know I was ok and on my way back!!

Finally, I got back.

There's Bryan standing by the rail.

We discussed whether to go down to the cafe and get the bus back from there, but that was a lot of steps and we were both exhausted, so decided to go back the way we came.

We eventually got back to the bus stop where we had got off, and waited. It took a couple of buses before there was one with seats for us.  

We had an awesome day but we were happy to get back to the car as we were both physically exhausted!!