Operation Tiger remembered first-hand by south Devon evacuee

D-Day is one of the best-known invasions in history, but it did not happen without a great deal of planning, and a high cost of life. 

Once the Allies decided to land in Normandy, they recognised the necessity of conducting practice operations. In an unprecedented logistical exercise, the Allies united the air, army, and navy forces to stage one of the world’s largest dress rehearsals for invasion. 

But before any operations could start, a suitable site for the mock invasion would need to be found, something similar to the conditions that the Allies would find when they finally put their boots back onto Normandy. 

Slapton Sands was identified as the ideal location. So in December 1943, 3,000 people were cleared from an area of 30,000 acres in South Devon (amongst other places) so that the Allies could train in preparation. Many of the soldiers had no combat experience, so a series of exercises were planned to acclimatise the men to battle conditions.

Among those 3,000 residents was Pam Wills, a resident of Strete who was just 12 years old when the evacuation began. 

“I loved growing up in Strete,” remembered Pam, who is now 93. 

“I spent my childhood outdoors, exploring the fields and the beaches. We’d always be outside."

As a child, the first time the War felt real to Pam was when a Nazi bomber dropped its remaining bombs on the nearby village of Beesands. 

“We could see smoke coming up from the village. At the time we were curious about it, but when we thought about it later, it was scary that it could have been us.”

When the notice to evacuate came, Pam and her family were given six weeks to relocate. Due to the secrecy of the operations, they were never told why, only that Americans would be arriving for training. 

The family found a place to stay on a farm in the nearby village of Beeson, where Pam had an aunt and cousin. Her father applied to the navy but due to his age and the fact that his trade as a builder made him essential in England, he remained with the family. 

Pam said: “We were there for 11 months. I enjoyed it a lot because I had always wanted to work on a farm, even when I was a kid. My cousin taught me how to do a lot of things I hadn’t done before, like milking cows by hand. I used to go around with the pony and do the milk round as well.”

Despite still being close to the action, no one fully knew what was being planned, although that wasn’t for a lack of trying on Pam’s part. 

She said: “They used to patrol the perimeter three times a day in their jeep trying to make sure people weren't coming in, but they never caught us. We used to come across the top of the fields and look at the tanks.

“I think they knew that we used to do it. When they were out, they used to take a little diversion with their jeep to drop us all off at our homes. They’d also bring us comics and sweets. 

“A lot of them said that they had brothers and sisters of our age and we reminded them of their families at home."

It was at Slapton Sands that the Allies were planning Operation Tiger; an almost full dress rehearsal involving 30,000 men. That stretch of coast, with its steep shingle beaches was topographically similar to one of the areas where the Americans planned to land on D-Day, codenamed Utah Beach. 

The practice would begin with a bombardment of the shore on 27 April, after which the first men would disembark on the beach. This would use live ammunition so that the men would be better prepared for the experience on D-Day.

The lack of experience some of the men had showed. Pam remembers one incident with a US serviceman that almost ended in disaster. 

“One of the men had brought their rifles down to show us. The boys were asking him about his gun and all the rest of it, and he decided that he was going to show them how it works. So he stuck his hat on a post and took aim.

“Unbeknownst to him, a couple of us had gone out on our bikes and we were riding back. I came around the corner and just heard a whoosh go past me. When I got back, this soldier was shaking like a leaf, my sister nearly throttled him. At least he wasn’t a very good shot!”

Operation Tiger began in earnest on 27 April. However, a series of errors, accidents and attacks on the operation led to tragedy. The Royal Navy changed its radio frequency, but the Americans were not provided with the updated information. Several of the Landing Craft Tanks (LCTs), small tank-carrying ships with flat bottoms to facilitate disembarkation, were running behind schedule. As a result, the exercise commander, American Rear Admiral Don Moon, postponed the start of the exercise by an hour. However, this decision was not communicated to everyone involved. Consequently, when the men from these craft landed, 110 were killed by friendly fire.

Then, a Destroyer, HMS Scimitar, had been taken into Plymouth for repairs after it was rammed by an American craft that morning, but this was not relayed to the convoy of eight Tank Landing Ships that would carry the men and supplies onto the beach. With the destroyer out of action, these slow-moving and relatively unarmed ships were only defended by a small warship called a Corvette. Another ship was only dispatched in the early hours of April 28. 

Meanwhile, a group of nine German E-boats had spotted the convoy. Maintaining radio silence as they approached, the E-boats attacked, shooting the first torpedo at 2:30am on 28 April.

Over the following three hours, three American ships were hit, two of which sank and another of which suffered extensive damage.  Men jumped into the cold waters of the English Channel.  There were insufficient working life rafts.  Many men did not know how to use their inflatable life jackets and wore them wrongly around their waist rather than shoulders.  This pushed their heads underwater and they drowned.  In some areas, the sea was covered with fuel which caught fire.  Some men died of hypothermia or burns.

An estimated 749 American servicemen died in Operation Tiger. The clean-up operation was conducted in secrecy to maintain security and preserve morale. Among the bodies initially unrecovered were those of 10 men with the highest security clearance (codenamed 'Bigot') who possessed detailed plans for the D-Day invasion. If these plans had been discovered by the Germans, they would have learned the timing and location of the invasion. The Allies considered cancelling D-Day for this reason, but all ten bodies were eventually found.

Despite the scale of the tragedy, secrecy was still maintained. 

“Everything was hush-hush and everyone was sworn to secrecy,” said Pam. 

“Even my father was in the Royal Observer Corps and he didn’t know anything. All we saw from the disasters was some damaged boats being brought back to Dartmouth.  We only found out what happened after the War.”

D-Day went ahead on June 6, 1944, but Pam and her family were not allowed back to their home until the autumn due to the need to clear any live ammunitions. 

She said: “They didn’t get them all, not even close. Gordon Luscombe of Slapton would be out working the land and they’d find hand grenades, they used to pull the pins and throw them, to see if they would explode. 

She added: “There were some very happy memories from that time, but also some very sad stories. I guess it’s always a mix of the two.”

Decades after the War, Pam met an American veteran at a commemoration event. 

“He said he was only 19 when he came over to Slapton,” Pam remembered, “straight from college.

“He told me how grateful he was for us giving up our homes for their training, and if we hadn’t, there would have been a lot more American casualties. 

“He had never seen war at the time. He was brought over and didn’t have a clue about what army life was like or what he was getting himself into. Knowing that he could come here to train makes you realise that was all worth it.”