Operation Tiger: A Debacle at Slapton Sands

In the fall of 1943, after the Axis powers had been soundly beaten in Africa and evicted from Sicily, the war in the European theater would now be focused on the invasion of the continent. The plans for Operation Overlord were the most secretive in history; very few people had knowledge of the plans and the logistics to carry it out.

In an isolated part of the island of Great Britain plans were being made as well, an estimated population of 3000 people was evacuated from their homes in an area known as Slapton Sands. The reason for the evacuations was simple looking back, at the time the reason was top secret, the beach around Slapton Sands closely resembled Utah Beach in Normandy.

Slapton Sands would be used for mock invasions in preparation for the Normandy landing during Overlord; from this point forward the only inhabitants would be military personnel. The preparations taking place at Slapton Sands were very complex and involved every aspect of the Allied armed forces, to mimic the D-day landings as closely as possible.

The planning and preparation went very well initially, encountering very little if any trouble at all with the first practice run. That all changed on 28 April, 1943 when the landing crafts that were participating in the mock landings were spotted by a force of German E-boats. These E-boats, who had to be exceptionally lucky to have stumbled onto such prime opportunity, were able to sneak through the defensive perimeter established by the Royal Navy, a perimeter that was established for that very purpose.

After the E-Boats breached the perimeter they were able to engage and to sink 2 U.S. landing craft participating in the exercise. The attack killed 946 U.S. servicemen, more personnel loses than during the actual landing at Utah beach during Operation Overlord.

The incident at Slapton Sands would be one of the largest single day loss of life during World War Two. It’s not surprising that this story received very little attention then, and even now, considering the level of secrecy involved in the project. It is quite fortunate for the Allied forces that the Germans were not aware of the significance of the events that they stumbled upon.

Copyright© 2012 R. Bertz; all rights reserved.

Keegan, J. (1989). The second world war. London, UK: Penguin Books.

Murray, W., Millett, A.R. (2000). A war to be won: Fighting the second world war. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.