Before the invasion of Europe was launched by the allies on June 6th 1944, the US Army had chosen Slapton Sands, a little along the coast from Dartmouth, as a location on which to carry out practice operations of the proposed invasion. The beaches at Slapton were very similar to the beaches at Normandy and is why this particular part of the South West coastline was used.
One of the exercises carried out was the now infamous Operation 'Tiger' which took place during the night of 27th April 1944 and was a large live-fire exercise involving many LST's (Landing Ship Tanks) and men of both the US Army and Navy.
During the exercise the convoy of LST's making its way round to the beach at Slapton was intercepted and attacked by a small group of German E-Boats. The attack was devastating.
Upon that fateful night, 946 American servicemen lost their lives and the US High Command was quick to hush up the tragedy for many years to come...that is until a man named Ken Small came into the picture 45 years later.
Ken Small is the man responsible for uncovering the truth about the night of 27th Aprill 1944 and through his infinate determination, as explained in his bestseller 'The Forgotten Dead', he managed to raise a sunken Sherman tank from a little off the coast and used it as a memorial to achieve the deserved recognition of the men who lost their lives that night.
Today the Sherman tank still stands as a poignant memorial to the men that died of the coast of Devon in 1944 and as a thanks for his hard work Ken Small achieved the deserved recognition from top US military leaders and members of Congress - he even recieved a personal thank you letter from President Reagan.
Below are the photographs taken from my visit to Torcross and the sands at Slapton. Please examine them for more detail.
